Virginia Distillery Releases Three New Whiskies in Courage & Conviction Line

Virginia Distillery Company has announced three new whiskies in its Courage & Conviction product line. These are individual bottlings of the core trio of casks — bourbon, sherry and cuvée — that comprise the flagship Courage & Conviction American Single Malt.

“These are a great way for us to highlight the casks that are foundational to the Courage & Conviction line,” says Virginia Distillery Company CEO Gareth H. Moore “One example is that we are one of only a handful of distilleries in the world to use these unique cuvée casks, a profile developed by the late Dr. Jim Swan.”

Courage & Conviction Bourbon Cask aged in ex-bourbon casks sourced from Kentucky, which adds notes of vanilla, caramel, butterscotch and toffee to the whisky, the company reports. Courage & Conviction Sherry Cask uses three different sherry casks — Fino, Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez — which gives the whisky notes of cherry, fig, golden raisin and caramelized plum.

Courage & Conviction Cuvée Cask aged in a “STR” cask sourced from European red wine products. The cask is shaved, re-toasted and re-charred, meant to energize the wood sugars, the company says. This brings forward notes of raspberry, cherry, brown sugar, cocoa and baking spice.

Each expression is an American Single Malt whisky, aged a minimum of three years onsite in Virginia. The suggested retail price for each of these three bottlings is $84.99 per 750-ml. bottle.

The first batch of these three new whiskies is dedicated to Nancy Fraley, a master blender and consultant who works with distilleries worldwide on maturation programs and sensory analysis.

“Nancy is a great friend and mentor to our team at Virginia Distillery Company,” says Moore. “We are thankful for her guiding nose and so happy we can recognize her by dedicating the inaugural batch of these three new expressions to her.”

The whiskies become available to Virginia consumers beginning March 17 at Virginia ABC stores, and through direct-to-consumer shipping via the distillery’s website. Nationwide direct-to-consumer shipping starts in early April, and the whiskies will be available when the distillery’s visitors center re-opens later this spring.

Roll out to retailers in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. begins in early-to-mid April. Retailers in Alabama, North Carolina and Ohio will have limited availability during the same timeframe. Michigan retailers will receive the whiskies beginning in May.

The inaugural batch of Courage & Conviction, dedicated to Dr. George G. Moore, released in spring of 2020. The Dr. Jim Swan batch of Courage & Conviction released in fall 2020. 

The flagship release of Courage & Conviction is a combination of these three casks, with a target profile of 50% bourbon casks, 25% sherry casks and 25% cuvée wine casks.