Try TazaRay
TazaRay is Distilled at the Dalton Distillery in Dalton Georgia
What is TazaRay?
Dalton Distillery – Partner and Director of Marketing Vann Brown, Master Distiller Raymond Butler and Founder Chuck Butler, Chuck says that his Master Distiller, Raymond Butler who also happens to be his Dad, has been using an old family moonshine recipe with small amounts of sunflower seeds for more than 100 years. Chuck says his Dad’s family, “always added malted sunflower seeds to their moonshine. The whiskey market in the ’40s and ’50s was highly competitive, so they added sunflower seeds to give their (90 proof) ‘shine a distinctive taste.”
Warrior and Chief + Ray of Sunshine = TazaRay. The name of their new release is TazaRay Sunflower. The spirits name is a combination of the family’s Native American roots using the word Taza which translates into “warrior and chief” plus Ray for Chuck’s Dad, Raymond.
Using malted sunflower seeds as the primary grain and malted corn as the accompanying grain, Master Distiller Raymond Butler has achieved a gluten-free spirit featuring a unique, clean flavor profile and a hint of nuttiness at the finish. TazaRay is the world’s first sunflower powered craft spirit. It does have some corn in it but the majority of the spirit is sunflower with a “mash bill” (In North America, the proportion of different grains used for Mashing) of roughly 35% corn and 65% sunflower.
The Butler family has a long history of making distilled spirits, using the original corn whiskey recipe that goes back five generations to produce its hand-crafted quality products.
TazaRay is aged in used bourbon barrels and TazaRay Red is aged in used red wine barrels. One positive reviewer of TazaRay has suggested that TazaRay Red can replace your Sweet Vermouth in cocktails. This would be a great advantage to anyone concerned about vermouth’s being a fortified (but still relatively low alcohol) wine which will go bad over time. Both TazaRay and TazaRay Red are 45% alcohol, or 90 proof.
Site Author, David J. Curtis: David Curtis, a seasoned professional with decades of bartending and bar management experience began his career in Midtown Manhattan, NY, tending and managing bars before diving into Manhattan’s bustling nightlife club scene. Over the years, he has mastered high-volume, high-pressure bartending as the lead bartender in iconic Midtown clubs and tended bar briefly in the Wall Street area, generating over $1,350,000.00 annually in personal drink sales. He has since extended his expertise to establishments in Georgia and now Tampa in Exclusive Platinum Service Awards Clubs, Florida. David’s roles as a Bartending Instructor at the American Bartending School in Tampa, while maintaining a second job bartending, and his years experience of managing bars, and working as a Brand Ambassador along with his extensive professional library of over 1,000 bartending books, highlight his dedication to continually refining his craft. He holds a diploma in Bar Management and is BarSmarts certified by Pernod Ricard.
