Out of State Report: Cooper River Is Back (kind of)!

One of the first craft distilleries I went to was Cooper River Distillers along the River Line light rail line in Camden, NJ. The old garage was a ramshackle setup and the epitome of bootstrapped endeavor. But the bartenders were friendly, the cocktails were great, the setting sun blinding, and the promise of something new and exciting was real.

Unfortunately it didn’t work out for James Yoakum and his fledgling distillery. He shut the distillery down two years ago and sold his barreled inventory to Recklesstown Farm Distillery in Columbus, NJ, about 27 miles north from Cooper River’s location. There, the spirits have continued to age and on Saturday, August 29th at 12 pm, the first batch (300 bottles) of Straight Bourbon Whiskey will be placed on sale.

Recklesstown has another connection to Cooper River as head distiller, Ben Donia previously worked at Cooper River and played a part in the production of the bourbon.

The whiskey is described as having sweet vanilla flavor, rye spice and “plenty of age.” The 15-gallon barrels were rested for more than two-and-a-half years.

The bottles are $55 each and there will be a limit of two per customer.

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