Last week, we caught up with Rick Wasmund, CEO and Master Distiller at the Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, VA. Their Wasmund's Single-Malt Whisky is the only spirit of its kind in the world, and it was great to get inside the head of the guy who makes it. To meet the distiller in person, Wasmund is doing an event at Marvin tonight at 5:30 p.m. He'll be pouring samples of Wasmund's Batch 20 and, hopefully, the Shenandoah Lemonade cocktail mentioned down in the interview.

Can you give us an overview of the Wasmund philosophy/approach?

We set out to make an original whisky. Malt the barley with fruit-wood (apple and cherry) smoke, truly ... different woods in the aging process. It's important that people realize that they are two fundamentally different things: the flavors that are developed in the malting process, and the flavors that are developed in the aging process. It's easy for those two to get lumped together. But yea, we started with the theoretical: what would happen if we tried this new process, using the fruit-wood smoke and then aged on the fruit-wood chips. Then we had a product, and from there we made adjustments. If there's a philosophy, it's that we wanted to make an original expression of whisky. It seemed obvious that it was an idea that just demanded to be made. We've had about a year and a half of tweaking now, adjusting the apple-wood, doing a lot of experiments. And it's exciting because every tree, every part of a tree, is different. You can only use about 10% of the wood from a given tree. We do pre-experiments on everything, now, and some turn out better than others.

So with the traditional floor-malting that you guys do, obviously, there aren't many people still doing that. Are you the only ones still doing it?

We're the only distillery in North America that is malting our own barley. And in the world, the whole universe, we're the only ones using fruit-wood smoke for the drying phase. It's that unique. It's all connected: the reason we malt our own is so we can use the fruit-wood to add flavor in the malting stage, and make our adjustments as we go along.

Did you have any distilling experience prior to opening the company?

Prior to going to Scotland, the only experience I had was in Chemistry class. We had the keys to the lab and the teacher liked us. We gave him some of the ... purified water. But other than that I had never worked in a distillery. I was in the insurance business, so it was really quite a change. I worked with small manufacturing companies when I was in insurance, so I wasn't completely distanced from the effort involved. I think it's analogous to having a kid, and I don't have kids. But people say you love them more than you can imagine, and they're more work than you can imagine. Well, it's the same thing with Wasmund's. It's everything you've got, and then some more.

Photo by Eric Denman

You have an entire smoking room, with a slotted ceiling for the malt to sit on top of. Is that a common practice in floor malting, or is that another Wasmund invention?

Actually, I just produced a smaller version of what was at Bowmore. They malt about 30 percent of their barley, so I just took the square footage of the floor, and scaled it down for our needs. We don't have a mechanical stirrer, so we just stir it by hand.

With the relatively recent surge in micro-distilleries in this country, have you been in contact with any of them? Do you have people coming up to you, that want to make this sort of whisky?

I was invited to speak out at the American Distiller's Institute recently. I guess we're one of the success stories of the industry and there might be a couple people that are going to start malting their own barley now. I was on a panel with the Hudson Baby Bourbon guys, and the Stranahan's guys, and another guy, I think from Oregon. Somebody said something like "The thing to do is put your distillery next to a brewery, and then they can make the mash." And I got up, and said "You know, whatever works for you ... but I think you guys are out of your mind. If you want it to be easy, then just buy a bottle. Or why not have somebody else distill it for you, and then you can put it in a barrel and call yourself a distiller". It was slightly awkward, but that's just how I am: if you're going to make whisky, then get your hands on the grain and be part of what it's all about. Maybe you don't have to malt your own barley, but not making a mash? Come on. Maybe we could take it a little further, and grow our barley ourselves. I like the whole farmer thing, but that may be beyond what we want to do right now.

Do you get everything from one farmer?

Yeah, he's up in Heathsville, just on the other side of Fredericksburg on the way to Reedville. Northern Neck, VA. He's a farmer's farmer. He grows other stuff too: wheat, corn, soybeans. The wheat and barley are winter crops, and so on the same land he can plant the soybeans and the corn. So it's really symbiotic: he'd grow the barley anyway, even if he didn't harvest it, just as a cover crop. So the fact that he's actually got a market, and he gets to see his whisky in the stores, he's thrilled by that.

What do you pair Wasmund's with, food-wise? I know that many people like Scotch and a cigar, is that more like it?

I like it with a strong cheese. It'll go well with chocolate. Having an abundant supply of Wasmund's to work with in the kitchen is important. I marinated some salmon with either orange or pineapple juice and Wasmund's, then poached it with plenty of butter. Butter and whisky and salmon ... it's great. Any smoked meat, any true barbecue is going to make a great combination. But really, compared with wine or, say vodka, it's a stronger flavor. So it will stand up to stronger-flavored food, like lamb, barbecue. Not that it would go badly with a filet, I think.

What's your approach when you have a new person, maybe someone who drinks bourbon, maybe someone who drinks scotch ... what's the bridge?

I think a certain amount is the same for any spirit: you get the person to smell it. Although it's fun to give it to people blind and see what they think, I just try to tell them a little about the origins, how we use the fruit-smoke in the malting. And then you have them smell it. You can pick up elements of that in the aroma once you know what it is. But if nobody ever told you, then you wouldn't necessarily think "fruit wood" even if the back of your brain was thinking it. It wouldn't ever come to your lips because, unless you know about Wasmund's, you wouldn't think anyone in the world is doing this. Some people who taste it respond with, "Oh, it's smoky!" but I don't think it's particularly smoky whisky. Now that we've been tweaking for a while, I don't try to make it overly smoky. It's really hit its stride, flavor-wise, I think. You get them to smell it, get the aroma enticing their tastebuds, and then get them to taste it. Get them to appreciate the flavor, the mouthfeel, and the finish. Whatever it is we do, the result is something that stays with you in a very nice way. It lingers on the palate, and part of that is because it's not chill-filtered, another part is the new wood, and the other part is that people have never tasted anything quite like it before. What I find is that people who like scotch generally like it. People who like bourbon generally like it. And a fair number of people who say that they don't drink whiskey, or that they don't like whiskey, say "Wow, I can drink that". So you fall into concise ways of saying things: I don't know if it's effective or not, but I tell people it's a new branch on the whiskey family tree. It's not a scotch, it's not a bourbon, it's something that hopefully won't get lopped off in the next pruning.

Does anybody mix Wasmund's?

Yea, we do a Shenandoah Lemonade, just because I figure there's not a ton of people drinking straight whisky these days - other than you and I, of course. We do want to sell a bottle or two. So we got sort of big in a couple bars in Harrisonburg, and this guy came up with the Shenandoah Lemonade, which is mint muddled with the Wasmund's, fresh-squeezed lemons, simple syrup, with a bit of club soda floated on top. The Wasmund's comes through to an extent. I don't really like the sweetness, but on a hot summer's day, when you don't want to drink straight whisky, and you need to hydrate a bit, it hits the spot.

When you're drinking Wasmund's straight, do you add any ice or water?

I put a little water in it, usually. People say, "They added enough at the distillery." We add water after we distill it, before it goes in the barrel, then we add water after it comes out of the barrel, before it goes into the bottle. Of course you can put water in it between the bottle and the glass. That's the silliest thing I've ever heard. I think that's why alot of people don't like whisky: it's too strong. I think 96 proof is strong enough for anyone who likes it strong, but you can certainly adjust it down from there, and find your comfort level.

Have you ever done any experiments with not cutting it much, leaving it up in the barrel-proof range, around 120 proof?

Well, you know, quality control is something I'm very focused on ... Research and Development is a necessary part of the business. But seriously, I'm sure there are some people out there that would appreciate it. My thinking is that it's such a niche market. And maybe I'm incorrectly hesitant to have a whole bunch of labels out there, but we have 96 proof and I think it's damn good. And I think you have a bit of a responsibility as a distiller: you're introducing a drug. So, how strong do you need it? Would it sell, would I do it? This is a flavor, sensory, tactile treat as it is.