A friendship and business connection made some 15 years ago, which helped guide a Sperryville distillery to success and expansion, has led the company’s creator to honor his friend in a fitting way.
Rick Wasmund, who created Copper Fox Distillery in 2005 in Rappahannock County and recently opened a second distilling and retail location in Williamsburg, was saddened by the loss of his friend, Billy Dawson, in 2017.
The Copper Fox distiller and his team decided to honor the farmer and businessman by naming their first bourbon after him, calling the 50-month-aged product Dawson’s Reserve.
When I profiled Wasmund and Dawson years ago, both said their relationship was key in the successes of their separate businesses.
Dawson, who created the feed and grains company Bay’s Best Feed in Northumberland County, explained that he put the barley harvested on different farms in the Northern Neck through extensive rounds of cleaning that made it perfect for making whiskey.
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Wasmund noted that the barley he got from the Northern Neck growers—and Dawson’s cleaning—fit perfectly in a process where it was hand-malted and smoked with American fruitwoods.
I caught up with Wasmund at the new Copper Fox location in Williamsburg. It’s in the former Lord Paget Motel that sits just a short hike from Colonial Williamsburg.
In four years, the distiller and a handful of employees have wrought major changes in what was once a sprawling array of motel rooms. They made spaces where whiskey and other spirits are made, bottled, tasted, sold and shipped. Some of the old motel rooms—built in the ’50s and ’70s—even provide residences for a handful of Wasmund family members and Copper Fox staff.
“Me and my family live on a house in the back of the property that sits on a little pond,” said Wasmund. “It’s like our own little kingdom, though a very small one.”
The distiller, who apprenticed at the Bowmore Distillery in Scotland, said that after working for years with Dawson, he and his staff wanted to honor the farmer.
“We had made the bourbon and it was in the process of aging, and one of our staffers said we should name it for Billy,” said Wasmund. “We thought about it, talked to his sister, who’s now in the business, and other partners there, and they liked the idea.”
A post on Copper Fox’s Facebook page put it this way: “With our very first bourbon release, ‘Dawson’s Reserve,’ we honor the farmer whose grain became the foundation of our flavor journey. Billy Dawson was as passionate and dedicated to his fields of grain as we are to our whisky. We hope that whenever you raise a glass you will be among friends as good, as kind, and as true as Billy.”
Dawson’s Reserve is the distillery’s first bourbon, made from a recipe of 60 percent corn, 20 percent rye and 20 percent peach-wood smoked malted barley.
“Billy became a good friend who I saw a lot and socialized with over the years,” Wasmund said. “All of us here will continue to remember him, his smile, his grain, his sunflowers and his dedication to doing things right.”
Wasmund said the new Williamsburg distillery property was the last one a Williamsburg economic development official showed him.
“The notion of a distillery had everyone thinking about a metal building in an industrial park,” said Wasmund as he gave me a tour of the facility, which has very little in common with an industrial building.
He said wherever possible, wood from the original motel was repurposed. Floor and ceiling joists were used to create doors on the malting room, for instance.
He said that the arrival of COVID-19 has changed the way Copper Fox has done business, as the company turned to direct shipping and product pick-up until people were allowed back into their sales spaces. Wasmund said supplying spirits to restaurants has been difficult, but wholesale business from California to Australia has been strong, though expanding to other states has been difficult if not impossible.
“We’re just glad that people are enjoying and buying Virginia grains in a glass,” said Wasmund. “Our friend Billy played a big part in that.”