At first blush, Sturgis may seem a world away from Music City. But like two friends saddling up to a bar, the South Dakota city shares a crucial common bond with Nashville: a taste for good whiskey.
The bond goes a bit deeper, though. That’s because the whiskey that connects Sturgis and Nashville was born from a profound appreciation for good music and even better company.
“Our namesake comes from the Buffalo Chip in Sturgis, South Dakota,” says Will Thomas Reed, master blender of Buffalo Chip American Whiskey. “It’s best known for being home to hundreds of thousands of bikers every year at the big Sturgis rally. We teamed up with the owner of the Buffalo Chip and began building our team.”
The brainchild of Rod “Woody” Woodruff, Buffalo Chip American Whiskey was inspired by the famous Sturgis music festival he founded. The 10-day party, which runs in conjunction with the largest biker rally in the world, helped put the city on the map. Part concert venue, part art gallery, the ‘Chip’ is known for forging good times, new friendships and cementing lasting bonds between old friends across 600 acres of pastoral land. In fact, it’s often referred to as “The Best Party Anywhere.”
In Woodruff’s mind, it was only fitting that the music festival he brought to life had a partner spirit embodying the lifestyle of adventure Buffalo Chip was known for. To that end, he teamed up with a partner in Nashville and commissioned a whiskey that could fit the bill.
“Our CEO, who lives here in Nashville, is good friends with Woody,” says Reed. “On one of his visits to Sturgis, they decided to start their own whiskey company. That’s when our fearless leader came back to Nashville, started building the team and brought me on to work on the perfect blend for the profile they were looking for.”
Since then, Reed has been hard at work crafting a whiskey that could meet the challenge. An alumnus of East Tennessee State University, Reed had been actively touring as a singer-songwriter as both a solo artist and a supporting member in several bands for over 20 years. But a passion for whiskey pulled him away from the road for five years, during which he trained under master distiller Andrew Shand (The Glenlivet and Ben Nevis), whom he credits for his love of blending.
That reverence for blending found a perfect home at Buffalo Chip, whose whiskey is blended from three hand-selected barrels in a facility in west Nashville. Clocking in at 92 proof, it features a triple mash bill of rye, wheat and light-aged corn whiskey that elicits sweet notes of butterscotch and caramel spiked with the bold spiciness of rye. On the finish: mellow oak and vanilla notes that smack of a perfectly aged bourbon, making it a solid partner for just about any dessert course — and more. “I have enjoyed it with just about every kind of food — from Chinese takeout to rib eye steak dinners. It’s such an easy sipping whiskey,” adds Reed.
Currently, Buffalo Chip has expanded their presence to five states: Tennessee, South Dakota, Illinois, Wisconsin and Texas, with eyes on Florida in early 2021. Customers in these states can request Buffalo Chip at any liquor retailer, Reed notes.
“We are a small family-and-friends operation. We love what we do, and it comes across in our whiskey,” says Reed. “Every person in our company does multiple jobs. We all go out into market and talk to customers so that we can share our product and our story so that they better understand the experience. And it is just that, an experience and an adventure.”
For more information on Buffalo Chip American Whiskey or where to find the nearest retailer, visit buffalochipspirits.com.