Black Mountain Tavern and Distillery
30855 N Cave Creek Rd Suite 140
Cave Creek, AZ 85331
(480) 513-3372
ABMR: If you wander up Cave Creek Road from Phoenix long enough, you will pass Arizona State Route 101. 8 miles to the North of there, you will find Tuscany Village. A small strip of businesses on the South East corner of Cave Creek and Desert Willow Parkway East. Turn right when you see the Barro’s Pizza sign. As you pull into the parking lot, the Black Mountain Tavern & Distillery lies in front of you.
ABMR: My day job requires me to travel. Every area I work in, I try and find a place I’ve never been. Whether it’s a clothing store, an art gallery, or a restaurant. More times than not, I find unexpected experiences and stub my toe on emeralds in the sand.
My initial visit to BMTD was brief. Lasting only one beer from Mother Road Beer. Shrimp Tacos were the highlight of my 2nd visit. For my 3rd visit, a regular bought a round of shots for everyone in the bar, including the “new guy at the end of the bar”.
Anthony Aguilera - Manager
ABMR: At some point, I met the manager Anthony Aguilera, who is very knowledgeable and pleasant. He seems to genuinely love the business of spirits. I asked questions Anthony has probably heard a million times. To his credit, he answered each and every one like it was the first. When he told me about their upcoming release party for a brand new whiskey they’ve created, I offered to write about it for ABMR. Here is part of that conversation, in his own words…
The Who, The What, The Why, The When…
Anthony: Black Mountain Tavern & Distillery officially opened it’s doors on 04/02/2016. Owners Steve Mink and Keith McCulloch are the Master Distillers here and have been mastering the art of distillation over the years because of their shared passion. Our first release was in 2016 and every two years we have consistently released a new spirit. We have released our spirits in this order: 10x distilled Gluten Free Black Mountain Vodka 12/08/2016, 10x distilled Gluten Free Black Mountain Prickly Pear Vodka 08/04/2018, and a 10x distilled Black Mountain Straight Bourbon Whiskey 12/08/2018. All three spirits are available for purchase inside the tavern and can be found at certain Total Wine locations. We distill, bottle and label our products in-house. If you visit and look through the glass windows behind the bar you can see the distillery.
Anthony: Our most popular spirit among our guests is the vodka. Guests tend to try our vodka in place of Tito’s or a Smirnoff and never have a complaint. We have a list of drinks we’ve concocted over the years, but our most popular are the Black Mountain Cosmo, Black Mountain Old Fashioned, and the Prickly Lavender.
(My favorite is the Pink Mojito. Review at the bottom)
Anthony: The new Black Mountain Straight Rye Whiskey will be released 12/05/2020. We will have roughly 500 bottles to start and will have more to follow once the aging process is finished. At the current moment it will only be available until the last bottle is sold, so make sure to grab a bottle while you can.
Here is our description of the rye:
Black Mountain Rye Whiskey is made from a 95% rye mash base. This limited release was originally barreled in August of 2016. Our new spirit has a spicy pepper flavor consistent with the high rye content and undertones of vanilla and honey to seal the flavor profile. Like all whiskey, the flavors experienced by each drinker are unique. Come in and begin your new whiskey experience inside the tavern and tag us by using #BMTDRye.
Anthony: We also have a limited release of 100 Black Mountain Holiday Gift Boxes that can be pre-ordered. The box is priced at $115 and includes 1 bottle of Black Mountain Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 1 bottle of Black Mountain Straight Rye Whiskey and 2 Black Mountain laser engraved rocks glasses.
Anthony: December 5th starting at 5pm we will be having our release event for the Straight Rye Whiskey. We will be having a dinner special that night and will be debuting our Straight Rye Whiskey at our bar for drinks. That night you will also be able to purchase bottles of all of our spirits, laser engraved pint glasses, printed mason jars and gift boxes if they are still available. All guests who pre-order a gift box will be contacted directly when they are able to pickup their gift box. It will include a label with their name on them.
ABMR: In my opinion, their Black Mountain Vodka, is out of this world. Extremely smooth with a slight chest warming effect. On par with the experience that higher end vodkas give you. The Prickly Pear Vodka makes a fabulous addition to any mixed drink. I highly recommend the Pink Mojito. It was my favorite of the drinks I tried.
ABMR: Truth be told, I am no fan of Bourbon Whiskey. I tend to gravitate towards Irish or Scotch Whiskeys. To get an expert opinion, I brought “Whiskey” Ric Bennett along for a Monday day drinking session. Ric is a guitar player who has played in various rock and country outfits here in Arizona for the last 40 years. His passion for whiskey and bourbon far surpasses mine.
“Arizona doesn’t make good bourbon” he claimed on the car ride up. “Whiskey” Ric had already formed his opinion, something to do with humidity and barrels. 30 minutes later, he was absolutely surprised how good it was. With eyes of excitement he chatted with the bartender about distilling processes and why the Southern flavor is difficult to replicate. I listened while I sipped my Pink Mojito.
Black Mountain Tavern & Distillery is worth the drive. Especially if you are a connoisseur of spirits. I am always a fan of people who create businesses with products they make. This is the first place I have ever known to distill their own liquor. Hopefully, you can make it to their release party on Saturday. Or maybe you buy a holiday gift set for that whiskey lover in your life.
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Contact: info@blackmountaindistillery.com