DISTILLERY PROFILE
Copperworks
The American Northwest is proving to be a hotbed for craft-led industries. Seattle alone has a strong wine making tradition, followed closely by a bustling craft brewing culture. But whiskey? SMWS ambassador Lee ‘Connas’ Connor caught up with Jeff Kanof, vice president and co-owner of Copperworks Distilling Company, to find out their role in the area’s growing distilling scene
BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING
Jeff Kanof arrived in the world of American whiskey after realising that the legal profession wasn’t for him. “In my experience, representing hedge funds wasn’t very rewarding,” he says. “At the end of the day, I just wanted to do something I was passionate and excited about!” And so, he duly upped sticks, left his legal world in New York City and found a new home in Seattle.
It was there he became friends with Copperworks founders Jason Parker and Micah Nutt. “Their idea was quite simple,” says Jeff. “Jason is a long-time beer brewer, dating back to the forefront of craft brewing in the Northwest back in the late 1980s. And Micah has huge experience in home brewing ‘the old-fashioned way’. About 10 years ago, after Washington changed its state legislation to allow craft distilling, they decided to apply their brewing knowledge to distilling.
Although I have a lot of transferrable skills in terms of running a business and so on, I started helping with general maintenance. Then I became Copperworks’ first employee, and eventually a partner in the business – 10 years later, here we are!”
FERMENTATION FORWARD
As far as conceiving a spirit is concerned, Jeff says it would not make sense for Copperworks to do anything other than play to their strengths and apply Jason and Micah’s brewing expertise.
“Basically, everything we do starts with a high-quality beer (minus the hops!), 100 per cent malted barley and real Brewer’s yeast,” he says. “We have a clean sanitary temperature-controlled closed fermentation that runs slightly colder than traditional single malt whiskies. We really wanted to do something different, with unique flavours, we don’t want to copy Scotch or bourbon, that’s already been done. Even though we eventually chose the double distillation method in pot stills – used widely in Scotch – and Jason is from Kentucky, he and Micah didn’t have to learn their brewing skills from another category.
“They had 60 years of experience between them when we started Copperworks, so our spirit was designed from the ground up.”
ABOVE: Jeff Kanof, vice-president and co-owner of Copperworks Distillery Co in Seattle
EAST TO WEST
So, they have the skills, they have the kit. All you need are raw materials. Fortunately for Copperworks, Washington State provides more divergence than you may be aware of.
“We’re very much a Washington distillery, we get all our barley from inside the state,” says Jeff. “What’s cool about it is that we have a dry side of the state to the east, and a wet side of the state to the west on the coast. Things grow very differently on both sides – even when we look at the same variety of barley there are differences depending on the climate in which it is grown. Add to that, we are not only looking for the most suitable barley that tastes delicious, we also want what is most suited for our own state. The possibilities are endless, and the search is most likely to go on for hundreds of years, way after I’m long gone!
“We even have a certain amount of provenance when it comes to maturation. We use a lot of new American oak casks, which gives us that full-on American-style maturation.
“But what’s cool is, because we’re making a single malt, we can then reuse them as many times as we see fit. And we’ll be able to track each use as it goes, giving us full control from day one.”
SELF-EXPLORATION
Copperworks’ journey has been an organic one, where passionate people apply their expertise, experience and know-how to exciting new mediums in the hope that they can reflect the culture and identity of their locality. So, when describing the style of their spirit Jeff, understandably, reflects on the community that has grown around the venture and the ongoing intention of creating a whiskey that Washington can be proud of.
“We have a lot of people who’ve been following us from the very beginning who buy every single release,” he says. “Every release is unique, we’re up to the 48th now. Some have different grains, some have different barrel types, some we blend differently. That has been a great learning process since day one, just like our followers, getting to know exactly what our whisky is. We’ve been very lucky with the community we have around us.
“It can be hard to describe the ‘style’ of Copperworks whiskey. We tend to get a lot of really fruity, sometimes tropical, notes which pair up well with the vanilla and notes from our new oak aging. Even things like cherry and orange rind appear. Some things may remind you of bourbon or Scotch, but in reality, it’s in its own lane. And that will shift again once our refill casks start coming through.
“We hope to have a ‘core release/release’ at some point in the future, but we’re going to let the whiskey lead us there.”
ABOVE: Copperworks’ virgin and refill American oak casks
FLAVOUR-FORWARD FRIENDS
It’s that point exactly that lead to a collaboration with the SMWS. Given that flavour comes first at Copperworks, it makes us rather comfortable bedfellows.
“We’ve always admired The Scotch Malt Whisky Society,” says Jeff. “Clearly, we focus a lot on flavour, and that’s intrinsically woven into the identity of the SMWS. The idea around what the whiskey tastes like and what it makes you think about being almost more important than where it comes from resonates with what we’re about here.
“We found out that you were looking for American distilleries to work with, we reached out thinking that there was no chance you’d want to work with a small distillery like Copperworks. We’ve been working with you now for five or six years, it’s great to know that your members can be part of our story and share great whiskey with us.”
Some members may have had the opportunity to try our single cask releases from Copperworks already, but rest assured there’s more on the way…watch this space.
ABOVE: Copperworks’ focus on flavour makes it a natural bedfellow for The Scotch Malt Whisky Society and our adventurous members
ABOVE: Kai with Jason Parker and Jeff Kanof from Copperworks, along with local SMWS ambassador Bryan McCoy in February 2020