Joe Wagner and Kyle Stroud founded Copper Cane Spirits in 2014. Joe Wagner is a fifth-generation winemaker from Nappa Valley, and Copper Cane began by distilling apple brandy before expanding into whiskies. They pay particular attention to the local grains selected for their offerings, wanting to lean into what the state of California has to offer, much like the terroir-driven ethos often found in wine making. The IslaCalifa is a 5 year single malt named after Califa, the ficitional queen of an island found in the popular 16th cenutry novel Las Sergas de Esplandian. When the first Spanish explorers first reached the Baja  penninusula of California, they wondered if they’d reached the same paradise and thus named it after the fictional queen. IslaCalifa is grown using Northern California two-row barley that is smoked using cherry wood, and aged in a mix of French and American oak barrels before being finished for 1 month in Forté wine barrels.