Lower Peninsula distillery makes commemorative Copper Queen Whiskey

CALUMET — A distillery in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula is reviving a 105 year old whiskey brand that was once served in the U.P.’s historic copper county.

The Iron Fish Distillery has revealed its commemorative “Copper Queen” Whiskey. During the rise of the mining copper boom, young Narisco Bianchi emigrated from Italy to Calumet, Michigan in

It was around 1914 that he launched Copper Queen, a “high grade” blended whiskey that was likely sourced and relabeled by Bianchi. Soon miners throughout the Keweenaw Peninsula and in Red Jacket saloons were drinking Bianchi’s ‘Copper Queen’ Whiskey.

After Prohibition made its way through the whiskey was lost…

But now it is being revived and for every 2,000 bottles sold the distillery will be donating $1000.00 to the Calumet theater renovations and programs.

“In a small way creating Copper Queen Whiskey provides attention state-wide to the region of the Copper Country,” explained Richard Anderson, Co-Founder of Iron Fish Distillery. “We as Iron Fish Distillery want to create products that actually give back to the community.”

Iron Fish Distillery is Michigan’s first working farm, growing and sourcing local grain to distill a full line of small–batch craft spirits on a reclaimed 1890’s farmstead.

Iron Fish does this from the ground up with practices that respect the health of nearby watersheds.

Inspired by the Steelhead Trout that journey each year to their origin in the nearby Betsie River, Iron Fish is returning spirit to its origin using heritage methods of distilling on an environmentally third party verified farm growing non GMO grain.

Every step of the process is done by hand at the distillery.

You can find bottles in stores across the U.P. and you can learn more about it here.