Whiskey River

There is a distillery in Sperryville, Virginia called The Copper Fox Distillery (their bottled product goes under the name "Wasmund's"). They are some clever, clever folks. Economic times are tough, and they need some cash flow! How to make more money more faster? Stick a bottle under the spigot of a pot still and sell it, unaged, with a barrel. This is awesome in several ways. First and foremost, it allows them to keep a low inventory. Second, it allows them to have fewer steps in their production process. These elements together make for a high sales/rent ratio. For those pondering investing in a company, this is a very good thing.

This reminds me somewhat of the business model of the Tuthilltown Distillery in the Mid-Hudson Valley, New York area. As a young distillery, they wanted to produce high quality spirits using local ingredients. However, as a businsess, they needed positive cash flow in order to survive. Aged (brown) spirits are typically the most desirable to connoisseurs (think Scotch, Bourbon, etc.), but require lengthy ageing in wood casks in order to mature, mellow, color and aromatize. This does not make for a successful business. Tuthilltown instead took two steps towards cash flow. First, they sold apple- and grain-based clear (unaged) spirits which require but a few days of fermentation and processing to get onto the shelf. Second, they used very very small barrels to age their spirits. These casks usually hold about 53 gallons of liquid. Using such casks, you have a very low surface area to volume ratio which translates to very slow maturation (through osmosis and other processes). Tuthilltown downsized the casks to 3-5 gallons so that the products could be ready for sale in months, not years. Thus, business is booming and they will NEVER be able to produce enough spirits to meet market demands (at $40/375ml bottle, the spirits don't last long on shelves).

The good people at Copper Fox have taken this to the next level. Instead of ageing the spirits themselves (rather, in addition to), they sell boxed sets including a teeny tiny two liter cask and two 750-ml bottles of clear, pot-strength (around 125 proof) single malt barley whiskey. You fill the cask yourself (once cleaning it, of course) and age it to your taste and pleasure. I will post with updates as the months go by.



A note on copper pot stills:
There are essentially two main kinds of commercial stills, the copper pot still and the column still. The column still is generally used to produce neutral spirits. It requires less energy and man-power, and can distill a greater volume for higher "purity". Purity is the stuff that makes vodka flavorless. A pot still is labor-inensive, messy, and rather inefficient. Use of a pot still necessarily makes something more expensive than a column-distilled product. It also tastes a whole lot better. At a strength of around 62% ABV, it is much weaker than column distilled booze which comes out at up to 95% ABV. The water and gentler processing, however, allow a greater diversity of flavor compounds to come through. You can taste the difference between, say, apples and grains. Or Barley and Rye. Or Islay malt and Highlands malt. It's delicious. Come over now, and every three months from now, and I'll give you a taste so you can see.