Tincup Whiskey Launches Its Oldest Expression Yet: Fourteener Bourbon

Tincup Fourteener, the oldest expression to date from the Colorado whiskey brand, has arrived.

A new whiskey has arrived from the mountains of Colorado.

Tincup whiskey, the brand founded by Stranahan’s co-founder Jess Graber, on Tuesday announced the launch of its fourth and oldest expression: Tincup Fourteener.

The 14-year bourbon is the first iteration of what will be an annual limited-edition release that pays homage to Colorado’s 14ers — mountains standing 14,000 feet or higher. The first edition of Tincup Fourteener is dedicated to Long’s Peak, which stands at 14,259 feet, making it the tallest mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park. Long’s Peak is one of 58 14ers in Colorado.

“It’s meant to celebrate our coexistence with Colorado and symbolize that we want to keep innovating,” Graber said during a media tasting in Estes Park, Colorado.

Bottled at 84 proof, Fourteener is cut with Rocky Mountain water, as are all Tincup whiskeys. Fourteener’s water comes from Eldorado Springs, which was named the second-best water in the U.S. this year.

Tincup Fourteener will be available in limited quantities in select markets including Colorado, California, Florida and Texas for a suggested retail price of $70 — quite a moderate price for a whiskey with such a high age statement. It is also available online to be shipped to 46 states.

Read More: Travel Log: A Trip to Estes Park, Colorado, for the Launch of Tincup Fourteener Bourbon

As part of the Tincup Fourteener Bourbon Whiskey Series, Tincup is donating $14,000 to the Colorado Fourteener Initiative. The funds will go to CFI’s “Adopt-a-Peak” Program, which helps preserve and restore trails.

A whiskey dedicated to a 14er is perfect for Tincup, a brand whose essence screams mountains, hiking and braving the outdoors.

The name “Tincup” comes from the mining town of Tincup, Colorado. Miners, the story goes, would bring whiskey in bottles to the mines during their workdays. In need of something to seal their bottles with, since the dry climate of Colorado would cause corks to shrivel and fall into the whiskey or off the bottle onto the ground. The miners solved this problem by using what they had available to them in the mines: tin. They heated the tin and melded it around the top of their bottles, creating a seal. It is for this reason that every Tincup bottle is topped by, well, a tin cup.

Tincup also makes its bottles hexagonal — instead of the standard cylindrical shape — for an outdoorsy reason. If you’re out camping, hiking or climbing and want to set your bottle down, the edged shape will prevent it from rolling away.

“There are 14ers in Colorado, and it exemplifies the spirit, it exemplifies the people that go outdoors and enjoy themselves,” Graber said. “And you don’t have to drink the whole bottle to enjoy yourselves. ‘Cause you can go camping, this is gonna be a lot less in your backpack than a case of [beer]. And it won’t roll away from your sleeping bag.”

Whiskey Raiders’ Tasting Notes for Tincup Fourteener

NOSE: Rich cocoa and honey, waffle batter, toffee and a touch of praline, caramel. It’s surprisingly nutty, a good deal of peanut brittle, light almond and a touch of walnut.

TASTE: Moderate viscosity, given the proof it’s not surprising that this isn’t a sticky, rich, viscous pour. It drinks nicely, it’s still quite flavorful, with plenty of orange peel, toffee, a touch of caramel and vanilla bean. Moderate tannins, a bit woody but not overdriven.

Read More: The Complete Whiskey Raiders’ Tincup Fourteener Review

The Tincup Story: Jess Graber’s Whiskey-Making Origins

Today, Jess Graber is one of the most prominent figures in the Colorado whiskey scene, having founded Tincup and co-founded Stranahan’s, Colorado’s first legal whiskey distillery since Prohibition and one of the leaders in the American single malt category. But once upon a time, Graber was just a kid from Missouri, who had moved to Colorado in hopes of becoming a “mountain man.”

The start of Graber’s career in whiskey came from an unlikely source — a fellow Missourian who went by the name of Larry the Missouri River Rat. Larry, as we’ll call him for brevity’s sake, had a copper still, which he used to make whiskey as a hobby. Larry came to Graber one day with an interesting offer: The Missouri River Rat was leaving Colorado and returning to his home state, and he couldn’t bring his still with him, so he offered to Graber, who was 21 years old at the time and didn’t know much of anything about whiskey.

Graber practiced and learned and ended up co-founding Stranahan’s with George Stranahan’s, founder of Flying Dog Brewery, which at the time was located in Denver but has since relocated to Frederick, Maryland.

While Stranahan’s was very successful, consumers had trouble accepting that American single malt whiskey — which still to this day is a lesser-known category — was really American whiskey.

“They liked it, but they said, ‘Do you know how to make ‘Merican whiskey?’ There’s no ‘A’ in ‘American’; it’s just ‘Merican whiskey,” Graber said. “And what they were talking about was a bourbon.”

Graber had decided to make a bourbon, but Stranahan’s didn’t have the space to make its single malts and distill bourbon. So, Graber sourced whiskey from MGP in Indiana — a bourbon made of two-thirds corn and one-third rye — and blended it with a little bit of Stranahan’s single malt. And so, in 2008, the idea for Tincup was born.

Since then, the brand has launched that whiskey — Tincup American Whiskey — as well as a rye, a 10-year-old bourbon and now the Fourteener.

“I’m so excited for TINCUP fans to try this new aged bourbon whiskey,” Graber said in a news release. “Not only does Fourteener’s name pay homage to the rugged peaks that dot its home state of Colorado, it truly embodies our spirit of adventure. If you’ve ever been on the top of a 14er, you know it’s truly something to celebrate.”

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