ICYMI, Lowes Foods opened Knock Knock Spirits directly next to its Forest Dr. store last March — and the craft liquor store is continuing to offer special, locally-focused collaborations.

Their newest collaboration is a product of their partnership with Virgil Kaine, a whiskey company based in Charleston: a hand-selected, limited-edition blend of Virgil Kaine’s Ribbon-Rail Rye, exclusive to Knock Knock Spirits.

How did this collab come to be?

David Szlam, Founder + CEO of Virgil Kaine, says Knock Knock and Virgil Kaine’s partnership began with tastings, but has grown into new territory.

Virgil Kaine works on a special whiskey about once per year — and with Ribbon-Rail Rye, they wanted to develop a super-sippable rye whiskey without too much spice, and a nice cherry flavor. A big fan of chocolate-covered cherries, Szlam wanted to bring a chocolate flavor into the blend. Enter: Revelry Brewing’s chocolate malted porter barrels, into which the blend went.

Virgil Kaine made eight total barrels of the infused whiskey and held three barrels back for special retail partners — one of which went to Knock Knock.

What’s different about Knock Knock’s version?

It’s all infused whiskey — none of it was mixed with whiskey that wasn’t fortified in Revelry’s barrels. Read: It’s the sweetest batch of all the barrels, with the most chocolate porter notes and smoothest taste — and Szlam says that in his humble opinion, it’s even better than the barrel that Esquire recently named on its list of “The Hands Down Best Booze to Drink Right Now.”

Find the hand-selected batch of Virgil Kaine’s Ribbon-Rail Rye exclusive to Knock Knock Spirits next to Lowes Foods on Forest Dr. in Columbia | Photo provided

Named for the area of a railroad where two parts of a track are welded together to form one smooth, continuous rail, Ribbon-Rail Rye is smooth enough to enjoy neat, according to Szlam. (Want to get fancier? Szlam says it could also make a killer Manhattan or Old Fashioned.)

According to Josh Fisher, Category Manager of Beer and Wine at Lowes Foods, Knock Knock’s partnership with Virgil Kaine on projects like this special blend will help reach customers in a similar way that their tastings did pre-COVID — sharing stories of local distilleries and showcasing top-quality offerings to guests.

Snag a limited-edition bottle of Ribbon-Rail Rye at Knock Knock before they’re gone. Ⓟ