Coppersea Excelsior Straight Bourbon Whisky

An old-school pre-prohibition Bourbon from Upstate New York.

Now, this Whisky’s name is loaded with images of yesteryear and symbolism, so let’s unwrap this verbiage first: Coppersea takes us back to the 19th Century when the Hudson Valley in New York was a constellation of copper stills that churned gallons of Spirit before the wicked times of prohibition. The know-how and tradition that sprung from that sea of copper, is still present today. Agnus MacDonald, the owner and master distiller at Coppersea, says they want to keep it primitive when it comes to Whiskey production. But their philosophy isn’t primitive – that’s when the word excelsior comes in: it’s an Empire State motto and it means “ever upward” in some dead language. Now, Excelsior Straight Bourbon is 100% New York, which means you might hear Stanley Turrentine, cab drivers honking and someone shouting at you to get out of their way for some reason, when you open the bottle.

Except the Coppersea distillery is actually a farm upstate, so you should hear rivers, bees, and someone shouting at you to get out of their way. This decadent Bourbon is made in-house with grain that grows nearby. Talk about locally produced free-range Whisky, right? Even the casks are made of New York oak and this Whiskey is supposed to be the first one to mature in such oak after the prohibition. By the way: why is locally sourced grain so important? Glad you asked! It's all about controlled sprouting, converting starch into sugars and enzymes, but the most crucial thing here is the result: a uniquely redolent Whisky with fresh and full flavor and complexity that comes from a process called direct firing (skip the steam, fire the still directly, like in the good ole days).