Baltimore, Md.-based Sagamore Spirit introduced its premium Sagamore Spirit Straight Rye Whiskey in three major markets in the United States: Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and Delaware, with New York to follow shortly, the company says.
“Maryland has a deep history and heritage with distilling rye whiskey that dates back to before Prohibition,” Sagamore Spirit President Brian Treacy said in a statement. “Maryland was home to more than 40 distilleries and we honor that tradition by making a spirit worthy of our state’s distilling heritage.”

To help create an innovative and appealing package that would closely adhere to the new premium spirit’s quality taste and smooth finish, the company partnered with Saxco International LLC, Horsham, Pa., it says. “Our role was to help create an attractive and colorful new package that would also deliver a prominent and distinctive shelf presence and bring the project to a successful conclusion,” said Beth-Anne Kline, regional sales manager for Saxco International, in a statement.

Sagamore’s brand management team, in partnership with Sagamore Creative, Baltimore, Md., and Ptarmak, Austin, Texas, worked with Saxco to create a high-quality, custom mold that included a diamond-shaped 750-ml flint bottle with flat shoulders and embossed logos on the front and back as well as a heavy glass bottom, the company says. The bottle also incorporates embossed 1909 logos on the front and back and a three-diamond logo on the bottom. The 1909 logo signifies the year the Sagamore Farm Springhouse was built. The springhouse is where the company draws water to cut its rye whiskey to 83-proof, it adds. “The farm is built on a shelf of limestone rock and limestone water makes for some of the best rye whiskey you can have,” Treacy said.

The whiskey also features a custom black-wood-top natural cork assembly for the bottle’s closure, which was over-fitted with a burgundy-and-black capsule, it adds. Tricolor pressure-sensitive labels also have been applied by hand to each bottle and each bottle is hand-labeled with a batch number, bottler number and is signed by the bottler, the company says.

Sagamore Straight Rye Whiskey is 41.5 percent alcohol by volume and blends two different mash bills, a high-rye and a low-rye, and then adds the Sagamore Farm spring-fed water to cut the whiskey to proof, it says. The retail price for a 750-ml bottle is $40.