Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/948966
104 / the tasting panel / march 2018 REPORT whiskey Y ou can't make good whiskey without good water: After all, the very root of the brown spirit's name is derived from the Gaelic word for water, "uisce." Sagamore Spirit, a new Baltimore-based rye whiskey producer, even goes so far as to truck in water from a limestone aquifer 22 miles north for proofing. (Its signature spirit, an American straight rye whiskey, is bottled at 83 proof—a nod to the journey the water makes on Interstate 83 from the aquifer on Sagamore Farm to the distillery in Port Covington.) Maryland-based Sagamore Spirit produces its whiskey in its five-acre, three-building facility that opened in April 2017. Its aging barn, pictured above, is located on Sagamore Farm roughly 20 miles north of the distillery. by Kelly Magyarics, DSW SAGAMORE SPIRIT e Pride of Maryland PHOTO: RONNIE NETTLES BRINGS THE TRADITION OF LOCAL RYE WHISKEY BACK TO CHARM CITY