Before the end of this harvest season, some of our team went out to visit McHugh Farms to experience harvesting the open-pollinated organic heirloom red corn grown exclusively for our bourbon production.
This corn has large kernels ranging in color from yellow to red to blue and purple. The husks have a slight purple hue to them and the plants can grow as high as twelve feet tall. Patrick and McHugh Farms grows this crop organically and uses a no-till farming methodology to nurture optimal soil health for the benefit of their farm and the crops.
We met Patrick McHugh and his family in late 2017. Immediately we felt we found someone that shared our passion for the ethical treatment of land and the importance of co-evolving as a people in harmony with the natural environment – which has been a major goal of ours throughout this process of developing our distillery and its’ processes. We feel fortunate to be able to partner with a local family farm that has the ability to meet our production needs, get things done in a responsible way and utilize organic heirloom ingredients. McHugh Farms grows about 60 acres of rye and corn exclusively for our distillery each year. We couldn’t be more proud of our association with Patrick and his family and we are honored to be partnered with them on this exciting journey.