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Grain & Barrel Spirits is the brainchild of Matti Anttila — a former investment banker. Hey … if investment banking won’t drive you to drink, nothing will, right? But on assignment to Brazil for the mega-investment powerhouse J. P. Morgan he tasted the local hooch — Brazilian Cachaça — and liked it. So, he created Cabana Cachaça and built it into a successful brand. He sold that brand and then bought and sold the historic Boodle Gin. He used those proceeds to found Grain & Barrel Spirits in 2013, where he spends his days resurrecting, inventing, and tinkering with new and old drink ideas … so we all want to have his life.

The Chicken Cock brand goes all the way back to 1856 in Paris, Kentucky. It was a fairly successful Bourbon in it’s day, but things REALLY took off during Prohibition when the owners moved production to Canada and took the innovative step of packaging their hooch in tin cans to hide it from Johnny Law. In the 1950’s the Chicken Cock Distillery burned down, but Grain & Spirits bought the brand and released their line of Whiskey in 2016.

Bootlegger’s Blend is just what it sounds like — a blend of 40% Rye Whiskey and 60% Bourbon of unknown mash bill from mysterious distilleries. Age and grain composition cannot be guaranteed and that means in certain jurisdictions it can’t even be called “Whiskey.” But we think it's a real deal Whiskey indeed that might be as close to real smuggler’s hooch as you can find these days. Just try to say it’s name without smiling.

Smartass Corner:
During Prohibition, one of Chicken Cock’s biggest customers was the famous Cotton Club in New York that served Chicken Cock cocktails from the bar while Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway performed on stage.

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