Jason is sometimes dapper
Welcome to the second half of Scotchology’s interview with Jason Parker, co-founder of Copperworks Distilling in Seattle, WA. Catch up on Part 1 or dive right into Part 2 below. Thanks again to Rebecca R. for transcription services.
Are you exploring the possibility releasing an aged-state whiskey at some point?
Jason: Well, all of the whiskeys have an age statement on them. We believe in complete transparency. Not only that, on the bottle we tell you the complete recipe. What type of wood, how many months it was in there, what the proof is, and online we have a PDF, which has three to five pages of everything. Literally. What the grain mill was, what the yeast strain was, what the fermentation days were, and the temperature. I mean, literally everything.
Circling back to what you brought up earlier about the Washington Distillers Guild. In your opinion, what is the state of craft distilling in the U.S. right now?
Jason: It’s still on a super dramatic uphill climb. It’s wonderful, it’s getting national attention. Just like in brewing, where there’s always room for another brewery if it has something really unique that nobody else is doing. I think we’re finding the same thing to be true in distilling. There’s always room, but it’s going to take more capital, more experience and hitting a little bit further out of the park on the first release. The community is less willing to take a chance just because a product is there. Now it has to have good taste, a good price point, and a good story before they buy it. Raising the bar means we’re all getting more professional. We’re having better conversations with each other and we’re training each other better. We’re also being more truth-sayers, so there’s a little bit less of “everyone gets an A” and more of “you know, this isn’t market ready, and it’s not market-ready because of A, B, and C.” People want to hear that. They don’t want to waste their money or their time.
We’re all competing on the national stage right now for shelf space. The big companies will always win there on price-points and economies of scale. The only thing we have going for us is differentiation in flavor and story. There’re two things that will really help this industry. One of them is the ability to ship directly to consumers. With distribution being tied up worse and worse in most communities, it’s very difficult for a small distillery to get distributor shipping. Even in their own state, much less outside. The second is the ability to have cocktails and a tasting room. If all states allowed that like they do for breweries and wineries, then we can have the brew-pub model working at distilleries and a radius of ten or fifteen blocks will keep you open. The ability to serve locally cocktails like a winery and brew-pub can do has been part of what’s made them successful.
Whiskey in general has seen a global surge over the past fifteen years or so, met in large part by the big names, the big brands. Where does the nascent American craft whisky industry fit on this global stage? How does it sit alongside whisky from Scotland and Taiwan and South Africa? Does American single malt whiskey have an identity yet?
Jason: I think a lot about this because American whiskey is and has been for a long time, an important phenomenon worldwide. Bourbon has been an important thing. What’s interesting about bourbon is that it’s going through a peak cycle right now, one that happens every thirty to forty years. We’re over-producing bourbon. There will be bourbon running in the streets in six or eight years. It’s going to be literally a point of detriment to all the bourbon makers.
There’s a couple of other products that are just being explored. American Single-malt whiskey I think can take that place, because it competes in a marketplace that isn’t saturated. There’s one group that owns it- there’s two if you want to include the Scots and the Japanese. Both of them are making a very tight definition of single-malt whiskey. The Scots have legislated themselves out of innovation, they can’t innovate, so they won’t really be able to compete with new concepts in malt whiskey. That’s where America’s going to come in.
A rare quiet moment at the Copperworks tasting room
We’re going to be able to make things in different grain bills, with different yeast strains, and different fermentation temperatures and processes and distilling and fermenting and especially different woods, both new and used. Just make products that are going to be different than anything that has been experienced in malt whiskey. So I see American single-malt whiskey becoming a pretty phenomenal brand or concept in the next thirty years. I would say “look out Scotland, because this is a thing that’s coming.” We’re not there yet and it’s going to take us a while because of two things. One is enough volume of aged whiskey, and two is enough market acceptance. Millennials are all over it. Even old guys like me, and older, who are die-hard scotch drinkers, are becoming excited about American single-malt and world whiskies. I think whiskey is broadening its definition a lot and we’re just lucky to be brewers who became distillers who wanted to do malt whiskey instead of bourbon. And I’m from Kentucky, so there’s every reason I could have been doing bourbon but I knew it was already done.
If you were able to walk up to the mythical bar and order some whiskey, price of availability not being an issue, what do you ask for?
Jason: I drink a lot of whiskey that is locally made and I drink a lot of whiskey that is internationally made, but I generally drink to learn about what the distillery is doing. I love almost all of Islay’s whiskies. What I’m most enthusiastic about is what places like Chichibu are doing in Japan or what Kavalan is doing in Taiwan. Or locally in terms of small malt whiskey producers like Balcones or Spirit Works, or some of these other places that are doing some really interesting small-batch whiskies, but with a vision. If I’m going to drink a whiskey, I’m going to be asking what art a local distiller is making now, in any part of the world. Wherever I am, that’s going to be the question, and I’d want to be there with the distiller drinking it, because I’d definitely ask those questions. What was your vision? Why did you choose this? Let’s talk about what that means.
All images in this and Part 1 of this interview were taken from Copperworks social media pages. We really appreciate Jason taking the time to sit down with us over a dram. Check out other Whisky Wisdom entries for more interviews with industry luminaries and generally cool people.
