Kinsip Coopers Revival Whisky 42%

Among the products that Kinsip House of Fine Spirits distils on its picturesque farm in the heart of Prince Edward County, a flavourful whisky they call Cooper’s Revival attracts a lot of attention from aficionados.

Two seemingly unrelated past endeavors on the farm may have prompted the whisky’s unusual name. Founded initially as 66 Gilead Distillery in 2009, the distillery itself occupies a new fireproof building on the otherwise quaint heritage property. There, a century and a half earlier, a farmer named Burt Cooper grew hops. More recently, 66 Gilead had been one of the very few distilleries globally with its own on-site cooperage.

For several years after 66 Gilead set up shop, cooper, Pete Bradford worked in one of the farm’s outbuildings making whisky barrels, one at a time, from locally harvested oak. Once he had “raised” a barrel in his workshop, Bradford carted it outside to be toasted or charred on a wood-fired cast-iron charring burner. 

Sometime before the current owners took possession of the distillery and re-named it Kinsip, Bradford left to make wine and vinegar. However, not long after they took over, Kinsip’s new owners managed to convince him and his wife, Marie, to reopen the cooperage. Cooper’s Revival whisky matures in red wine barrels that they re-coopered on site.

TASTING KINSIP COOPER’S REVIVAL

A combination of great spirits and careful blending, Cooper’s Revival amuses the nose and delights the palate with wild herbs and flowers, creamy strawberries and ice cream, bold, spicy rye notes, and a slathering, buttery mouthfeel. 

An unusual and decidedly fragrant first nose anticipates the enjoyable dram to follow. Sweet grasses (not sweetgrass) quickly pick up some waxiness, oily air and mild herbal tones, including hints of sweet tobacco that later move to the fore. But first, there are jammy fruits, toothsome red plums and tart green gooseberries along with traces of sweet lacquer, and finally, the cooper’s barrel tones. 

A corn-sweetened, creamy palate with herbal notes and dry grass adds fresh-dug blue clay and mineral tones to old dry barn boards, sawdust and a pleasant growing peppery heat. The whisky feels rich and full. Fruitiness, noted in the nose, remains, both sweet and tart, while the tongue glows with peppery warmth.

Not overly long, peppery spices on a medium finish fade into floral notes and fruitiness with hints of pulling tannins along the way.

COOPER’S REVIVAL – THE DETAILS

Cooper’s Revival is made predominantly from locally grown rye and corn. How local? From growing the grain to blending and bottling, Cooper’s Revival’s entire life cycle is confined to Kinsip’s 70-acre farm, making it an uncommon, terroir-driven whisky. This means there may be small variations in the flavour profile from one batch to the next. One or two batches are made each year by blending 5-year old rye with about 15 to 20%, 5-year old corn whiskies.

The team at Kinsip mill the grain on-site before mashing and distilling it, and after barreling, the whisky matures in the old oast house barn where Burt Cooper dried his hops so long ago. 

Fittingly, we learn that the families of Burt Cooper and cooper Pete Bradford are indeed related and now reunited in a fine Canadian rye whisky.