In diving and in whisky, greatness is not coincidence. It is cultivated, pushed, practiced and always evolving. It’s by these words the crew behind the Defiant stills lives. They are salvage divers by trade, working at the bottom of the ocean, often in a far away land, for months on end. And when they’re above sea level, they work relentlessly to craft the most distinctive taste yet, on the whisky scene.

Founder Tim Ferris says, “We’re rethinking whisky by taking the best of Scottish tradition and combining it with American ingenuity. We’re starting a whisky revolution. Charting a new course on the journey. And we’re doing it the Defiant way.”

The Defiant way is not bound by barrels or recipes or tradition. The best ingredients, Mother Nature and their intuition, guide the distilling crew. Only four parts and nothing more, create the Defiant experience: Premium American white oak, toasted to perfection; specially cultured yeast, selected by Ferris; two-row, premium brewer’s barley; and pure water from the aquifer under the distillery. At the core of the evolution is a maturation process far more efficient than a barrel that uses cuts of hand-selected premium American white oak, toasted to perfection, which creates a much smoother finish.

How long is it aged? Take a sip, and then take a guess.

The Defiant operation is steered by Tim Ferris. His vision guides the crew, and the spirit of Defiant. And rightfully so. Tim is the founder of Defiant Marine, the international salvage diving company that was a part of New York’s Hurricane Sandy cleanup effort. Salvage diving is what took him around the globe. And it’s what inspired him to start distilling. Ferris is all about balance. Ocean and mountains. Water and fire. Storms and calm. The balance in his life is constant. The balance in his whisky is exquisite.