Copper Fox Rye

Rating: 14/23 Back to tasting this weird rye that reminds me (and others) of an Islay scotch. N: There's a prominent smoky, maritime (salty, briny) quality. Some richness from the malt mixes with the young rye tartness and spice to sort of create the illusion of a young Islay scotch that went a bit light on the peat. The rye's herbal character does make the smoke seem a bit more like peat, furthering the illusion. I do get a hint of apple as well, but it's faint. There's a fair amount going on in this herbal layer and it blends into vegetal, but it's honestly difficult to describe. There's some mineral, but not too much of it. P: It's smoky with some seaspray, apple, saltiness, sweet creek water, herbaceousness, light vegetal character, and some spice. It's not bad, but it does taste young, kind of like a young Island (Islay?) scotch. I think my description of Islay in the past suggested a bunch of peat that wasn't really there, though the herbal quality mixed with the rye tartness and smoke can reasonably be misinterpreted as peat. I think what this has is more of smoke with a natural herbal flavor and light aging (so little chance for the smoke to dissipate). It's shocking how sweet it is behind all of the smoke and herbal flavors, sort of like how sour candy manages to disguise how much sugar it has. This quality reminds me a tad of Los Vecinos Easpadin. It actually hurts my teeth sometimes to drink this because of the sweetness. The barley's richness really holds the whole thing together, but the barley is pretty young. This helps to sell the young, rugged, maritime quality, but I can't help but think that the barley could use some more complexity and the whole thing could benefit from just a bit more cohesion. Still, there's no excessive alcohol presence here. It took me ages to identify this weird flavor hanging out here, but I finally worked it out: dill pickles. I'm not sure how I feel about it being in here, but I do like dill pickles. This simultaneously gives this more credibility as a rye and accentuates its maritime ruggedness. F: That smoke and herbal character sticks around for ages, along with some apple. A bit of mineral flits in and out, along with a bit of barley that is simultaneously rich, sweet, and youthful I was baffled by this for a while, but I think I finally understand it. It has a lot of barley and is also smoked twice - once with apple wood - and is aged in two separate bourbon barrels. Considering all of this, the brash scotch influence makes a lot more sense, particularly when considering the rye's own herbal flavor. This is essentially a blended scotch with the illusion of peat. The balance is certainly off-kilter, but in a rugged scottish sailing way (like a young Islay scotch), so it works. It's not bad, but now that I realize that the distillery has essentially layered some makeup on very young juice, I can't decide if I'm impressed by the illusion or disappointed by the fraud. So, weirdly, this is best compared with malts rather than rye. This is a big improvement over Kings County Peated Single Malt, but it certainly isn't as good as Corsair Wildfire. I'm now thinking that this is more in the 13 range, closer to George Dickel Rye. The Dickel somehow actually has a fuller flavor, though this has a lot more going on. This "rye" is well worth trying, but I can't say that I'd recommend buying a bottle at $40. I wouldn't regret it, but I probably won't be buying another one myself. This also reminds me of Los Vecinos Espadin with its herbal, slightly vegetal smoky funkiness and youth. Los Vecinos has a brasher, more assertive character with more smoke and less sweetness, but it's also less rich and rounded. Which, frankly, it should be. Because it's joven mezcal. To be even comparing this with mezcal is wild. I think I prefer the Los Vecinos, but not by a tremendous margin - 2 points at most. Unfortunately, this just clearly has a light, immature profile. Put up against the likes of Los Vecinos Espadin or Corsair Wildfire, this tastes weak. There's a lot of potential here, but that 20 month aging is just not enough for this to hold its own. I'm fairly confident that a 12 would be unfairly harsh, but am pretty skeptical of a 15. A 14 does seem entirely possible though. This reminds me a fair amount of Smokey Joe, so I wish I had some of that around for comparison. Unlike George Dickel Rye (the closest rye I have to this in terms of general profile), this does a pretty good job of masking its youth. You know, I am increasingly appreciating this and I think it's pretty similar in quality to Smokey Joe, which I gave a 15, so I'm going up to a 14 on this and I think that a 15 is just as likely as a 13 now.

The nose has plenty of herbal character with a ton of vegetable funk. There's some tartness in it too. I would have guessed it to be tequila based on the smell, or possibly an Islay Scotch. The mouthfeel is fairly viscous. The palate is quite spicy with a big peppery hit (including white pepper as well) mixed with some herbaceous mint with vegetable sweetness. This is truly a unique drink. There some of that malty character that is present in Westward Single Malt as well, bringing in more richness to tie in with the vegetable flavor. The bitter flavors of the herbs are oddly smooth and blend well with he rest of the flavors. There's something a bit salty like the ocean and seaweed, giving this a further rugged character. It's hard to pick out the individual herbs and such, but it has a fair amount of complexity nonetheless. It's very interesting to drink. There's quite a bit of smoke in here and could be convinced that there's peat too. It doesn't taste exceptionally old, but I would be we have guessed that this was not yet even 2 years old! That must be because of the wood chips, but it's surprising that they don't overpower the flavor or make it one dimensional. Some of that rye tartness and minerality does come through, but it balances well with the rugged nature, the mineral surprisingly not making the whiskey taste weak. There's definitely a bit of fruity richness in here that reminds me of rich apples, but I'm surprised by how subtle and subdued it is given that apple wood and cherry wood were used for the malting and the applewood was again included as chips during the aging. This is a shockingly good whiskey, though it may be upsetting for rye drinkers that it tastes to unusual. This is highly intriguing and surely a sipper. The sweetness is nice and mixed with the rich flavors it doesn't seem at all overpowering. A grassy, grainy flavor is present without being overly forceful. The whole thing reminds me a bit of Laphroaig 10 on a good day. Excellent use of wood chips in this to create such a rich, smoky whiskey. In direct comparison, Laphroaig has more smoke and peat, but also a lighter overall flavor with more floral notes and vanilla. Laphroaig has more flavors clearly standing out from a single swig, but it's less rich overall. Frankly, this could pass as a 12 year old Scotch easily and might even work as an 18 or 21. It would be harder to pass off as a 25 though. This isn't a mind-blowing whiskey in terms of quality, but it is still very good. It's very enjoyable to drink. It's less fruity and floral than Caol Ila 12, with less of a Pinot noir acidity and less of a toasty richness. Call Ila 12 actually tastes really nice after Copper Fox Rye. After tasting Call Ila 12, this has a greater sense of youthful immaturity, though it by no means tastes like a baby whiskey - it just doesn't have the same marriage and balance of flavors that older whiskeys have. It reminds me a bit of Johnnie Walker Green in how the flavors blend together so that there's more of a general feeling of richness than any particular flavors. There's definitely substantially more Sherry flavor in the Caol Ila than in the Laphroaig or Copper Fox. With its comparatively fun fruitiness, the Laphroaig has some advantage over the Copper Fox. Really, all 3 are different and enjoyable for their own merits. It's really a tough call among them, though I think I might take the Laphroaig and Copper Fox over the Caol Ila by just a tad. There's even some hints of butterscotch in the sweetness here. What a delightfully surprising dram. It's no Johnnie Walker Green though and I think for the extra few bucks, I'd pay up for the improvement. On a subsequent tasting, I partially recant what I said about this tasting like an Islay Scotch. While it does have some of that herbal flavor (e.g. band aids) of Laphroaig 10 and other scotch, the herbal flavor largely just seems like a much stronger, more bitter version of what is in Templeton 4. This whiskey shows a strong influence from flavorful grain rather than character from peat or from the barrel. I would love to love this whiskey, but although it is interesting, rich, and different, it is hard to find a use for it and there's something just a tad unpleasant in its flavor profile. Maybe it's an acquired taste though like Islay Scotch. If it had its own genre, maybe the flavors would be standard enough that it would taste really good. Or maybe it would be a mediocre example of its category.

This isn't an actual tasting. I don't have this (or any other dram) on hand. I was just contemplating and thought I could add a bit more clarity to some of what I posted previously. Firstly, this certainly does taste like an Islay Scotch. It's bizarre, but it absolutely is the case because of the applewood smoke and high percentage of barley that Copper Fox uses. The flavor profile is kind of tart with green apple. It isn't as full and rich as most Islay drams, but it's too smoky to really think of any other Scotch-producing region, barring a couple of exceptions like Longrow and Ballechin. What I really wanted to add here though is that it's finally hit me that the particular distillery this tastes like is Kilchoman. Kilchoman has kind of thin middle that lacks a lot of the funk present in most Islay Scotch and it has a bit more a green apple and lemon fruity side to it. It also isn't quite as complex as most of the standard offerings (e.g. Laphroaig 10, Caol Ila 12). These particular elements make it fairly unique among Islay distilleries. I presume that the underlying reason for this is that Kilchoman is a new distillery, so: (1) It doesn't have a lot of old distillate to bottle, causing it to retain more of the bright notes and not have the same amount of mature nuance. (2) It probably is laying down barrels that are hearts-heavy, so there are fewer weird notes that they need to wait years to smooth out, allowing them to release sooner without putting out undrinkable swill like Ardbeg Wee Beastie.

It’s December 22, and I’m going to try a new rye whiskey every day this month. And while my rye game is not as weak as my Scotch game was this time last year, I’m always up for suggestions on good rye whiskies. And now that I have goals (it’s good to have goals), there are some key players I could use your help finding. Send me your favorite, readily-available rye. Goals (abridged): 5 ryes. 4.5 stars. Readily available. (3/5, WT101, Whistlepig 10, Whistlepig 12) I want to recognize the difference between any bourbon and any rye. First try. One of these must be an Empire Rye. I want a nasty rye. I want the one that tastes like opening up a 5 am - 1 pm bakery with your unnecessarily judgey mother-in-law. >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An intense, Rye Whiskey by Rick Wasmund founder of Copper Fox Sperryville Distillery in Sperryville, Virginia. It is double pot stilled & progressively aged for 15-20 months using apple wood toasted chips inside a used Bourbon barrel. The mash bill is 66% Virginia Rye, and 33% Virginia Thoroughbred hand-malted barley, kiln dried with apple wood & cherry wood smoke. It has an aromatic birth with notes of Sherry, plum wine, Apple-pie, cinnamon, raisin toast & a hint of caramel; while a rich & spicy life adds notes of toasted almond, pepper & flowers; that leads to a spicy death of medium length with notes of bitter-apple, flour & unbaked dough. May / October 2020 / February 20221/ February / August 2022 / January 2024

Nose: A bit muted and flat, caramel, sour cherry, a little walnut Palate: very thin peach tea, cane sugar Finish: white pepper, sour cherry and apple, a hint of vanilla Value: C- It’s a quintessential craft distiller whiskey. A bit thin and muted, with a distilling process that could probably be tweaked slightly with a far better outcome in the hands of a true master distiller. The applewood and cherrywood smoke comes out but it’s quite unbalanced and astringent. It’s okay, but it doesn’t beat the big distilling companies ryes.