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Farming Partner: S.L. Hess & Sons

Distillery Partner: Reservoir Distillery

Grain History: Developed n Fluvanna County, VA, in the 1820s by crossing White Gourdseed—a soft, multi-rowed dent variety heavily cultivated by indigenous peoples of the American South—with a hardy, traditional European-colonial white flint corn.

Originally known as “Virginia Field Corn,” Cocke’s Prolific became an important Southern field corn and was grown at Monticello by Thomas Jefferson. Thought to have disappeared after the rise of modern hybrid corn, the variety was rediscovered on a South Carolina farm in 2017.

Plant Traits: A vigorous, highly prolific white dent corn known for producing multiple ears per stalk. Plants can reach substantial height, with long ears containing 10–14 rows of dense, whitish-gray kernels. The variety is noted for resilience across dual climate extremes, standing sturdy during early waterlogged soils as well as late-summer droughts.

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Farming Partner: xyz

Distillery Partner: xyz

Grain History: Rosen Rye traces its history to a Joseph A. Rosen—a Russian student protestor who fled to America and had his father mail him of 2,000 rye kernels. Plant breeder Dr. Frank Spragg of Michigan Agricultural College cultivated the sample, naming it "Rosen Rye". Known as the darling of pre-and-post-Prohibition distillers, it was prized by American rye whiskey producers and celebrated for a deeply complex, luxurious profile.

During agricultural industrialization, cross-contamination with local ryes diluted its unique traits within just seven planting seasons, and production completely collapsed by 1970 due to shifting commercial markets for corn and soybeans. Saved by the USDA seed bank, artisanal distilleries and university innovators began painstakingly multiplying seeds in 2015 to resurrect the grain.

Plant Traits: A hardy winter rye with large, distinctive bluish-green kernels. True to its Russian roots, the plant is remarkably hardy. It thrives effortlessly in poor, rocky, sandy, or heavy clay soils where wheat or corn fail, requiring virtually no fertilizers. Its historic reputation among rye whiskey producers was tied to a distinctive, complex flavor profile with baking spice, dark fruit, and vanilla notes.

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Farming Partner: Piedmont Grain & Cattle

Distillery Partner: Belmont Farm Distillery & Brewery

Grain History: A culturally significant heirloom corn traditionally cultivated and stewarded by the Cherokee people. Grown in the Three Sisters agricultural system, this variety is believed to have been carried by Cherokee families during the 1839 forced removal, the Trail of Tears. Today, Cherokee White Eagle is preserved through the Cherokee Nation’s heirloom seed stewardship efforts.

European settlers and early southern farmers heavily adopted Indigenous southern dent and white corn types like this for reliable flour and meal production.

Plant Traits: A tall, vigorous dent corn reaching 8–10 feet, typically producing two ears per stalk. Its 6–8-inch ears contain distinctive mottled kernels in ivory-white and deep violet-blue, with a characteristic dent at the crown as the kernels mature.

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Farming Partner: Fairview Cattle & Grain

Distillery Partner: Ironclad Distillery

Grain History: Grown for more than 300 years by Indigenous peoples, including Siouan and Muskogee peoples, across the coastal Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. The variety was later adopted into Gullah-Geechee foodways and became part of the region's agricultural history during the colonial era and beyond.

Plant Traits: Tall stalks producing one to two ears per plant, with hard, flint-like kernels containing dense, snowy-white starch. Known for high nutrient density and resistance to insects.

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Farming Partner: Oliver Farms

Distillery Partner: Mean Spirits Distillery

Grain History: Reid’s Yellow Dent emerged in Illinois in the 1840s from an accidental cross between a late-maturing southern dent corn and an early northern flint corn. Its southern parent, Gordon Hopkins, is reported to trace back to the eighteenth century, when it was bred from Cherokee seed stock by Virginia settlers.

As a classic dent variety, the hallmark “indentation” on the crown of each kernel results from the soft interior starch shrinking as the grain dries. This high-starch composition makes the grain well suited to milling, cooking, and conversion into fermentable sugars for distilling. It produces a bold, traditional, “bourbon-forward” spirit, with classic notes of toasted field corn, sweet cream, vanilla, and a distinctly smooth, earthy complexity.

Plant Traits: A vigorous yellow dent corn producing large ears densely packed with deep golden-yellow kernels. The variety is known for strong productivity, adaptability, and a relatively broad range of growing conditions, with maturity typically reached in 85–110 days.

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Farming Partner: The Glebe Farm

Distillery Partner: Catoctin Creek Distillery

Grain History: Red May Wheat is a legendary heirloom soft red winter wheat and Colonial America's very first farmer-selected production wheat variety. Originally brought over by English colonists in the 17th century and refined in Virginia by a post-Revolutionary wheat farmer, it became the foundational grain that dominated the agricultural economy of the American South throughout the 1800s.

Highly prized by historic and modern craft distillers as a specialized distiller’s grist, it is frequently used in heritage wheated bourbons or historic style wheat whiskeys.

Plant Traits: Features tall, stately, and exceptionally beautiful stalks. It produces a distinctly reddish hue across the fields as it hits its soft dough stage and boasts a unique "awn-tail" (a tiny whisker) right at the very tip of the seedhead. Renowned for its robust, reliable nature, it is better adapted than most modern wheats to yield reliably in poorer, less fertile colonial soils, though it requires careful management in overly rich soils to prevent lodging.

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Farming Partner:‍ xyz

Distillery Partner: MurLarky Distilled Spirits

Grain History: Ohio Blue Clarage is a historic blue semi-dent corn that emerged in the upper Ohio River Valley during the early 19th century. Developed by regional farmers between roughly 1830 and 1850, it became valued across Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky as a reliable “sure corn,” particularly for its ability to perform in the heavy clay soils common throughout the region. A blue-colored strain of the Clarage family, this highly uniform landrace strain was derived by crossing traditional local varieties, likely incorporating ancestral Indigenous blue corns cultivated in the Ohio River basin.

Used extensively for frontier whiskey and moonshine production across the Ohio Valley in the 1800s when local exchange economies relied on regional heirloom grains, Ohio Blue Clarage was valued for its relatively high natural sugar content and distinctive flavor. When harvested young, it could be eaten as a sweet table corn; when fully mature, it could be stone-ground into sweet, blue-speckled cornmeal and grits. In distilling, it yields a softer, flowery, and highly fermentable distiller's grist. High concentrations of natural anthocyanins give it a unique chemistry that yields earthy, nutty, and almond-like spirit flavors paired with a noticeably oily, rich mouthfeel.

Plant Traits: A tall, vigorous semi-dent corn reaching 7–10 feet and typically producing two 8–10-inch ears per stalk. The ears are tightly packed with uniform kernels ranging from deep blue to purple. Known for strong stalks, resistance to lodging, and reliable performance in challenging soils, the variety reaches grain maturity in approximately 100 days.

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Farming Partner: Buena Vista Farm

Distillery Partner: Caiseal Beer & Spirits

Grain History: Pungo Creek Corn, also known as Pungo Creek Butcher, is a striking multicolored heirloom dent corn preserved for generations by farming families along Pungo Creek on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The variety is closely related to Bloody Butcher, the distinctive red dent corn documented in Virginia by the 1840s, and is thought to represent a highly diversified descendant of that lineage. Over more than 165 years, farmers in the isolated coastal community selected and maintained the grain under local growing conditions, helping preserve a distinctive population shaped by the region's maritime climate.

Like many Southern field corns, its history reflects a long continuum of agricultural knowledge and adaptation. Maize itself has deep Indigenous agricultural roots, while varieties such as Bloody Butcher emerged through the interaction of Indigenous crop diversity, settler agriculture, and generations of farmer selection. Pungo Creek represents another chapter in that history: a regional landrace maintained not by a formal breeding program, but by farmers saving and replanting seed adapted to their particular place.

In distilling, Pungo Creek is reported to produce earthy, spicy, and dark-fruit characteristics, with a rich mouthfeel. Its deep pigmentation reflects naturally occurring anthocyanins, which may contribute to differences in grain chemistry and flavor. VHGP's own distilling and sensory evaluation will help determine which of these reported characteristics translate into the finished spirit.

Plant Traits: Pungo Creek produces exceptionally sturdy plants that can reach approximately 11 feet tall, with long, heavy ears measuring 9–12 inches. The ears are tightly wrapped in protective husks and display a remarkable range of colors—from deep blood-red and chocolate brown to yellow and purple—sometimes appearing together on the same ear. The variety is noted for strong stalks and substantial root systems that contribute to resistance to lodging and challenging coastal weather. It reaches full grain maturity in approximately 100 days.

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Farming Partner: xyz

Distillery Partner: xyz

Grain History: Red Fife is a legendary landrace wheat that originated in the Austrian province of Galicia, and arrived in North America in 1842 when a small sample was sent to Scottish immigrant farmer David Fife in Ontario. Most of the original planting failed, but a single surviving plant produced the seed that Fife and his family carefully saved and multiplied. From that remarkably small beginning, Red Fife spread throughout North American agriculture and became one of the most important bread wheats of the 19th century.

As Red Fife spread, farmers selected and adapted it to local growing conditions, including Indigenous and Métis farmers in the Red River Valley. Its hard red kernels, strong gluten, and reliable performance made it particularly valuable to millers and bakers and helped establish the characteristics of the hard wheats that would dominate North American bread production. The variety was eventually displaced by modern wheat breeding and industrial varieties and came close to disappearing before being preserved and revived by seed stewards, millers, and artisan bakers.

For the Mid-Atlantic, Red Fife offers an opportunity to revisit an important chapter in the history of regional wheat and flour. Its flavor is often described as rich and distinctive, with notes of toasted grain, honey, and baking spice. It can also be used in distilling, where its robust wheat character can contribute bready, full-bodied flavors to wheat spirits.

Plant Traits: A tall heritage wheat typically reaching 4–5 feet, with long, slightly curved, awnless seedheads that develop a reddish-golden color as they mature. Originally selected as a spring wheat, Red Fife has also been grown successfully as a winter wheat in regions with suitable winter conditions. Its height and vigorous growth can provide strong competition with weeds, while its long history as a landrace reflects generations of adaptation to diverse growing environments.