St. Louis Park's first distillery room is now open after Copperwing Distillery unveiled its initial spirits and cozy drinking emporium last weekend.
The whiskey-focused distillery combines an industrial space – an exposed distilling area, exposed piping and their signature copper accents – with an intimate vibe in a slender cocktail room that boasts a small bar, wood-paneled banquettes and small leather chairs.
Copperwing will feature its initial young "light whiskey" as well as a vodka, and what they're calling a "vodskey" – an accidental discovery that blends the styles of vodka and whiskey.
Big Watt Beverage Co., the company behind Five Watt coffee shop and Big Watt bitters, has handled the cocktail program and were on site last weekend, stirring up Old Fashioneds with banana clove simple syrup, ginless gin and tonics (they used the Big Watt gin bitters along with vodka) and a salty sweet cocktail that combines vodskey, 7Up, muscavado syrup, umami essence and fennel bitters. Cocktails range from $8-$10 and flights of Copperwing's four spirits – including an Earl Gray vodka – are available for $8.
But don't assume you have to be a big drinker to stop by: Big Watt's Nitro Bender cold press coffee is an option (on tap) and Big Watt has whipped up a pair of non-alcoholic drinks – a mock mule using a cranberry shrub and ginger beer, and a T&T (red tea with tonic and bitters).
Owners Chris Palmisano, Brian Idelkope and Kyle Kettering also have a sweet vermouth and a brandy in the works with eventual plans for rum and a pink gin infused with rooibos, rose hips and hibiscus on the horizon.
