Wasmund's Barrel Kit

The kits include:
Two-liter charred American White Oak mini-barrel.
Two 700ml bottles of cask strength (124 proof) spirits: Wasmund’s Single Malt Spirit.

Rick Wasmund, proprietor, maltster and master distiller of the Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, Virginia is a craft whiskey-distiller who does things a little bit differently to most. First of all, he malts all his own barley on his own malting floor. To dry the barley he uses specially sourced fruit woods to impart a rich, intense fruity note into his raw spirit. During maturation Rick looks to those same woods to achieve unique flavours in both his malt and rye whiskies that, even at comparatively young ages, are picking up awards from bodies such as the Beverage Tasting Institute – 94 points for the Rye and 92 points for the Malt – pretty impressive scores for such a young distillery!

Rick is a generous kind of guy and doesn’t think it fair that he has all the fun making the whiskey. As much as he enjoys checking on the progress of his maturing barrels every day, detecting the subtle development of new flavours, he thinks that is a pleasure that he shouldn’t keep to himself and so has decided to share it with the whiskey loving public and offer them a unique opportunity to craft whiskey in their own homes!

Rick has created the Wasmund’s Barrel Kit – the only package we know of that allows you to mature spirits in cask in the comfort of your own home! In the kit you will find two bottles of New Make Spirit and a brand new, three litre oak cask that has been charred on the inside.

The Spirit is at 62% abv, regarded as the perfect strength to achieve the perfect level of flavour extraction from your barrel. After preparing your cask by soaking in water to swell the staves which will prevent leaks, you can pour the spirit into the barrel, sit back and let nature take its course! Depending on where you keep the barrel you can expect to see a rich, fruity and full-flavoured whiskey emerge in three to four months!

As with any new, American oak cask the first fill will see a huge amount of flavour coming from the barrel – rich notes of vanilla and caramel and a very dark colour will develop in the spirit. This, however, is not where the fun ends! Top-Up bottles are on sale at whiskyonline.com – this means that you can do a second, third, fourth and even more fills. This will enable you to use the barrel in the same way as a Scotch distillery and affect a softer, gentler influence on the spirit. You may also wish to season your barrel with a fortified wine such as Madeira, Port, Oloroso or Pedro Ximenez sherry to give a fascinating wine-wood influence! The options are endless and the fun will last for years!

If you’d love to make whiskey but you can’t fit a distillery into your garden shed then this is the next best thing! The ultimate gift for the Whisky Lover!

The kit is available in both a Malt Spirit version and a Rye Spirit version.