Citrus zest | Malt-steeped tea | Pine | Light brown sugar

Toasted orange peel | Crisp apple | Dried apricot | Sandalwood | Nutmeg | Clove | Lively

Apricot | Raisin | French oak spice | Lingering warmth

Copperworks Distillery Exclusive Single Cask No. 97-2 is a unique expression because it’s a hand-fill offering, allowing distillery visitors to fill their own bottle and then add the cask details to their bottle’s label. For those who don't want to hand-fill, the distillery will hand-fill on their behalf and ship to the consumer, if preferred. Because the whiskey remains in the cask until it’s thieved for bottling, it continues to age and transform until it's completely emptied, bottle by bottle.

Cask No. 97-2 is the distillery’s only French oak cask. The whiskey was distilled from 100% single-varietal Baronese pale malt barley from Joseph’s Grainery in Colfax, Washington, the same grain Copperworks used for a previous edition of their Farmsmith. However, at 7 years, 6 months, Distillery Exclusive Single Cask No. 97-2 is more than twice as old as that Farmsmith release.  

The whiskey is a lively affair, with slightly punchy citrus zest on the nose, followed by more grounding notes of malt-steeped tea, pine, and light brown sugar. The midpoint is just as lively, if not more so, with toasted orange peel, crisp apple, and dried apricot up front. A mix of savory-spicy notes follows in the form of sandalwood, nutmeg, and clove. The finish brings more apricot, which combines with raisin and French oak spice. It’s fairly long, with a lingering warmth that’s prompted by the late spice note.  

Copperworks Distillery Exclusive Single Cask No. 97-2 is an enjoyable pour that leans heavily into its lively citrusy, apricot side. The extended age doesn’t add much oak influence, though, to be clear, there aren’t any youthful notes present. The notable draw and premium uptick in price of the whiskey is the ability to thief, bottle, and handwrite on the label, which is an experience few distilleries offer on a bottle-by-bottle basis.