It’s an ongoing brewmance. An inescapable attraction.
Copperworks Distilling and Urban Family Brewing hooked up for a barrel-swap whiskey that sounds pretty damned special. It involves the distillery’s whiskey and the brewery’s Treehouse in the City barleywine. This one is so special that you’ll need to join the club to get it. No secret handshake required, but membership is. I’ll explain.
Seattle’s beer and spirits scenes occasionally cross paths. Not often enough, if you ask me, but this new release from Copperworks Distilling Co. is a genuinely clever bit of collaboration. The distillery’s next Whiskey Club offering, Copperworks American Single Malt Urban Family Barley Wine Cask, was made in partnership with Seattle’s Urban Family Brewing.
Urban Family has been a fixture of the Seattle craft beer scene since 2011, when the original brewery opened in historic downtown Ballard, on Ballard Ave. It relocated, changed hands, and over the past decade evolved into a brewery known for its constantly rotating lineup, ranging from fruited sours to IPAs and from light lagers to robust barleywines. They’ve built a reputation as careful experimenters — leaning into complex yeast strains, unusual hop profiles, and fresh ingredients. They don’t play it safe or take the quick and easy route. That kind of hutzpah was alluring and Copperwork could not resist.
They’ve been together for years
This isn’t the first time Copperworks and Uban Family have collaborated on something like this. Back in 2023, I shared a story about a very similar project involving whiskey and barlewine.
“As mutual fans of each other’s work, we naturally formed an ongoing partnership which has led to this exciting cask collaboration,” said Jason Parker, President and Co-Founder of Copperworks Distilling Co.
Here’s how the collaboration actually worked: Copperworks handed over a cask that had previously held its American Single Malt Whiskey. Urban Family used it to mature their Treehouse in the City barleywine, letting the beer soak up whatever whiskey character remained in the wood. Once that barleywine was ready, the cask came back to Copperworks — now carrying its own layer of barleywine character. Copperworks then filled it with three-and-a-half-year-old signature 5 Malt whiskey and let it finish for another ten months before bottling at 50% ABV.
It’s the kind of back-and-forth barrel exchange that only really works when both sides genuinely like what the other is making, and that mutual respect shows up in the final product.
Tasting notes
Sweet malt and orange sorbet greet you on the nose, with cocoa nibs and sandalwood right behind. Those flavors carry through to the palate, joined by tobacco, black walnut, cinnamon, and ripe blackberry. The finish lightens up, leaving sandalwood and dried raspberry, strawberry and peach candy, and a touch of floral hops.
The details: This is a limited release — just 330 bottles at 700ml each, bottled at 50% ABV (100 proof).
How to get it
Copperworks American Single Malt Urban Family Barley Wine Cask is available exclusively to Whiskey Club members, and memberships are still open if you want in before this one ships.
Club members get quarterly releases of Copperworks’ most inventive whiskeys delivered straight to their door, plus a handful of extra perks:
- Early access to additional special releases throughout the year
- 25% off a single order as a sign-up bonus (valid within your first 30 days)
- Free tastings for you and a guest
- A club-exclusive Glencairn glass included with your first bottle(s)
If you want to sign up for the club and get in on the action, go to Copperworks’ Whiskey Club enrollment page. Given the size of this release — 330 bottles isn’t much to go around — I wouldn’t wait too long to lock in a membership if this one has your attention.
Want us to share your news here on the Washington Beer Blog? Click here to learn how to reach us.
