BORN, DISTILLED AND AGED ON THE BETSIE RIVER WATERSHED. THOMPSONVILLE, MICHIGAN
(Thompsonville, MI) May, 2024 – Iron Fish Distillery is thrilled to announce that all three of our Mad Angler whiskeys have been awarded top honors in the 2024 ASCOT Taste Competition, with Mad Angler® Bourbon 5 yr. earning the prestigious Double Platinum award, one of 100 awarded nationally.
Mad Angler® Bourbon 5 yr. was awarded Double Platinum for “Best Small Batch Bourbon Under 5 years. (not sourced)” Mad Angler Bottled in Bond won Platinum in the Best Wheat Whiskey category (not sourced), and Mad Angler® Rye Whiskey won Gold in the Best Craft Rye Whiskey category (not sourced). The Mad Angler® name is inspired by the works of celebrated northern Michigan writer Michael Delp, advocate of rivers, who often finds creativity in fly fishing on his beloved Boardman River.
In the Mad Angler poems, the Mad Angler is mad because the river has no control over its future; only people control the future of rivers. Inspired by this powerful message, Iron Fish Distillery named its estate farm distilled and aged whiskies “Mad Angler” to bring attention to the plight of rivers and the importance of preserving watersheds. All three Mad Angler award winners incorporate grain grown on the 120-acre Iron Fish farm adjacent to the natural and protected Betsie River. The Iron Fish farm operates under the requirements of the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP), ensuring sustainable agricultural practices. In alignment with this inspiration, Iron Fish Distillery makes charitable contributions to watershed organizations, including the Iron Fish Arctic Grayling Research Fund, which supports the reintroduction of Arctic Grayling to Michigan Rivers.
Mad Angler Whiskey® –
See Video with Michael Delp
“Our Mad Angler Bourbon Batch #4 marks the beginning of our commitment to ensuring that every product under the Mad Angler brand is aged for over 5 years,” said David Wallace, co-founder and master distiller of Iron Fish.
The ASCOT Awards, which stands for American Spirits Council of Tasters, are a highly regarded, international spirits competition created by spirits personality and veteran tasting judge, Fred Minnick.
These awards honor distillers and marketers whose work is truly exceptional and deserving of industry recognition, and are divided into Marketing + Design and Taste Competitions. In the Taste Competition, each entry is blind-tasted and scored on a 100-point scale for appearance, aroma, taste, and finish.
MAD ANGLER
BOURBON WHISKEY
BATCH NO. 4 • AGED 5 YEARS
Double Platinum Award Best Small Batch Bourbon
Available at Select Michigan Retailers and Iron Fish Distillery
---- MASH BILL ----
16% Iron Fish Farm Winter Wheat
9% Northern Michigan Barley
5% Iron Fish Farm Winter Rye
92 PROOF
MAD ANGLER
BOTTLED IN BOND
Platinum Award Best Wheat Whiskey
Available at Select Michigan Retailers and Iron Fish Distillery
---- MASH BILL ----
15.3% Upper Peninsula Rye
22.5% Northern Michigan Corn
11.2% Northern Michigan Malted Barley
100 PROOF
MAD ANGLER
RYE WHISKEY
---- MASH BILL ----
Gold Medal Best Craft Rye Whiskey (Not Sourced)
Available at Select Michigan Retailers and Iron Fish Distillery
5% northern Michigan malt
92 PROOF
For Information on where to buy email sales@ironfishdistillery.com
About Iron Fish Distillery
Established in 2016, Iron Fish Distillery stands as Michigan’s first farm distillery, cultivating grains, distilling spirits, and aiming to perfect the art of barrel-finishing sourced whiskey. This third party environmentally audited working farm and distillery attracts over 150, 000 guests annually to the agricultural destination, reborn on a long-abandoned 120-acre farm located in rural Springdale Township in Manistee County.
Named for the Steelhead that journeys up the nearby Betsie River, every step of the Iron Fish soil-to-spirit process occurs onsite. The process starts in farm fields where the distillery grows and harvests its own grain. Milling, mashing, fermenting, distilling, and barrel aging is on full display for visitors. Iron Fish also carefully sources bourbon for finishing in barrels from around the world. To date, their library of aged spirits exceeds 2,500 barrels.
Iron Fish Distillery’s vision is to be a beloved legacy distillery leaving the land and community a better place than they found it.
