Hi everyone!
I work at Copper Fox, a small craft distillery in Sperryville, Va. We were the first distillery in North America to malt our own barley and the first to smoke our malt with apple and cherry wood. We also age with apple wood in used bourbon barrels. We make a Single Malt, a Rye and gin. We're a very hands on operation so I'm hoping to find interesting ways to better our production. Also hoping along the way I can share my personal experiences working with spirits and problem solving strategies.
http://www.copperfox.biz" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
(we've been working on a new website design and should be up and running by next week)
Cheers!
Hannock
Hello from Va
Moderator: Site Moderator
Re: Hello from Va
Welcome to HD, I left Scotland a few weeks ago and studied some of their malting techniques in Peat. Lots of great info here and we also have a craft distillers section you might want to check out.
Re: Hello from Va
Welcome to the forums. I have just started with AG and using rye malt. Love the flavor it has and want to do more with it. I'll be looking forward to any insight you may have when it comes to rye. Where I am, there is no local source to purchase rye malt and what I have ordered is quite pricey, so getting the most out of what I have is essential. Unmalted grains are available, although rye I have only found as pure rye flour through a friend who owns a bakery. May give it a go with enzymes (sebstar htl and sebamyl gl). Hate to bug you hear for tips, so maybe start something in grains or recipe development.
And again,welcome!
And again,welcome!
Re: Hello from Va
Welcome Hannok. AHHHHH copper fox. familiar with them. I have had their single malt in white and Rye in white. I tried to oak them myself. I think I remember thinking pretty good buy for 132proof and I think it was $20ish. The single malt wasn't much diff in price. Welcome and please share all the info you can.
Re: Hello from Va
Welcome, enjoy the forums.
there is lots here to learn even for the pros! you're probably in a small crowd whose boss doesn't mind you being on HD while you are at work!
there is lots here to learn even for the pros! you're probably in a small crowd whose boss doesn't mind you being on HD while you are at work!
I finally quit drinking for good.
now i drink for evil.
now i drink for evil.
-
S-Cackalacky
- retired
- Posts: 5990
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2013 4:35 pm
- Location: Virginia, USA
Re: Hello from Va
Been meaning to visit your establishment - you're not far from me. I had a look at your website a while back and see that your aging technique is basically the way a lot of hobby distillers do it. Halfbaked has talked about the quality of your spirits on here before - can't wait to take a sample myself.
Welcome to the forums and good luck to you.
Welcome to the forums and good luck to you.
Every new member should read this before doing anything else:
Re: Hello from Va
Hi - I visited your distillery and walked away with a bottle of the Rye - loved it.. It was kinda quirky tasting but I loved it - highly recommend it. I also bought a small barrel and I use it to store my own stuff. I asked for some of your malted grain and bought 30 lbs and made my own with it - good stuff.. I would love to be able to use your grain all the time but I found a similar grain online which is cherrywood smoked - good stuff as well.
I have a question - how do you folks do your cuts? Just by ABV? Do you use corn at all in any of your products? Is your grain non-GMO local?
I guess a few questions
Anyway welcome to the forum.
I have a question - how do you folks do your cuts? Just by ABV? Do you use corn at all in any of your products? Is your grain non-GMO local?
I guess a few questions
Anyway welcome to the forum.
-
S-Cackalacky
- retired
- Posts: 5990
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2013 4:35 pm
- Location: Virginia, USA
Re: Hello from Va
I finally got to visit Copper Fox Distillery today. My daughter and I dropped in for the tour and tasting. I can't comment much on the flavor. I don't drink much except for my own. I tasted the single malt, the rye, a bourbon style whisky, and the gin. I can say that the gin was very nice. The three whiskies were OK to my taste, but I've grown kinda partial to my own.
The distillery space was much smaller than I imagined, but then I don't have anything to compare it to because this was my first visit to a distillery. Each room within the building served its purpose. The main area after entering the front door was a lounging area, tasting area, and the gift shop. There was a malting room much like I've seen in Youtube videos of Scottish distilleries. The grain is malted on the floor. Next to that room was the drying/smoking kiln. It's my understanding that the grain is wood (applewood(?)) and peat smoked during the drying process. The still room had the still, mash boiler and fermenters - mostly all stainless steel. They had one main still - guessing 300 gallons or so. It has an onion top and what looked like a 3 or 4 inch lyne arm over to a thumper. The thumper is about a 50 gallon all copper alembic still. They use a traditional flake stand - wooden barrel with a worm.
They don't seem to be real precise with cuts. They base it on time into the run and ABV. The guide said they run fores and heads for about 2 hours and tails for a certain amount of time also - total run time about 13 hours. They had a ss container labeled heads and tails(?) and another labeled for the hearts cut. They simply moved the take off from one container to the other depending on how much time into the run they were. I think the guide said they also confirm tails by sampling for ABV. With my limited pallet, I didn't really notice any discernible taste of heads. Seemed all that I sampled was almost overly smooth, but then, for some stupid reason I added water to each sample. I usually drink neat at about 90 to 100 proof.
The next room over from the still room was the aging room. They use mostly applewood and cherry chips in used whiskey barrels. The first year of aging is on the chips with the barrels standing on end. It's my understanding that after a year, it is aged off the chips with the barrels laying on their sides. They also sell unaged white dog versions of their rye and single malt at 128(?) proof. I didn't taste either of those. In their gift shop they sell a large and a small barrel aging kit. The small one comes with two liters of white dog and the large with 3 liters.
To sum it up, it appears that they take what they do very seriously and take pride in the finished product. For what it's worth, some guy on the internet named Ralfy at ralfy.com did a critique of their single malt and gave it a rating of 86 out of 100. He seemed fairly pleased and offered up suggestions for improvement.
I came away with a tee shirt and a Glen Carin style whisky glass with the Copper Fox name and logo on it. I'm sure my SF and UJ will taste mighty fine from that glass.
The distillery space was much smaller than I imagined, but then I don't have anything to compare it to because this was my first visit to a distillery. Each room within the building served its purpose. The main area after entering the front door was a lounging area, tasting area, and the gift shop. There was a malting room much like I've seen in Youtube videos of Scottish distilleries. The grain is malted on the floor. Next to that room was the drying/smoking kiln. It's my understanding that the grain is wood (applewood(?)) and peat smoked during the drying process. The still room had the still, mash boiler and fermenters - mostly all stainless steel. They had one main still - guessing 300 gallons or so. It has an onion top and what looked like a 3 or 4 inch lyne arm over to a thumper. The thumper is about a 50 gallon all copper alembic still. They use a traditional flake stand - wooden barrel with a worm.
They don't seem to be real precise with cuts. They base it on time into the run and ABV. The guide said they run fores and heads for about 2 hours and tails for a certain amount of time also - total run time about 13 hours. They had a ss container labeled heads and tails(?) and another labeled for the hearts cut. They simply moved the take off from one container to the other depending on how much time into the run they were. I think the guide said they also confirm tails by sampling for ABV. With my limited pallet, I didn't really notice any discernible taste of heads. Seemed all that I sampled was almost overly smooth, but then, for some stupid reason I added water to each sample. I usually drink neat at about 90 to 100 proof.
The next room over from the still room was the aging room. They use mostly applewood and cherry chips in used whiskey barrels. The first year of aging is on the chips with the barrels standing on end. It's my understanding that after a year, it is aged off the chips with the barrels laying on their sides. They also sell unaged white dog versions of their rye and single malt at 128(?) proof. I didn't taste either of those. In their gift shop they sell a large and a small barrel aging kit. The small one comes with two liters of white dog and the large with 3 liters.
To sum it up, it appears that they take what they do very seriously and take pride in the finished product. For what it's worth, some guy on the internet named Ralfy at ralfy.com did a critique of their single malt and gave it a rating of 86 out of 100. He seemed fairly pleased and offered up suggestions for improvement.
I came away with a tee shirt and a Glen Carin style whisky glass with the Copper Fox name and logo on it. I'm sure my SF and UJ will taste mighty fine from that glass.
Every new member should read this before doing anything else:
Re: Hello from Va
nice review SC.
I'd like some feedback on aging on cherrywood chips from anyone that gives them a go. i did two litre recently (loved the color and flavour) with UJ hearts but they gave me a screaming headache, yet same batch UJ on oak was fine.
curious to know if it was just me, the batch or the cherry wood. i'm going to try the cleanest heart cut i can find again and see what happens to eliminate the cut mistake possibility...and see if it's me or wood.
if y'all are using cherrry i would assume you would have a much larger sampling to offer an opinion on? just curious....
not being negative on cherry wood since this is a very, very limited experience on my part, just looking for more info and tasting opinions.
sry if it's too far off topic....i'll keep an eye out in craft distillers and flavouring threads for more info....
I'd like some feedback on aging on cherrywood chips from anyone that gives them a go. i did two litre recently (loved the color and flavour) with UJ hearts but they gave me a screaming headache, yet same batch UJ on oak was fine.
curious to know if it was just me, the batch or the cherry wood. i'm going to try the cleanest heart cut i can find again and see what happens to eliminate the cut mistake possibility...and see if it's me or wood.
if y'all are using cherrry i would assume you would have a much larger sampling to offer an opinion on? just curious....
not being negative on cherry wood since this is a very, very limited experience on my part, just looking for more info and tasting opinions.
sry if it's too far off topic....i'll keep an eye out in craft distillers and flavouring threads for more info....
I finally quit drinking for good.
now i drink for evil.
now i drink for evil.