Distilled from Cherry and Applewood smoked Barley

This distinctive single malt has a unique mash bill of 50% cherrywood and 50% applewood smoked malt. Harvard Street Smoke was aged at least 5 years 6 months and was bottled at a proof of 88.

This batch is dedicated to the “foremost classical music satirist of all time,” Professor Peter Schickele, who lived on Harvard Street for part of his childhood. Schickele’s alter-ego, “P.D.Q. Bach (1807-1742),” is known as “the pimple on the face of music.” Mt. Pleasant artist, Nicholas Ledyard, brought his unique paper art talent to this label. The stunning label art is based on the photo of Professor Schickele by Peter Schaaf, captioned “P.D.Q. Bach being rewarded for his (dis)service to classical music”.

Click on an image to view the original paper artwork in more detail.

Label Art by Mt. Pleasant Artist Nick Ledyard

Nick Ledyard has worked in many mediums, but fell for paper cutting after being introduced to it by his high school art teacher. Since then, he has almost exclusively created with paper, typically layering carefully-cut cardstock to create semi-3D pieces focused on a wide range of subjects.

He moved to Mt. Pleasant in 2013 when he began teaching elementary school in Tenleytown. While cutting paper is now his full time career, he continues to teach at his original DCPS school, instructing paper arts and drumming courses after school.

You can see more of his work on his Instagram, @dcpaperarts, his website, www.dcpaperarts.com, or at most first Saturdays of each month at the Mt. Pleasant Farmers’ Market.

The southern boundary of Mt. Pleasant first appeared on maps as Harvard Street in 1913. Back then, many of the local streets were named after famous colleges – in 1905 Yale Street was renamed Fairmont, Princeton Street became Girard, Dartmouth Street became Lamont, and Columbia Street became Irving.

Harvard Street American Single Malt Whiskey lives up to TTB’s recently released standards for an American Single Malt: (1) must be distilled at one U.S. distillery, (2) must be mashed, distilled and aged in the U.S., (3) must be sourced from a fermented mash of 100% malted barley, and (4) must be stored in oak barrels (new or used). This single malt stands out in its class, with the malted barley used to produce this bottle smoked over 50% applewood and 50% cherrywood. A truly A+ authentically-going-places kind of quality that will pick you up after getting punched in the face.

Who is that getting punched in the face?

Born in 1935 in Ames, Iowa, Peter Schickele is a composer and humorist who lived on Harvard Street for part of his childhood. Although he composed “serious” classical music, he gained his infamy through satirical compositions recorded under the stage name “PDQ Bach” – first developed in 1953. Through the years, Schickele went so far as to concoct an entire biography for his alter ego and published it in a book, “The Definitive Biography of PDQ Bach”. He is known for his outrageous depictions on his album covers and in the media (one of which we selected for our label). The PDQ is a take on the name of one of Johan Sebastian Bach’s many sons, Carl Philip Emmanual Bach – known as C.P.E. Bach – a pretty darned good composer in his own right.

Enjoy this whiskey with a cigar or, better yet, a jazz cigarette, while listening to one of our favorite PDQ Bach selections, such as “Suite No. 1 for the Cello All By Its Lonesome,” or “Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds & Percussion”.