Grain & Barrel Spirits has released a limited-edition Chicken Cock Cotton Club Canadian Rye Whiskey, which was aged for 20 years and bottled in a Prohibition-era Chicken Cock replica apothecary-style bottle at 100 proof. The mash bill contains 90% rye and 10% malted barley.
Originally established in Paris, Kentucky in 1856, Chicken Cock – known as “The Famous Old Brand” – was forced to move production up to Canada during Prohibition. The Canadian Rye whiskey produced during that period was then smuggled back into the U.S. in tin cans, earning the brand the nickname, “the whiskey in a tin can.” It was around this time that Chicken Cock rose to fame as the featured house whiskey at Harlem’s The Cotton Club, one of Prohibition’s most legendary speakeasies. Here the brand was opened table-side where Duke Ellington and his orchestra regularly performed on the Cotton Club’s stage. In an excerpt from Music is my Mistress, Ellington said, “during the prohibition period, you could always buy good whiskey from somebody in the Cotton Club. They used to have what they called Chicken Cock. It was a bottle in a can, and the can was sealed. It cost something like ten to fourteen dollars a pint.”
“This luxury spirit and commemorative tin honor Chicken Cock’s Prohibition-era history and a period where the brand ventured north to carry on its tradition of bringing high quality whiskey to patrons across the country,” said Matti Anttila, founder of Grain & Barrel Spirits. “This rare straight rye whiskey signals a return to pre-prohibition times when the classic spirit was more prevalent, while also honoring the brand’s history and heritage. We even maintained the spelling of ‘whiskey’ versus ‘whisky’ on the original tin from Prohibition.
After Prohibition, Chicken Cock enjoyed a resurgent couple of decades before a distillery fire just after World War II put it out of business. In 2012, Anttila rediscovered the brand and set out to resurrect it to its Prohibition-era glory alongside Master Distiller Gregg Snyder whose résumé includes positions with Brown-Forman and Austin Nichols. Since that time, the team has introduced a flagship KY Straight Bourbon and KY Straight Rye Whiskey, made in partnership with Bardstown Bourbon Company as part of its collaborative distilling program.
Chicken Cock Cotton Club Canadian Rye Whiskey is available for $499.99 per online via Passion Spirits, Flaviar, Caskers, and Cask Cartel as well as nationally via special allocation.
