The Red River Brewing Company opened its doors on Memorial Day 2018 with a selection of craft beers made from award-winning Red River water. By fall of that year, they were an award-winner with the New Mexico Brewers’ Guild.
Now, in 2021, the first brewery in Red River has made history with national and world-wide implications by winning a prestigious award for the distilling aspect of their operation.
The 2021 American Distilling Institute’s (ADI) Judging of Craft Spirits took place in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 23-25, 2021, with more than 900 of the world’s best craft spirits from more than 300 craft distilleries entered to win one of five top awards.
During the competition, 48 expert judges conducted blind taste tests and scored all of the entries. (The ADI is the national association for craft distillers in America.)
Red River Brewing Company & Distillery was notified that their handcrafted Silver King Vodka was judged the best Certified Craft Vodka in America, having been awarded the 2021 Best of Class award for Craft Vodka, the 2021 Double-Gold Medal for Craft Vodka, and the 2021 Best of Category award for Neutral Character Vodka.
“We entered our Silver King Vodka, named after the Silver King mine, in a national competition,” says Michael Calhoun, co-owner and founder of Red River Brewing Company, “and we learned that we took top honors in the Vodka category – the Best of Class Award for the best American Craft Vodka.
“It’s important to note that we’re not talking about the big factory distillers like Smirnoff, Grey Goose and Tito’s. We’re talking about small, independently owned craft distilleries like us. There are hundreds of us across the country.
“We started distilling our own spirits in fall of 2019, just before COVID happened. We distill our own vodka, rum, gin, tequila and whiskey. It’s a relatively new part of our operation. It’s something we are proud of and something we always intended to do, but it wasn’t something we did from Day One. I’m happy we finally did it!
“RRBC&D is currently making vodka and gin, as well as two types of rum – a white rum and a spiced rum. We also make our agave distilled spirit, which is tequila, but we can’t call it tequila because it’s not made in Mexico. It’s as good as any white tequila you get out of Mexico.”
All brewing and spirits recipes were defined by Chris Calhoun, son of owners Michael and Sharon Calhoun and creator of the Silver King Vodka.
