Copper & Kings Riding With The King Brandy Finished in Red Wine Barrels
08/10/2019
Louisville-based Copper & Kings American Brandy Co. announces its latest novel barrel-finished, pure copper pot-distilled American Brandy limited release, Riding With The King. The launch is timed to coincide with Elvis Week, Aug. 9-17.
The brandy is just over five years old, with 29 months of maturation in juicy King Estate Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre French oak barrels that are 228 liters/60 gallons in size. This followed an original 32 months in Kentucky Bourbon barrels. The distillate is 100% Muscat de Alexandrie, and double- distilled in Copper & Kings’ Vendome copper pot stills in Butchertown, Louisville, Kentucky. As with all Copper & Kings’ American Brandy, the spirit is non-chill filtered, with natural color and natural flavor, unadulterated with boisé or caramel color.
Master Distiller Brandon O’Daniel described Riding With The King: “This is nice and crisp, a little frisky, with red wine and red fruit notes. The tannins from the French oak give it a little grip, a slight “chewiness” building to a sexy dry mid-palate, and then it finishes clean and long. It’s bright, hints of savory spice, cranberry, cherries, with a bit of zip. It is non-chill filtered and 108 proof, so a bit of cold water and/or some ice opens it up beautifully, it’s lovely brandy. I’m proud of it and I think that it will appeal to lovers of youthful, fruity Armagnac — without any bitter tannins, but also brandy drinkers, scotch drinkers and American whiskey drinkers — it has a lot of palate stretch. You can’t fence us in, we will keep taking American Brandy in new directions, and that’s the joy of it.”
“We often say we don’t do passion plays, but in truth we were more than a little in love with the chance to work with the King family, and with Ed King in particular,” said Copper & Kings Founder Joe Heron. “The King family are true American pioneers, with a sly twinkle, subtle adventurousness, and the directness of real entrepreneurs. It’s a proud moment for us at Copper & Kings, and we are very grateful to Ed and his family. It took a while to get in the bottle – almost three years, but wow, another unique American Brandy interpretation, another adventure – this time riding with a King. This brandy soars and swoops, very layered with coltish legs. I’m going to hang on to a few of these for myself.”
Copper & Kings Creative Director Ron Jasin said: “We wanted to translate the red wine concept in the bottle to the label to pay homage not only to Ed King, his family and their history, but also to the King(s) of rock and roll. Britany Baker’s oil painting of a plush, velvet seat on Elvis Presley’s abandoned Lockheed Jetstar plane (languishing in the New Mexico desert) is a perfect metaphor for the spirit and the foundation of the label. Art in a bottle, heart on our sleeve. Flying high, singing our song.”
Riding With The King American Brandy - $65/750 mL