“Is this Heaven?”
“No, it’s Iowa.”
Field of Dreams, 1989
In the early days of whiskey making, you would be hard-pressed to find a distiller who didn’t also carry the title of farmer. Whiskey was, first and foremost, an agricultural product. Farmers transformed their excess grain into distilled spirits to prevent spoilage, supplement their homegrown income, and secure the revelry of their family and their neighbors alike.
In eastern Iowa, the agricultural roots of distillation still grow deep into the rich Midwestern soil. The Quint family founded Cedar Ridge Distilling in 2005, establishing the first legal distillery in Iowa since before prohibition—but they were farmers first. Their ancestors settled in Winthrop, Iowa in the late 1800s, building a farm and a life shaped by the American dream.
“While the equipment has changed, the job hasn’t,” says Jeff Quint in a video for Cedar Ridge Distilling. “Get the seeds in the ground and let nature do the rest.”
Located in America’s heartland, Iowa is nearly synonymous with corn. This mid-sized Midwestern state (26th in the nation by land area) produces an astounding amount of the grain—2.77 billion bushels in 2025, according to recent reports.
It’s no surprise, then, that Cedar Ridge started its whiskey production with bourbon. While most Iowa corn is sent to market and sold to the highest bidder (or for whatever the going price is at the time), the Quints’ grain instead heads straight to their distillery in nearby Swisher, Iowa.
Cedar Ridge describes its Iowa Bourbon Whiskey as “a clean, approachable sipping whiskey.” The grain-to-glass spirit won Gold and Best of Category at the 2018 Los Angeles International Spirits Competition Awards, helping to put Iowa whiskey on the national map.
Corn whiskey may have been the obvious starting point for Cedar Ridge, but The Quint family didn’t stop there. Inspired by Scotch whisky (and the rich finishing techniques of historic distillers The Balvenie), they began producing single malt whiskey using barley sourced from Canada. Those early experiments and releases evolved into what is now The QuintEssential, with Batch No. 001 released in 2020.
(Well played with the name, Quint family. We love a good play on words around here.)
By 2025, they were already on Batch No. 017 and had racked up an impressive list of awards for the spirit: Double Gold at the 2025 SIP Awards; Gold at the IWSC in 2024; and a 5/5 rating from The Whiskey Wash, to name a few.
“With upfront deep stone fruit balanced by a subtle peat finish, this single malt sets the American Standard with a taste that’s perfectly rich and complex,” reads the label on the front of my bottle of The QuintEssential Signature Blend Batch No. 017.
It’s a bold claim, especially given the vast and rapidly expanding landscape of American Single Malt producers. And yet, there is something genuine in the assurance. The brand’s tagline, Authentic by Nature, speaks not only to their agricultural roots but also to a distinctly Midwestern sensibility marked by hard work and humility.
Tasting The QuintEssential Single Malt Whiskey (Batch 017)
The QuintEssential is released in batches, but Cedar Ridge’s unique Solera aging process ensures a continuous line threaded through every bottle of single malt whiskey that they produce. More commonly associated with wine-making—another part of the Cedar Ridge craft beverage lineup—the solera method can be found at a handful of distillers, offering a unique way to marry the flavors of the whiskey while creating consistency over time.
Cedar Ridge uses two styles of two-row malted barley to make The QuintEssential whiskey, one peated and one unpeated. They’re first double distilled and aged separately, coming off the still at 148 proof and cut to 120 proof before going into a barrel.
The peated distillate is aged in ex-bourbon barrels for four to five years before entering the solera barrel. The unpeated distillate spends just two to three years in an ex-bourbon barrel before being transferred into finishing barrels.
Because Cedar Ridge makes both bourbon and wine, there is no shortage of barrels on site, but they do pull from other sources as well. The exact mix of finishing can include rum, wine, port, sherry and fruit barrels, among others.
After its initial aging and finishing, the fresh whiskey is transferred into the solera cask, a giant wooden barrel that never runs dry. There, the new whiskey blends and integrates with a continually aging “motherbatch” of single malt spirit. Though every batch has its nuances, this process ensures that every bottle of whiskey carries with it the full history of Cedar Ridge’s single malt whiskey expressions.
My first sniff of The QuintEssential Batch 017 is bright with stone fruits like plum and peach. There’s a hint of sweetness too, like buttered dessert breads mingling with vanilla.
On the tongue, the fruit flavors take a step back, swirling and slipping into malty, oaky pepper. A hint of peat smoke dances around the gently sweet flavors, lingering on the tongue as the rest fades away.
At 92 proof, it’s an easy sipper, but with complexity and depth more often found at a higher ABV. The proprietary blend of cask finishing adds intrigue without overwhelming the core character. That’s a testament to the expertise of Cedar Ridge’s head blender Murphy Quint. In the wrong hands, Cedar Ridge’s complex finishing approach could easily veer into overcomplication, but here, the flavors remain well-balanced.
The excellence of the whiskey aside, The QuintEssential stands as a testament to the creative freedom that American Single Malt Whiskey distillers enjoy. With no restrictions on stills, barrels, or aging timelines, the category invites experimentation, giving whiskey makers the opportunity to shape unique expressions that are unmistakably their own.
In Cedar Ridge’s case, that freedom takes the form of a solera-finished single malt born in the heartland of America—and a distinctive spirit that couldn’t be made anywhere or by anyone else.
Sláinte, y’all.
In My Glass
The QuintEssential Signature Blend Single Malt Whiskey (Batch No. 017)
Cedar Ridge Distillery – Swisher, Iowa
46% ABV; No Age Statement
On My Desk
Remington Rand Deluxe Model 5 (which is so pretty, but needs so much work)
Read More from the Seven Days of American Single Malt Whiskey 2026
- Day One: McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey
- Day Two: New Riff Sour Mash Single Malt
- Day Three: Stranahan’s Mountain Angel 12 Year
- Day Four: Redwood Empire Foggy Burl Single Malt Whiskey
A Note of Gratitude
This bottle of The QuintEssential was sent to me by the folks at Cedar Ridge. Thank you to the Quint family and Cedar Ridge team for letting me sample and share their fascinating whiskey!
The Whisky Type 
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