Rappahannock News Staff

Rappahannock News Staff

Photos /Anita L. Sherman BOTTLE CAPPING: Sean McCaskey screws a cap onto a bottle with his home made bottle capper fitted onto an electric drill.

Single Malt Whiskey.” Each bottle was carefully filled, capped, labeled, and dipped in wax with a signature swirl on the top of the bottle. “We used to let it drip,” McCaskey said with a chuckle, “but the lawyers from Makers Mark informed us that the dripping wax on the bottle was trademarked.” Wasmund hand letters every bottle with the batch number. “I like to think that my hand has touched every bottle that will ever be in any bar,” he said.

Whiskeytown

Finally Wasmund had a bottle that he could present to distributors. He started by loading up the trunk of his Mazda Miata with whiskey, traveling to Washington, D.C., the only place in America that does not have distributing laws. “D.C. has four times the whiskey consumption per capita, than the national average,” Wasmund said wryly, “it was a good place to start.”

Wasmund made his way into D.C. area bars and liquor stores, carrying a bottle and tasting glasses in a briefcase. “I would introduce myself and offer them a sample,” Wasmund said simply. “If they were impressed with it I would give them some papers and sell them a case out of my trunk.”

He was quite successful in D.C., selling to about ten different stores and various restaurants including the City Zen at the Mandarin Oriental.

Since then, Wasmund has successfully marketed his whiskey to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. It is now making its way into area ABC stores. “It shouldn’t be long before it gets to the Griffin Tavern,” Wasmund said.

Griffin Tavern, a popular Rappahannock bar, gets its spirits from the ABC store in Front Royal, Va.

Wasmund is also expanding within the whiskey culture of Chicago, making plans to ship cases to an area distributer who also sells his products online. Wasmund also tells a story about a man from Korea who insisted on bringing two bottles back with him. “He said that he wants to sell it in Korea, but well see how that goes,” Wasmund said.

Commonwealth

whiskey

Wadsmund’s single malt whiskey is a product that is distinctly Virginian. Wasmund gets his malt barley from Heathsville, Virginia. The barley is grown there locally by Billy Dawson for the Bay’s Best Feed store. The barley is named “Thoroughbred,” and is a variety of winter barley released in 2003 by Virginia Tech’s Agricultural Experiment Stations. Malted, distilled, bottled, and marketed out of Sperryville, Wasmund’s is truly a unique Rappahannock product.