About the Producer
Copper and Kings of Louisville, KY is one of the most prominent craft brandy producers in the US. They go after a very bourbony profile with aging in ex-bourbon barrels and new charred oak and they are even on the KY Bourbon Trail.
Copper and Kings uses exclusively pot distillation and in the past was a mix of their own distillate and sourced brandy. They told me in a recent distillery visit that they are almost exclusively using their own distillate now. For their own distillate they use California grapes and ferment in CA and have the wines shipped to KY for distillation. Their aging cellar has music pumped into it 24/7 and they claim the vibrations adds to the aging. Kind of gimmicky but it doesn’t hurt anything.
This is just the basic brandy from Copper and Kings although they have recently come under new ownership and have completely revamped their lineup. This is being replaced by a VSOP 6yr brandy that’s older but has a slightly lower proof of 43%. I’d be excited to try when it becomes available in my area.
Details
- 30% French Colombard, 30% Muscat de Alexandria, 30% Chenin Blanc, 10% Thompson seedless.
- NAS but supposedly aged for 4-5yrs.
- 90% aged in first fill ex-bourbon barrels, 10% in new #3 char american white oak barrels.
- 45% abv.
- Pot distilled.
Nose
Very sweet with grape jelly. Good amount of oak spice as well as caramel and coconut from the barrel. Good intensity and pleasing but not very complex.
Palate
Full bodied and sweet with all the same notes as the nose with extra flavors of raspberry and allspice. Texture is a bit odd, heavy and syrupy but also a little rough.
Finish
Medium and sweet with fresh fruit juice.
Rating: 5
Overall
A decent solid brandy but has room to be improved upon. Tasty but a hair immature with the texture being a low point. I’m excited to see how this tastes 2 years older with the new VSOP bottle, I think it’ll be exciting to compare.
1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite
10 | Perfect | Perfect
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