Copper Fox Distillery operates in Sperryville, Virginia, not Maryland as the address suggests. Founded by Rick Wasmund in 2005, this craft distillery sits in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Rappahannock County. Wasmund, a former mining engineer, started his whiskey journey after apprenticing at the Bowmore Distillery in Scotland, bringing back European malting techniques that he adapted for American whiskey production. The distillery produces single malt whiskey and rye whiskey using apple wood and oak chips in their smoking process. Wasmund’s approach breaks from traditional American whiskey making by using malted barley as his base and smoking it with fruitwood before distillation. He built custom equipment including a kiln for smoking grains and uses a unique accelerated aging process with toasted wood chips added directly to the barrels during maturation. The operation started small but has grown steadily, with Wasmund handling much of the production himself alongside a tight team. His background in engineering shows in the precise, methodical approach to every step of production. The distillery occupies a rural setting where visitors can see the entire process from grain smoking to bottling. You’ll smell the apple wood smoke before you even park, and the tours give you direct access to Wasmund’s unconventional methods. The tasting room showcases spirits that taste distinctly different from Kentucky bourbon or Tennessee whiskey, with a smoky complexity that reflects the unique production process. It’s a genuine craft operation where innovation meets old-world technique.