LOUISVILLE, KY (August 2, 2017) — Louisville-based Copper & Kings American Brandy Co. is launching two Kentucky copper pot-distilled gins; an American Dry Gin using an apple brandy base, and an American Old Tom Gin using a grape brandy base.
Both gins are double-distilled using no neutral spirits, and are non-chill filtered to maximize the retention and concentration of the gin botanicals to allow them to shine with layered complexity. The gins have no added flavors or colors post distillation.
Classic gin botanicals are steeped in brandy low-wine (first distillation) then redistilled together with vapor distilled botanicals in the gin basket.
For more information: www.copperandkings.com/american-gin/
“It kind of feels like we are the Accidental Gin Company. We’ve been making excellent, idiosyncratic, barrel aged gins for some time now” said founder Joe Heron “We think that we are pretty good at it, and very much enjoy the creative process. Truthfully we pretty much just did it for ourselves to scratch the creative itch, to have our own gin to drink on the porch.
We had no intentions of launching beyond that, but we’ve been incredibly surprised by the reception our American Dry Gin has had just at the distillery and in the local market and some very, very select retailers outside of Kentucky. And now it seems that everyone wants it … go figure. We still don’t have ambitions to go very wide on this, it’s for bars and restaurants and fine retailers who want delicious, very interesting, inventive, novel spirits.”
“We are a brandy distiller, and there is some uncommon complexity to using brandy as a base, with no neutral spirits and a double distilled, non-chill filtered spirit,” said Head Distiller, Brandon O’Daniel. “How do you elevate the crisp and refreshing expectation of a Dry Gin whilst still leveraging the beauty of the rounded mouthfeel and long, elegant finish of brandy? We’ve tried to retain the full fruit essence but within a signature classic Dry Gin style. Juniper power, citrus top notes form the backbone of our own particular interpretation. We found the crisper apple brandy base to be most suitable for our American Dry Gin.”
“The Old Tom Gin style is pretty much natural habitat for us,” says O’ Daniel. “We are romantics at heart, and love classic cocktails. We wanted an Old Tom true to the “Black Cat” – viscous, slightly sweeter and mellower, just a little savory versus crisp. Something that could stand up within a cocktail or up to forceful, quality mixer. We built this more in the antique Hodges & Co style developed by “Old Tom” Chamberlain, with a little more ABV heft at 100 Proof, using a grape brandy base for suppleness and finesse. Finishing in a Kentucky Bourbon barrel adds some nice spice to the mellow base.”
We are in love with the idea of spectacular Gin & Tonics, or as the Spanish say – GinTonics – as well as using our own Old Tom in classic cocktails like the Ampersand,” said National Brand Ambassador Chris Wilkins. “These are exceptionally smooth, very drinkable gins, and the unusual light louche at colder temperatures is just sexy. The higher proofs hold up well in cocktails and over ice.”
The company also continues its founding tradition of launching an annual limited release, barrel-aged gin. The 2017 edition was aged for 14 months in an ex-Cognac cask. The gin is per tradition themed upon a cat, with an illustrated pink panther, and named L’inspectuer.
- Copper & Kings American Dry Gin (92 proof/46% ABV) $35 / 750mL
- Copper & Kings American Old Tom Gin (100 proof/50% ABV) $40 / 750mL
- Copper & Kings L’inspectuer Limited Release Gin (100 proof/50% ABV) $40 / 375mL
Click here for high-resolution photographs.
Copper & Kings American Brandy, Absinthe and Gin are distilled exclusively in copper pot-stills, and are non-chill filtered, with no post-distillation infusion of boisé (oak flavor or infusion), other flavors, or caramel color for an uncorrupted, authentic, natural flavor, nose and color. The distillery also produces a line of copper pot-distilled liqueurs called Destillaré and the following portfolio of fine distilled spirits:
- Copper & Kings American Craft Brandy (90 proof/45% ABV) – $35/750 mL
- Copper & Kings American Butchertown Brandy (124 proof/45% ABV)- $60/750 mL
- Copper & Kings Floodwall Apple Brandy (90 proof/45% ABV) – $40/750 mL
- Copper & Kings Un-Aged Apple Brandy (90 Proof/45% ABV) – $30/750mL
- Copper & Kings Immature Brandy (90 proof/45% ABV) – $30/ 750 mL
- Copper & Kings CR&FTWERK Beer Barrel Aged Brandy(111 proof/55.5% ABV) $40/750 mL
- Copper & Kings Absinthe Blanche (130 proof/65% ABV) – $55/750 mL
- Destillaré Intense Orange Curaçao (90 proof/45% ABV) – $35/750 mL
Copper & Kings American Brandy Co. distribution footprint includes the following 31 markets including: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Washington D.C.
About Copper & Kings American Brandy Co.
Copper & Kings uses small batch copper pot-distillation to forge untraditional, non-derivative, pure pot-distilled American apple and grape brandies, absinthe, gin and Destillaré liqueurs that are non-chill filtered with no added sugar, colors or synthetic chemicals. The state-of-the-art distillery exclusively focuses on the distillation of brandy based spirits. Copper & Kings, located at 1121 E. Washington St. in Butchertown, is owned by beverage entrepreneurs Joe and Lesley Heron. For more information, visit www.copperandkings.com or follow @CopperAndKings on Facebook and Twitter.