Straw | Citrus | Herbal | Grape | Malt | Light oak

Lemon | Pine | Coriander | Light cinnamon | Lavender

Star anise | Cardamom | Toasted oak | Malt | Slightly bitter

Downtown Seattle’s American single malt distillery, Copperworks, is back with another special release that utilizes Amaro finishing barrels. The single malt utilizes what the company calls the “Queen’s Run” recipe, which they say borrows from the rum industry, where a distillation run is entirely made from the heads and tails of prior distillations. This process is said to pick up more of the ethanol, resulting in contrasting brighter and darker flavors. From there, the whiskey is aged for 7 years (7 years and 8 months according to the company website) in a used Copperworks Whiskey cask before being transferred into the amaro cask for 1 month.

Amaro (which means “bitter” in Italian) is an Italian herbal liqueur that is commonly consumed as an after-dinner digestif. The barrels that Copperworks is using for this release are from Letterpress Distilling, also located in Seattle, Washington. Letterpress describes their Amaro Amorino product as “light- to medium-bitter end of the amaro spectrum with a solid base of Seville orange peel bolstered by carefully balanced baking spice, earthy notes, and a distinct floral quality.”

Given the overall lightness of Copperworks American single malt, it effectively takes on the flavors of the amaro cask. Aging for 7 years in a used cask might have been used as a safeguard against over-oaking, but given how great the company’s younger single malt tastes, some of the company’s malt flavors are missing. As a result, the amaro takes center stage, layering in a wide range of citrus and herbal notes, giving the whiskey an almost gin-like quality. The bitterness is largely kept in check, though it still comes through in the whiskey’s finish, which may make this whiskey polarizing to some. Copperworks continues to push the boundaries of American single malt, and though this style of whiskey won’t be for everyone, their products continue to be inventive and always interesting.