BUSINESS PROFILE
BOB TAGERT
COPPER FOX DISTILLERY 901 CAPITOL LANDING ROAD WILLIAMSBURG, VA 757-903-2076 #9 RIVER LANE SPERRYVILLE, VA 540-987-8554 COPPERFOXDISTILLERY.COM
Proprietor and Distiller Rick Wasmund
COOKIN’ WHISKY AT COPPER FOX DISTILLERY
4 | September 2020
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n July of 2009 we first wrote about Rick Wasmund, founder, owner and master distiller of Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, Virginia. We had chosen Rick as a Personality Profile instead of a Business Profile because he had just sold his first bottle of Wasmund’s Single Malt Whisky and the reports were still rolling in, however, as a personality, he was great. In 1999 Rick was leading a comfortable life in Middleburg, Virginia as an insurance agent and living on a large estate that he also managed. While attending a Scotch whisky tasting event in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., the idea of making a whisky with fruit wood rather than peat came to him. All Scotch whisky is peat smoked to get that unique flavor. Clearly it was a good idea as he convinced his neighbor Sean Mcaskey to join his venture. When asked why he agreed so readily, Sean said, “It just seemed like a good idea!” On a personal note, Rick and Sean are two of the most laid back and smart people that
you will ever meet. To learn more about the distilling process, the two visited many U.S. distilleries including Maker’s Mark, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, A. Smith Bowman and even a distillery that was closed-they received an escort out of the facility rather than a tour! Asked what they hoped to learn, Wasmund jokingly answered that he wanted to hear that the idea was impossible, but the visits only reinforced his belief about the viability of creating a unique whiskey product. Leaving Virginia and his job, Wasmund traveled to Scotland, where he obtained an internship at Bowmore Distillery on Islay, where he learned to malt his own barley. There he also received confirmation that his ideas were new to the whisky world and unique enough to create a commercially viable product. He also gained an appreciation of the skill, passion, dedication
and perseverance necessary to pursue his dream... perseverance being the key word for his future. Upon returning to Virginia, Wasmund started working on a business plan for his venture and by September 2001 started raising investment money. He operated under the license of Copper Fox Distillery for a while before buying the apple facility where the first distillery was located in Sperryville. Rick designed the set up for the distillery and he and Sean built most of the physical plan. The first whisky they made was an applewood smoked American Single Malt Whisky. This landmark whisky is still my favorite today. In August 2006 the first bottle of Wasmund’s Single Old Town Crier
