Sippin’ History at Copper Run

Jan 27, 2013

Moonshine distillery best-kept travel secret in the Ozarks, so ’shine on.

“Tucked back in the hills just north of Branson, sits one of the best kept secrets in Missouri – the Copper Run Distillery.

It is 10 o’clock on a cold Saturday morning, and I’ve bellied up to the bar, ready to taste a shot of Copper Run’s signature product – moonshine. Legal moonshine.

Madison Vodicka, who is working the bar and guiding free tours, pours me a taste and I ready myself. True confession: I’ve had run-ins with bootleg ‘shine before, and was not impressed. Oh, yeah, white lightnin’ could give you a badass backwoods buzz in short order, but while the alcohol might set you on fire, the taste did not.

Moonshine Madness: An unique Ozarks experience

So why try it again? The truth is, I was drawn to Copper Run because I’d encountered a Moonshine Margarita at Gilley’s in Branson and found it to be outstanding.

When I learned that Gilley’s made its featured drink with moonshine from a legal local distillery, I decided that I needed to learn more. So, I made the short drive north of Branson on US 65, then cut off into the hills on Hwy 176 to the community of Walnut Shade to locate the source of this superior ‘shine.

Rise and ‘shine for a memorable vacation

What I was expecting was a glorified hillbilly hideout, but what I discovered was a delightful bucolic boutique micro-distillery that favors quality over quantity and refines the age-old craft of moonshining to a drink-worthy art form.

And so, even though it’s early-thirty for drinking booze, the time has come for me to rise and ‘shine. So after giving the elixir a sniff, I slide the liquid past my lips and await the burn. Instead I enjoy a warm, smooth ride that immediately makes me understand the powerful devotion to moonshine. Damn, that stuff is good!

“That’s an 80 proof ‘shine,” Vodicka says. “That’s all were licensed for right now, but we’ve applied for a permit to put out a stronger product.”

After the moonshine tasting, Vodicka offers up Copper Run’s whiskey, which also surprises in its smoothness. Then it’s time for the Golden Rum, which offers up a gentle sugary sweetness.

“We had a run of rum made from Blackstrap molasses,” said owner and artisan bootlegger Jim Blansit. “It was surprisingly good, but we ran out of stock very quickly. So we started experimenting with brown sugar, and we loved the way it turned out.”

‘Shine sidetrip not for teetotaling tourists

Evidently so does the rum-drinking public, which keeps Copper Run production humming. In fact, during my visit, a local arrived with his two children in tow. He purchased four bottles of moonshine.

“Got a big weekend ahead and didn’t want to get caught short,” he said. “Of course, some of my friends heard I was coming here, so they had me pick some up for them as well.”

Hey, that’s his story, and after tasting the ‘shine, who am I to argue? Vodicka noted that such visits were common and that dedicated local consumers were an important part of Copper Run’s business.

Copper Run’s spirits aren’t merely locally heralded, they’ve been honored nationally. In fact, Copper Run’s Moonshine and Aged Corn Whiskey won the silver medal from the American Distiller’s Institute in 2010.

And Blansit is proud to point out that Copper Run spirits are truly a product of the Ozarks.

“The water here is ideal,” he said. “It doesn’t contain iron and has a perfect mineral balance, which makes is ideal for crafting all our products.” In fact, even the whiskey barrels come from timber that hails from just up the road in Lebanon. Some of the barrels are provided by the local Stone Hill Winery, which offers up its barrels once the winery has produced its fabulous sherry. As Blansit points out, “our products are truly locally sourced.”

The art of moonshine

“We’re a boutique distillery,” Blansit said. “We aren’t interested in diluting the quality of our product to  boost production. We are artisans, and we support the arts.”

That’s true. The Copper Run tasting room boasts the work of local artists, photographers and crafts enthusiasts. It also is quickly evolving into a top place for emerging musical talent.

“We started having live music a few years ago, and it caught on,” Blansit said. “Now we have some incredibly talented performers wanting to play here.”

Moonshine and music

Copper Run’s support of the musicians extends even to the tunes played over the sound system during the day, when there is no live music. If you perform at Copper Run and have a CD, your music will be heard throughout the tasting room.

A registry book shows the distillery has entertained and clearly delighted visitors from all around the world.

Copper Run creates products that truly ‘shine

“We live in San Jose, California,” said Tess Rowland, a customer from San Jose, CA, during my visit. “Not much opportunity to try moonshine there. So we heard about this place and while we were in Branson, we thought we’d stop by.”

“Yeah, and that’s a damn good moonshine Bloody Mary they make here,” said her husband, Randy. “I sure hadn’t expected that.”

Thanks to the growing popularity of the realty TV show, Moonshiners, interest in the legendary liquor is on the upswing. Customers are curious, and knowing that a product is legally distilled adds a little spice to life without worrying about the law.

Expansion plans

With the rising popularity of Copper Run, Blansit is making plans to expand.

“We’re going to build a wraparound porch to expand the outside area,” he said. “Then we plan to create some hiking trails that lead down to an old cow pond that we plan to develop with a cool water feature. We want this to be more than just a legitimate still. We want people to come here to relax and enjoy all that this area has to offer, and that’s a lot.”

Clearly there are big plans ahead for Copper Run, and if you are contemplating a vacation to the Branson area for all the great activities that happen when the sun shines, you might want to set aside some time to enjoy the moonshine as well.”

article by Bob Vernon of VacationTravelIdeas.net

 

Distillery Continues Ozarks Tradition

Dec 31, 2011

WALNUT SHADE — Just off the beaten path in northern Taney County, one man is continuing one of the area’s oldest and richest traditions — legally.

“We’re the first legal distillery in the Ozarks since Prohibition ended,” said Jim Blansit, owner of Copper Run Distillery, sitting at the bar in his tasting room last week. “There are plenty of illegal stills in the area, but we’ve got no legal competition.”

And Blansit may have all the required legal documents in place, but he still doesn’t shy away from calling his signature product — corn whiskey — “moonshine,” a term primarily associated with any kind of illicitly brewed alcoholic drink.

He said moonshine has long been a part of Taney County’s history.

“During the Great Depression and Prohibition, many families in this area opened small stills just to have a little extra income,” he said.

That includes Blansit’s own family. He said two of his great-uncles, who were also from Walnut Shade, brewed corn whiskey moonshine for decades, using the same techniques he still uses today, though he never got the opportunity to try their recipe.

“They were early moonshiners,” he said. “Unfortunately, they were old men and I was a young man back when we were hanging out together, so I didn’t get to learn from them.”

Blansit said that he has been interested in brewing alcohol since long before he could legally drink it, which really should come as no surprise, considering that both of his grandfathers were also in the business. They were both winemakers, which inspired his first foray into brewing when he was 13.

“My brother, John, and I grabbed a gallon of Mom’s grape juice and some of Mom’s bread yeast and put it under our bunk bed to try to make wine,” Blansit said with a laugh. “We really didn’t know what we doing, but it tasted good to us. We didn’t know any better.”

Blansit grew up on the family farm where he now lives, and where Copper Run Distillery was built. The land has been in his family since his great-grandparents, he said.

“We were fortunate to leave the city life and live off the land. We didn’t go to the store for ketchup, we made ketchup,” he said. “My parents taught me at a young age that quality products come from making them yourself.”

He’s incorporated a lot of those lessons into his distillery, which opened to the public in 2009. His products, which include corn whiskey, corn vodka, rum made from blackstrap molasses and an as-yet-unreleased bourbon, are made in small batches over a process that can take a couple of weeks — not counting the aging process some spirits require.

Blansit may use some new equipment, but his techniques are centuries old. He said he considers it a privilege to continue to educate the public about the skill and ingenuity of the men who comprise a significant part of the heritage of the Ozarks.

“The old-timers really knew what they were doing,” he said. “The techniques they used make a really clean, smooth whiskey.”

The process involves making a mash by grinding corn, mixing it with water and allowing fermentation to break down the existing starch into sugar. The mash is then double-distilled in a 150-gallon copper pot to produce a clear whiskey, which Blansit dilutes with water and bottles at 80 proof.

The grains, water and oak barrels Copper Run uses are all sourced locally, and for good reason, he said.

“The oak trees we have here in the Ozarks are famous for making the best whiskey barrels,” he said.

The limestone-infused water that can be found here, too, is “perfect” for making spirits, according to Blansit. He said that’s because it’s high in calcium and magnesium content, and doesn’t contain any iron.

“For some reason, iron is known to react with alcohol to make a terrible taste,” he said. “And it’s really rare to find limestone water with no iron.”

Despite Blansit’s fascination with brewing alcohol, he readily admits that he also saw Copper Run as a promising financial opportunity. After spending more than a decade in the microbrewery industry—mostly in California—he got into the real estate market just before it crashed in the recession.

“I noticed that looking through history, alcohol was something that seemed to be recession-proof,” he said. “People drink when times are good, and they drink when times are bad.”

The Copper Run tasting room offers a menu of $5 cocktails, including a moonshine margarita and “moontini,” as well as more traditional drinks. Also featured on alternating Sundays is live music, courtesy of talented local musicians Mark Bilyeu, a founding member of bluegrass band Big Smith, and Cindy Woolf.

In addition, Blansit plans to begin hosting music festivals at the distillery next summer. Copper Run is open daily from 10 a.m.-7 p.m., after which it can be reserved for private parties.

Branson Tri-Lakes News (link)