People in the Kansas City area will be the first to try the latest product from Holladay Distillery in Weston: a new small-batch Irish cream liqueur called Five Farms.
Five Farms gets its name from the five family-owned farms in County Cork, Ireland, that are supplying the high-quality, very rich cream used to produce the new liqueur. The cream is then mixed with Irish whiskey within 48 hours of collection, keeping it as fresh as possible.
Aside from its fresh ingredients, Five Farms is set apart from its competitors by its whiskey content. According to a representative of Weston-based McCormick Distilling Co., most competitors only use about 1% whiskey in their brands, but Five Farms has about 10%.
Five Farms will be publicly available for the first time Saturday at the Holladay Distillery guest center and at the company’s retail store, McCormick on Main, which is located at 420 Main St. in Weston. Distribution throughout the Kansas City area will start in early- to mid-December. Nationwide distribution will start in the spring.
“It’s a brand new product that we created from the ground up,” said Noelle Hale, communications director for McCormick, which owns the Holladay Distillery and sells some products under the Holladay brand.
“All the feedback we’ve got so far, both here and in Ireland, shows people are very excited about this. It’s the latest addition to our portfolio of premium products.”
The Five Farms container is a wide-mouthed glass bottle with embossed details, in the style that dates back to the early 1900s. Its closure is a ceramic swing-top cap, adding to the authenticity of the design and the reusability of the container. The black glass creates an elegant presentation and allows the bottle to be recycled. The bottle swings from a metal handle that is easy to carry and gives another nod to milk containers of the past. The bottle and closure was developed specifically for this product by German based Systempack Manufaktur, a speciality bottle producer that supplies complete packing solution around glass bottles.
McCormick’s premium products include Hussong’s Tequila, Tequila Rose, Brokers Gin, 360 Vodka, Platte Valley Corn Whiskey, Triple Crown Whiskey, Tarantula and Keke.
McCormick also once again fired up bourbon production at the 161-year-old distillery in 2016, after a 30-year hiatus. The barrel-aged bourbon won’t start hitting the market until at least 2019. In the meantime, the distillery is offering White Dog Whiskey, which is the raw distillate that comes fresh off the still.