Cocktails & Spirits

A New Chapter in Washington Hard Cider

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:00:00 -0800

Counter Culture Crystie Kisler in the Finnriver tasting room

When Keith and Crystie Kisler bought a 33-acre farm in Chimacum in 2004, the couple had no idea hard cider was undergoing a quiet revival in apple-heavy pockets of the country. They were simply searching for a value-added product to help generate a more viable income for their Finnriver Farm—a sustainable berry, vegetable, and egg producer. One day, a neighbor brought over a bottle of homemade hard cider and an idea was born.

Keith started experimenting with the heirloom apples in Finnriver’s orchards, and released his first cider in January 2010. It earned a double gold medal at the Seattle Wine Awards, an impressive feat considering the 60 apple varieties at Finnriver Farm weren’t technically cider apples—those are higher in tannins and, like wine grapes, unpleasant to the taste. The Kislers just liked the idea of making a drink favored by our founding fathers, all but eradicated during Prohibition.

Even after Finnriver had racked up more awards and visitors started traveling there from around the state, Keith kept on experimenting. He turned to Drew Zimmerman, the founder of Red Barn Cider and a mentor to ciderheads around the state. The bespectacled former aerospace worker had transferred his technical, fastidious tendencies to apples and cidermaking in 2004. He studied cidermaking in England and eventually planted 850 trees—bittersweets, sharps, and heirlooms—on a tract of land in Mount Vernon. He only produced about 1,200 cases of cider a year, including the aptly named Sweetie Pie, made with dessert apples, and the Burro Loco, which packs more of an astringent kick. But his Fire Barrel Cider is a testament to how far this beverage can roam from the sparkly, sweet incarnation that often serves as training wheels for beer drinkers. It’s smoky, and slightly sour—a British-style cider, aged in bourbon barrels and calling out to whiskey drinkers or fans of sour Flemish ales.

But last year, this elder statesman of cider started thinking about retiring. There was just the small matter of those apple trees.

He considered selling them off individually. Then he considered the Kislers. Right now there are only 10 cidermakers in Washington, but Finnriver’s founders have a knack for drawing visitors to its red-walled tasting room and spreading the word through myriad festivals and events.

And so, with its creator’s blessing, one of the state’s most distinctive ciders is being adopted. Finnriver brewed its first batch of Fire Barrel in mid-2012 using the same apple variety used by Zimmerman; Crystie insisted they add the words “Drew Zimmerman’s award-winning traditional cider” to the label. This way, she says, “he can let go and his work can carry on.”

Zimmerman is also selling to the Kislers his entire apple orchard, filled with varieties that would take years to recreate from seedlings.

But first, Birnam Wood must come to Dunsinane—that is, Zimmerman’s trees must travel nearly 60 miles across Whidbey Island, across the Sound to Port Townsend, then to their new home in Chimacum. In preparation, Keith tilled a former dairy pasture until the soil was free of grasses and so soft that shoes sink into it like new snow. Between now and April, he and a crew will descend upon Zimmerman’s orchard with two long-handled shovels, stomping them into the ground to encircle the roots so that a tractor can unearth, one by one, each of the 850 trunks. The trees must be replanted in the order in which they bloom, essential for cross-pollination.

Zimmerman has spent the better part of a decade trying to convert tasters who expect hard cider to be “sweet, fizzy, and taste like Martinelli’s with a kick.” And Crystie remembers too well the days when people told her Finnriver’s creations “tasted like horse piss.” But drinkers are coming around to the sort of tart, barnyardy cider flavors celebrated in England, France, and Spain (and eighteenth-century America). Now she prepares visitors for Fire Barrel’s complexity by telling them, “It’s like jazz music compared to classic rock; you’ve got to sit with it a while.”

Published: January 2013

Vessel Reopens as a Cocktail Geekout Heaven

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Olivia Brent

Vessel
624 Olive Way, Downtown,
vesselseattle.com

A good bar, says Jim Romdall, is an octopus bar. Like the college dive he worked at a decade ago, where the barman would spend his shift in cramped quarters, rapidly extending his arms left, right, overhead, and beneath the counter to reach for glassware and ingredients, barely moving his feet for hours at a time. Most bars are either jimmied into any available space or conceived by an architect, leaving drink makers with a beautiful setup and no good place to put the trash bin.

These days Romdall co-owns Vessel, the vaunted Fifth Avenue cocktail haunt that shuttered in December 2010 and is making its long-awaited return in a new space at Seventh and Olive. The reinvention provided him with the rarest of bartender opportunities—a chance to actually help design the space where he plies his trade. The result: a host of ergonomic flourishes guaranteed to thrill Vessel’s rotating lineup of bartenders and aid in the reasonably brisk production of precisely crafted drinks.

Admittedly, some of Romdall’s designs “are about putting service above speed.” The 24-foot-long, madrona-wood-topped bar holds supplies within arm’s reach and minimizes the number of times Romdall and his cohorts turn their backs on the room. The perforated steel rail where drinks are made is flush with the wood bartop, since Romdall wanted to remove any barriers between the person making a drink and the person consuming it. And instead of taking up valuable bar real estate, drinks destined for customers wait discreetly on a low platform, leaving more room for cocktail aficionados to line up and watch the shaking and stirring in action.

At the original Vessel, says Romdall’s business partner Clark Niemeyer, “everybody always wanted to be where the energy was. We wanted to find a space where 70 people could be at the bar.” In addition to the standing-room setup that surrounds the bar, a sleek 50-seat dining area also serves lunch and dinner.

The energy may be at the bar, but the show continues in a sunken room in the back. A large window opening up to Seventh Avenue gives passersby a chance to marvel at the chain-saw action that accompanies the bar’s ice-making program. Inside is a Clinebell machine that freezes hulking blocks of pristine, perfectly clear ice; Romdall only needs one hand to list the number of other bars in the country that possess one of these. Suspended from the ceiling is a block-and-tackle system for sliding these 300-pound beasts across the room, so chain-saw-wielding individuals, then a band saw in the corner (or a dexterous hand), can produce even smaller cubes, spheres, spears, or gemstonelike shapes designed to keep drinks cool and undiluted for the optimal amount of time. This back room, dubbed the Lab, is also a space for bartenders to experiment with bitters, tinctures, and foams.

For drinkers not indoctrinated into the cult of the cocktail, this den of custom-chiseled ice and $12 libations could come off as a Portlandia-appropriate brand of pretension. Most customers will never notice all the details Romdall put into his bar (okay, they’ll probably notice the sawing), but he hopes the net result is a space that feels welcoming rather than imposing, even for patrons who just want to end the workday with a beer or are ambivalent about which gin goes into their martinis—a hangout where the ice cubes just happen to be perfectly shaped.

That’s Amaro

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:00:00 -0800

Image: Olivia Brent

MIKE EASTON LIKES PROJECTS. He’s into bicycles, butchery, and collecting antique and obscure pasta tools, which he uses to feed patrons at his downtown lunchtime hideaway Il Corvo. His latest endeavor takes his love of Italian culture in a more boozy direction.

Easton has spent six years tinkering with a recipe for amaro, an Italian digestivo made with herbs. It’s usually savored at the end of a hearty pasta-laden meal—the very sort Easton produces at Il Corvo. He began back in 2006, fashioning a homemade still out of a pressure cooker and 12 feet of copper tubing. Now he’s working with Capitol Hill’s Oola Distillery to bottle and sell his creation. Both Easton and the Washington State Liquor Control Board are unaware of any other amari currently being produced in the state, and it’s uncommon to find anyone making an amaro in America. When Easton submitted his application to the federal bureau that approves the formulas for spirits produced in the United States, the office wasn’t even sure how to classify his product.

Amaro means “bitter” in Italian; try one and you’ll understand. Fernet, that bracing spirit beloved by cooks and bartenders, is a type of amaro. So, technically, is German hangover generator Jägermeister, though scores of smoother versions exist, too. Capitol Hill Italian restaurant Spinasse and its sibling bar Artusi are great spots to explore amaro in both cocktail form (as in a Manhattan, where amaro replaces the usual vermouth) and unadorned.

Easton won’t tell you exactly what’s in his blend of 16 medicinal, bitter, and culinary herbs, which he steeps in 100-proof vodka for two weeks before redistilling the mixture and aging it in oak, then stainless steel for a total of three months. Finally Easton blends his mixture with a syrup of burnt sugar. The result is a dark golden liquid that tastes of warm cinnamon on the front end, but mellows into a deceptively smooth quaff, despite an alcohol content of 66.7 percent—a shade lower than Jägermeister.

Easton is producing just 60 750-milliliter bottles of his Amaro Vittoria, which should be available at Oola’s tasting room in February. The name pays tribute to Easton’s wife Victoria. It also translates to “bitter victory,” a reference not to a success tinged with sadness, but rather a winning combination of bitter flavors.

A Guide to Washington’s Craft Distilleries

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 04:00:00 -0800

Image: Kyle Johnson

Oola Distillery’s 550-gallon Seattle-made alembic still.

IN 2008, WASHINGTON STATE PASSED A BILL calling for a new craft distillery license, changing the game for small-batch spirit makers who were suddenly able to set up shop affordably. Since then, a crop of new microdistilleries has popped up—so many, in fact, that keeping them straight has become a sobering affair.

To create this complete guide to the Washington microdistilleries that currently make and sell spirits, we surveyed the nearly 40 with an approved craft license (some small distillers choose to use a regular license instead). Among our findings: a honey-vodka operation on an island, a Capitol Hill distillery that doubles as a dance studio, and lots and lots of sweet, flavored liqueurs made with distilled spirits.

With so many talented Washingtonians getting into the game, it’s hard not to catch the spirit.

Bainbridge Organic Distillers

Who To create the first 100 percent organic distillery in the state, liquor marketing vet Keith Barnes and his son Patrick use stills from Vendome, a storied Kentucky company in business since the early 1900s. What and Where Juniper grows in Washington, but any distiller worth his botanicals will tell you the stuff’s no good for spirits. So for his Heritage Organic Doug Fir Gin ($35), Barnes uses juniper from Albania. The gin, plus the Battle Point Organic Whiskey ($47) and Bainbridge Legacy Organic Vodka ($33), are all available to sample at the tasting room, but only the vodka is regularly stocked in state liquor shops—the others require special order. When Tasting room hours are 10 to 5 Monday through Friday and 10 to 3 on Saturdays.

Bainbridge Organic Distillers, 9727 Coppertop Loop NE, Ste 101, Bainbridge Island, 206-842-3184; bainbridgedistillers.com

Black Heron Spirits

Who As his winery grew, Tefft Cellars winemaker Joel Tefft grew increasingly disillusioned with the bureaucratic responsibilities of the big wine biz. So in 2009 he left his namesake winery to start Black Heron Spirits. What and Where At his West Richland headquarters, Tefft distills a liquor laundry list—vodka, gin, limoncello, cordial, whiskey, grappa, and brandy—using a 300-gallon, American-made copper pot still, one of the biggest in the state. See it on a distillery tour, then head into the airy tasting room to sip as you soak up some desert sunshine—the stuff pours through the many windows at this sampling sanctuary. When Black Heron is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 5 and is bookable for private parties of 50 people or fewer. Products available in state liquor stores or by special order.

Black Heron Spirits, 8011 Keene Rd, West Richland, 505-967-0781; blackheronspirits.com

Challenger Ridge Vineyard and Cellars

Who Known for being one of a few pinot noir crafters this side of the Oregon border, Challenger Ridge in Concrete is a six-partner, 67-acre winery (you can camp there, provided you buy one bottle of wine per adult per night). Back in 2009 it started repurposing wine barrels to age fruit brandies and liqueurs. Famed Walla Walla winemaker Rusty Figgins is charged with distilling; with his Leonetti pedigree you know the guy makes good brandy. What and Where The specialty here is brandy made with grapes grown on the premises. The Trappers Peak Brandy ($35) is on sale at the winery’s estate tasting room just west of Concrete. (There’s also a Woodinville tasting room, but it stocks wine only.) When Try Challenger Ridge’s wine, brandy, and small-lot liqueurs between 11 and 5 on Saturdays and Sundays at the Concrete tasting room, a 110-year-old farmstead with all-wood walls and floors and a cozy fire.

Challenger Ridge Vineyards and Cellars, 43095 Challenger Rd, Concrete, 425-422-6988; challengerridge.com

Dry Fly Distilling

Who Former corporate marketers Don Poffenroth and Kent Fleischmann famously helped draft the ’08 legislation that allowed craft distilleries to flourish in Washington State. The bill also included the controversial 51 percent rule, which stipulates that just over half the ingredients in state-made craft spirits have to be grown here. (That’s one reason you see a whole lot of Washington-made fruit brandies and grain-based spirits.) It’s worked out well for them: Poffenroth and Fleischmann say they will sell 10,000 cases of liquor this year. What and Where The distillery plucks grains for its spirits (gin, vodka, whiskey) from the amber waves at Winsota Farm just outside Rosalia—about 20 percent of the farm’s total crop makes its way into Dry Fly mash. The distillers’ goals are lofty: They aim to get their gin and vodka (both $30) on shelves in every state of the union, and they ship to Canada as well. When Tours and tastings happen Monday through Friday from 8 to 5 and Saturdays from 10 to 3.

Dry Fly Distilling, 1003 E Trent Ave Ste 200, Spokane, 509-489-2112; dryflydistilling.com

Fremont Mischief

Who Mike Sherlock’s family didn’t follow him into the commercial fishing business, but distilling was a different story. Wife Patti and son Jon Gretz are partners in Mike’s mischievous new venture. What and Where Twelve years ago the Sherlocks discovered a small distillery in Canada that would make their rye whiskey recipe—a family heirloom—which explains why the brand-new distillery is already serving up aged spirits. (They plan on making future batches themselves.) Mike says the Fremont Mischief Whiskey ($33)—aged in oak barrels for several years—leaves you with a “buttery, caramel feeling.” At the Canal Street tasting room and distillery, the Sherlocks serve 80-proof Fremont Mischief Vodka ($28) and John Jacob Whiskey ($33), from the family’s rye mash recipe. The vodka and both whiskeys are available at state liquor stores. Mischief also makes limited batches of gin. When Stop by the wood-paneled tasting room to sip samples and peruse the plentiful paraphernalia (cocktail kits, martini glasses, lapel pins…) Monday through Saturday from 11 to 6 and Sunday from 11 to 4.

Fremont Mischief, 132 N Canal St, Fremont, 206-547-0838; fremontmischief.com

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Image: Kyle Johnson

(Clockwise from top left) Sun Liquor’s 20-gallon test still; 10-gallon barrels aging bourbon at Oola; Project V’s four stills, homemade from used and repurposed materials; corn and wheat mash in the still at MacDonald.

Golden Distillery

Who Semiretired restaurateurs Jim Caudill and Bob Stillnovich use 90 percent Washington ingredients in their whiskeys and brandies, a fact they credit to the highly arable Skagit Valley. What and Where Two whiskeys and five brandies (raspberry, blackberry, apple, cabernet sauvignon, and syrah) are currently in stock. Golden ages its offerings in small (10-gallon) barrels as opposed to larger and cheaper 55- to 60-gallon drums, increasing the surface-area-to-volume ratio and resulting in faster aging so their stuff tastes older sooner. (That’s a good thing.) Head out to Bow to visit the tasting room, which, the whiskey makers boast, “might have the best view of any distillery in the world,” looking out on the Samish Bay. The single-malt Samish Bay Whiskey ($36) is sold at select state liquor stores. When Look for the school-bus-yellow shingle marked “Tasting Room and Sales”; hours are a little loosey-goosey so call ahead to confirm someone will meet you there.

Golden Distillery, 9746 Samish Island Rd, Bow, 360-542-8332; goldendistillery.com

It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere

Who Distiller Colin Levi personally picks most of the fruit that goes into his brandies and liqueurs, and he says he’s experimented with just about every sort of fruit there is, including Asian pear, a memorably unpalatable distilling fruit. What and Where Levi is all about capturing the essential character of fruit and grains in his pear, rhubarb, and elderberry liqueurs, corn whiskey, and Chilean-style brandy. All products are available via special order at state liquor stores, but the tasting room in Cashmere, decked out with Prohibition-era photos and other Chelan County artifacts, is definitely worth a visit. When It’s 5 O’Clock schedules visits to its tasting room by appointment (call ahead) weekdays from 10 to 5 and weekends from 1 to 5.

It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere, 207 Mission Ave, Cashmere, 509-860-0102; 5oclocksomewheredistillery.com

MacDonald Distillery

Who Among the ranks of liquor-industry-vets-turned-distillers is Glen MacDonald, who spent 25 years in the distribution biz.What and Where MacDonald says his unaged Ty Wolfe White Whiskey ($38) keeps selling out, so if you can score some, do it. A line of fruit liqueurs is coming soon, some of which has been sourced from the backyard of distiller and friend Ryan Hembree (also of Skip Rock Distillers). MacDonald’s Snohomish tasting room—housed in a historical building that, 100 years ago, was a stable for the local fire department—is on the building’s second floor, so you can overlook the still, and, when it’s open, get a big boozy whiff of what’s cooking. Be sure to sample the floral Isis Gin ($33), less junipery than your average gin. When Distillery tours offered by appointment only, but the tasting room is open Monday through Friday from 9 to 5 and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5.

MacDonald Distillery, 104 Ave C, Snohomish, 360-862-0272; macdonalddistillery.com

Oola Distillery

Who Oola founder Kirby Kallas-Lewis runs his Union Street distillery and tasting room with the aid of managing director Brandon Gillespie, a former Mighty-O Donuts GM. Talk about creative confluence: Kallas-Lewis’s wife KT Niehoff runs her dance company out of an adjoining studio. Outfitted with a kitchen, the studio doubles as an event space for tasting parties and culinary wingdings. What and Where Oola’s long list of products currently in the works includes a chili-laced vodka (made with peppers grown in Yakima); at press time only its caramelly gin and a smooth wheaty vodka were in the bottle. The gin and vodka are currently available to sample at the Capitol Hill tasting room, a two-level construction that Kallas-Lewis hopes to one day turn into a bar celebrating handcrafted libations of all sorts. When Visit the handsome metal-and-repurposed-wood tasting room—designed by neighborhood architect Graham Baba—between 2 and 8 Tuesday through Thursday; Friday and Saturday from 2 to 10; and Sunday from 2 to 6.

Oola Distillery, 1314 E Union St, Capitol Hill, 206-709-7909; ooladistillery.com

Pacific Distillery

Who Master distiller Marc Bernhard is a hero among fans of absinthe for his Pacifique ($63), an earthy take on the Green Fairy that required years of research and experimentation inside his old-school copper alembic stills. Bernhard famously grows his booze botanicals (wormwood, lemon balm, hyssop) in his own garden, but he’s not afraid to shop elsewhere. His commitment to buying the best flavor agents from far-flung sources helps keep his products at the top of the heap—on par with some of the best new spirits you’ll find anywhere. What and Where In addition to the Pacifique, Bernhard makes Voyager Gin ($26), a popular mixer with a subtle sweetness and a lovely citrus aroma. Call ahead to schedule a tour of Pacific’s Woodinville distillery. When Pacific welcomes visitors for tours from 10 to 3 on Saturday, but suggests emailing mbernhard@pacificdistillery.com to make sure the distiller will be on duty.

Pacific Distillery, 18808 142nd Ave NE Ste 4B, Woodinville, 425-350-9061; pacificdistillery.com

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Image: Kyle Johnson

Project V’s Dan Smith stirs grain mash, which is pumped to the old bathtub where Mac Kenney squeezes liquid out of it and Mo Danger Heck handles the spent grain.

Project V Distillery and Sausage Company

Who True crafters: Al Danger Heck, his wife Mo Danger Heck, and friends Mac Kenney II, Jason Smith, and Perry Sanders created Project V out of a garage hobby, using four stills they built themselves. Mac, Mo, and her brother Dan work full time at the distillery turning out about 400 bottles of vodka a week. Their spent grain is fed to pigs in Snohomish, and the pigs in turn are fed to Project V’s customers as sausage. What Project V has distinguished itself via its Single Silo vodka ($29), a neutral grain spirit that captures the essence of the wheat with which it’s made—the grains come from Mo and Dan’s aunt and uncle’s family farm in Withrow in Eastern Washington. Where The Woodinville tasting room, where they store bottles in an old Volkswagen bus, also sells flasks, glasses, olives, and chocolates. When Stop by Saturdays and Sundays between noon and 5.

Project V Distillery and Sausage Company, 19495 144th Ave NE Ste A130 Woodinville, 425-398-1738; projectvdistillery.com

San Juan Island Distillery

Who Richard Anderson has been making Westcott Bay Cider for 12 years. Now with partners Suzanne and Hawkins Pingree the operation has expanded to include distilling; products include an apple eau-de-vie, three kinds of gin, thimbleberry brandy, and a lavender and wild rose liqueur. What and Where This fall, the distillers began barrel-aging eau-de-vie; in several years they hope to bottle it as Calvados-style brandy. When Find out what a thimbleberry is and watch the distillers in action by appointment or during summer hours on Saturdays from 3 to 5.

San Juan Island Distillery, 12 Anderson Ln, San Juan Island, 360-378-2606; sanjuanislanddistillery.com

Image: Kyle Johnson

A shop table at Project V holds 15-gallon demijohns and parts for a still.

Sidetrack Distillery

Who Sidetrack is the new venture from Larry and Linda Person, owners of the U-pick berry operation Lazy River Farm, and their nephew David O’Neal. What and Where Try Sidetrack’s liqueurs (strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry) and brandies (strawberry and blueberry) at the tasting room on the farm in Kent. If it’s nice out, bring a picnic. Their products are also available at select state liquor stores and by special order. Calling all boozy brides and grooms: Sidetrack will soon open up the farm to weddings and culinary events. When Sip your samples Saturdays from 11 to 5, Sundays from 11 to 4, and by appointment.

Sidetrack Distillery, 27010 78th Ave S, Kent, 206-963-5079; sidetrackdistillery.com

Skip Rock Distillers

Who Ryan Hembree’s self-described “home-brew hobby gone crazy.” Formally educated in winemaking at Washington State University, Hembree previously worked as agricultural coordinator for Snohomish County while making beer, wine, and cider at home. He definitely appreciates the new opportunities the craft distilling laws provide farmers—and hobbyists. What and Where Skip Rock Potato Vodka ($34), the only potato vodka being made in the state. It’s “a little different, but a whole lot harder” than wheat vodka, says Hembree. His vodka has a richer profile and is more robust than wheat vodkas, and doesn’t lose its flavor when you make mixed drinks with it. Skip Rock’s tasting room is in Snohomish at the same locale as MacDonald Distillery. Hembree (who is also MacDonald’s Head Distiller) and Glen MacDonald have been friends for four years since meeting at a distilling workshop. Skip Rock Potato Vodka is also available as a shelf listing at state liquor stores. When Check the website or call ahead for tasting room hours and distillery tours.

Skip Rock Distillers, 104 Ave C, Snohomish, 425-330-4885; skiprockdistillers.com

Sodo Spirits Distillery

Who Sodo Spirits—run by K. C. and Amy Sheehan—is the only United States distillery making shochu, a Japanese spirit that’s lower in alcohol and calories than vodka or gin, from scratch. The Sheehans got the idea from a friend who runs a 60-year-old shochu distillery in Japan, where it’s now at least as popular as sake. What and Where To make their EvenStar Premium Cocktail Shochu ($32), the Sheehans incubate Washington-grown barley to create koji, a fungus, which is fermented with more barley, then worked through a copper still. When There is no tasting room at present but shochu is available for purchase in the retail section at the SoDo distillery and at select liquor stores.

Sodo Spirits Distillery, info@sodospirits.com; sodospirits.com

Soft Tail Spirits

Who Master Distiller Dennis Robertson has been operating his Woodinville distillery since 2008. This year, with apprentice Matthew Farmer, he unveiled a second tasting room where they hold barbecues in summer and bottling parties from time to time. What and Where One of the first craft distilleries to open in Washington, Soft Tail makes grappa from the leftover grape bits (called pomace) from a nearby winery. Its popular vodka sold more than 620 gallons this year. When Soft Tail has two tasting rooms in Woodinville; one is open Saturdays and Sundays only from noon to 5, and the other is open weekdays from 9 to 5.

Soft Tail Spirits, 14356 Woodinville Redmond Rd, Woodinville (Sat & Sun). 12280 NE Woodinville Dr Ste C, Woodinville (Mon–Fri), 425-770-1154; softtailspirits.com

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Image: Kyle Johnson

MacDonald’s mash goes in the 650-liter still at one end, and 190-proof liquor comes out of the cooling tower at the other, after passing through two pumper columns.

Sound Spirits

Who Boeing aerospace engineer Steven Stone runs the distillery in his off-work hours with the help of an assistant and somehow finds time for a full-court PR onslaught: Sound Spirits gets less press than Dry Fly, but only slightly less. What and Where The vodka and gin—marketed under the name Ebb and Flow—are currently available at the Interbay tasting room (you’ll know you’re there when you see the painted octopus tentacles flopping around on the street-facing wall) and in state liquor stores. Future plans include aquavit, creme de menthe, whiskey, and, most ambitiously of all, a Benedictine-style liquor. But back to that vodka for a second: Craft bartenders are well known for their bias against vodka, but even they say Stone’s version (made from mash of barley, as opposed to wheat) has a distinctly pleasing flavor and a silky mouthfeel. When The tasting room welcomes visitors Monday through Thursday from noon to 8; Friday noon to 7, Saturdays noon to 6, and Sunday noon to 5.

Sound Spirits, 1630 15th Ave W, Interbay, 206-651-5166; drinksoundspirits.com

Sun Liquor Distillery

Who Beer brewer turned gin crafter and all-around busy guy Erik Chapman (he manages both Sun Liquor bars) distills. Fellow busy guy Michael Klebeck, who founded the bars and runs Top Pot Doughnuts with his brother Mark, designed the brand’s distinctively rimmed bottle with the Bakelite cap. Chapman, who happens to be one of Seattle’s most studied cocktailians, tweaked his recipe by testing it in hundreds of classic and modern cocktail concoctions to help him create a versatile mixing gin. The result: a very good go-to bottle for the home bartender. What and Where Chapman worked on Sun Liquor’s flagship spirit, the round-bodied Hedge Trimmer gin ($30), for a full year before settling on a final formula in October. It is now for sale at the Pike Street distillery and in state liquor stores. Chapman says that Sun will roll out small-batch seasonal gins, eau de violette, and several more as-yet-undisclosed products in months to come. When At press time, Sun Liquor was planning to start serving samples of Hedge Trimmer at the distillery but had yet to work out logistics. Chapman said the gin will be available in Washington’s state liquor stores and at select emporiums in Oregon and California.

Sun Liquor Distillery, 514 E Pike St, Capitol Hill, 206-720-1600; sunliquor.com

Whidbey Island Distillery

Who Whidbey Island Distillery is as homegrown as they come: The Heising family runs the distillery on a nine-acre property in Langley. Tech geek Steve developed the unique low-temperature distillation process (his still is the first to operate legally on the island) while his wife Beverly tackles operations and marketing. Son Jim, meanwhile, takes care of the graphics, website, and label design. What and Where The Heisings are currently making loganberry liqueur at the distillery, available through state liquor stores. Next up: vodka and whiskey. When Tastings are currently available by appointment only, and a public tasting room is on the agenda for summer 2012.

Whidbey Island Distillery, 3466 Craw Rd, Langley, 360-321-4715; whidbeydistillery.com

Wishkah River Distillery

Who Sue Watts runs the show solo at her Aberdeen distillery, one of the few places in the country (Watts estimates there are four or five others) where you’ll find vodka made from honey—a complicated process that begins by making mead, or honey wine. Mead’s slow fermentation process means Wishkah vodka takes two more weeks to make than grain-based vodkas. What and Where In addition to the honey, Watts makes a grain-based vodka and she’ll soon be serving her white (unaged) whiskey. A barrel-rested version will be ready several years down the line. When Tasting room hours are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from noon to 6.

Wishkah River Distillery, 2210 Port Industrial Rd, Aberdeen, 360-589-1829; wishkahriver.com

Woodinville Whiskey Company

Who As indicated by the name, the plan at Woodinville Whiskey, a partnership between best buds Orlin Sorensen and Brett Carlile, was always barrel-aged whiskey. Bourbon, to be precise. They developed the recipe with the aid of former Maker’s Mark distiller Dave Pickerell. Meantime, however, they needed something to sell. Thus were born WW’s white-dog (or unaged) whiskey Headlong ($35) and its Peabody Jones vodka ($30). What and Where Alongside the clear spirits on offer, Woodinville Whiskey sells age-your-own whiskey kits: a mini barrel and a bottle of white dog—the perfect holiday gift for the hooch hobbyist in your life. When The tasting room is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 5 with tours at 4 each day.

16110 Woodinville Redmond Rd NE Ste 3, Woodinville, 425-486-1199; woodinvillewhiskeyco.com

Locavore Libations

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 04:00:00 -0800

The 1022 Corpse Reviver

Recipe by Chris Keil, 1022 south in Tacoma
Featuring Voyager Gin and Absinthe Pacifique from Woodinville’s Pacific Distillery.
“We use Pacifique for this drink, and many others, because it’s local, affordable, and has a clean, simple flavor profile,” says Keil, owner of this destination lounge down south.

Ingredients

½ oz Voyager Gin
½ oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz honey simple (two parts honey dissolved in one part water)
½ oz Cocchi Americano
1 bar spoon Pacifique Absinthe
2 shakes cayenne

Directions
Fill a shaker with ice. Add all ingredients except cayenne, then shake vigorously and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Finish with two shakes of cayenne.

Bramble and Vine

Submitted by Paul Ritums, Local 360 in Seattle
Featuring Rayn Anjel Gin from Black Heron Spirits in West Richland.
Ritums says that the amount of blueberry vinegar in this drink can be tweaked to taste, but cautions cocktailians to add slowly. “A little goes a long way.”

Ingredients

1½ oz Rayn Anjel gin
½ oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz simple syrup
¼ oz Canter-Berry Farms Blueberry Vinegar

Directions
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add all the ingredients and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. If fresh blueberries are available skewer two between one-and-a-half-inch-long slices of lemon peel, otherwise add a simple lemon twist. Alternative preparation: In a double rocks glass, pour all ingredients except blueberry vinegar over crushed ice. Stir well. Finally, pour the blueberry vinegar over the top of the ice like you would a snow cone.

The Apple Blossom

Submitted by Bradford Knutson, Swing Wine Bar in Olympia
Featuring Soft Tails Spirits Vodka.
“I like to emphasize that Soft Tail is not a flavored vodka,” says Knutson. “It is distilled from apples.”

Ingredients

1½ oz Soft Tail Vodka
1½ oz Knudsen’s 100 percent pomegranate juice
½ oz Laird’s Apple Jack
½ oz simple syrup
2–3 dashes Twisted and Bitter orange bitters
Splash of soda

Directions
In a tumbler combine all ingredients. Add ice and top with a splash of soda. Give the drink a quick stir with a stirring straw and serve.

The Björk

Submitted by Jim German, Jimgermanbar in Waitsburg
Featuring Oola Gin
German recommends Turkish pul biber (aka aleppo) flakes—which are slightly smoky and not too hot—for their depth of flavor, but any red pepper flakes will do.

Ingredients

1¾ oz Oola Gin
1 oz Linie Aquavit
1 small wedge lemon
¼ tsp Biber Turkish red pepper flakes

Directions
In a shaker combine gin, aquavit, and lemon wedge (do not break or muddle fruit). Fill shaker with ice, shake ingredients with vigor. Drop red pepper flakes into a chilled cocktail glass, then strain shaker ingredients into glass. Garnish with a thin lemon twist or two.

Headlong Cocktail

Submitted by John Ueding, Trellis Restaurant in Kirkland
Featuring Headlong White Dog Whiskey from Woodinville Whiskey Company.
A serious student of the local spirits scene, Ueding invented this drink one night with David Pickerell, consulting distiller for Woodinville Whiskey and a former Maker’s Mark bigwig.

Ingredients

2 oz Woodinville Whiskey Headlong White Dog Whiskey
¼ oz raw sugar syrup (two parts raw sugar dissolved in one part water)
3 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
2 dashes orange bitters (preferably Regan’s No. 6)
¼ oz yellow chartreuse
1 orange as garnish

Directions
Swirl yellow chartreuse in a chilled cocktail or coupe glass, coating all sides, then pour out excess. Fill a separate glass with ice and add all remaining ingredients. Stir until well chilled, then strain into chartreuse-rinsed glass. Peel off a section of orange rind and squeeze over drink. Discard rind or drop into cocktail.

Tiki Cocktails Return

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Ryan McVay

IF MAGAZINES, news media, and bartenders wearing tweed knickers have yet to make you aware, we are in the middle of a glorious craft cocktail renaissance. Ten years ago, fresh juice reappeared behind bars, the first indicator that quality had become trendy once more. Later came artful miniature drinks in vintage crystal cups and hotly debated articles about the first appearance of the martini in print. With all the attention to detail, we’ve lost sight of something important: Drinking is supposed to be fun.

But a silent torchlight vigil has run parallel to the serious cocktail movement, a silly congregation that honors hibiscus-print shirts as much as quality drinks. Call it the tiki revival and know that it is a sleeping volcano about to spew new life onto the increasingly austere craft-cocktail scene.

The origin of tiki drinks can be traced to the late ’30s, when Earnest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, an ex-bootlegger, and Victor Jules Bergeron, a sandwich-shop jockey, opened competing bars in Southern California, both decorated with bits of thatch and Polynesian bric-a-brac. They became known, respectively, as Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic. In 1940, the first Trader Vic’s franchise opened right here in Seattle, at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel Downtown. Around that same time Vic invented the mai tai, the cocktail that would become tiki’s calling card. Variations are endless, but Vic’s classic mai tai is a sweet yet balanced mix of rum, lime juice, curacao, simple syrup, and orgeat. Over the next 25 years, Don and Vic owned more than 75 restaurants between them and kicked off a trend that spawned innumerable copycat eateries worldwide.

Originally, the tiki movement centered on tropical juices, exotic rums, and a hodgepodge of other consumable booty plundered from the South Seas. The point was to transport you without traveling: Tiki was about escape. Over time, however, a bottom line ethos meant corners were cut. Canned juices replaced fresh, mixes replaced housemade syrups, quality rums were all but forgotten.

Today, Polynesian-inspired drinks destinations like Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, El Cobre in New York City, and Thatch in Portland are bringing quality ingredients back to the tiki realm. Seattle has yet to attract a bar on par, but you’ll find devoted disciples mixing drinks at Tini Bigs, Naga Cocktail Bar, Moshi Moshi, and Rob Roy, all happy to help you navigate the hard-to-crack code of tiki terms. Meantime, check out the glossary below.

Tiki Terms

→ It sounds like a melange from the silk trail but allspice is in fact a liqueur made from the allspice berry, a little nutmeg-looking nugget also known as Jamaican pepper. It tastes like a mulled wine you might serve carolers at Christmastime.

→ In France they mix cognac with orange and sugar to get curacao. Down in Bermuda they take rum, limes, sugar, and spice to make the tiki sweetener falernum. Mixed with rums, it can mimic the flavor of molasses caramel or key lime pie.

→ Orgeat is an almond syrup with a touch of orange flower. Though absent from 99 percent of all mai tais, it is an essential ingredient to a properly made one. To pronounce this nutty delight, think bad German accent, then say: “OR-zhaht!”

→The rumlike liqueur Swedish punsch is composed of distilled cane sugar, Javanese rice, citrus, and spice, and was an essential ingredient for the earliest punch recipes and simple drinks such as Dr. Cocktail or the Diki Diki.

Tie One On

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 07:00:00 -0700

HERE’S THE THING: You can’t judge local liquor the way you do all your trusty old booze brands. Our distilleries are almost all brand-spankers, one- or two-person productions subject to tricky regulations and tight budgets. Still. There are some tasty examples among Seattle’s new crop of spirits, grappas, and bitters. You can order many of them at your neighborhood liquor store, but a lot of the new distilleries have tasting rooms, too—should you prefer to sample at the source.

Absinthe and Gin

Pacific Distillery’s earthy Pacifique Absinthe Verte Supérieure is crafted from an 1855 recipe; distiller Marc Bernhard cultivates the traditional herbs—wormwood, green anise, fennel—in his home garden. His Voyager dry gin, meanwhile, is a versatile cocktail anchor that he makes with juniper, naturally, but also coriander, licorice root, cardamom, aniseed, lemon, orange, orris, angelica, and cassia. Contact the distillery to schedule a visit. Pacific Distillery, 18808 142nd Ave NE, Ste 4B, Woodinville, 425-350-9061; pacificdistillery.com

Bitters

Bitters are essential for creating balanced cocktails, and a few drops mixed with soda make for a refreshingly light (and lightly alcoholic) drink. Local bartender and Scrappy’s Bitters owner Miles Thomas is now offering sweet little sample packs of his orange, celery, lavender, lime, chocolate, grapefruit, and cardamom bitters, so you can experiment with flavors before committing to a full bottle. Scrappy’s are stocked at Bottlehouse, DeLaurenti, and 12th and Olive Wine Company.
scrappysbitters.com

Cachaca

In Brazil, where it is ubiquitous, sugarcane-based cachaca is often thought of as a coarse, cheap spirit. The gold (aged) and silver (unaged) cachacas from Novo Fogo, however, show just how smooth and refined the spirit can be. The distillery is deep in the Brazilian rain forest, but Bellevue is HQ for sales—which explains why so many local bars serve them on the rocks or in tasty new twists on rum drinks. 425-256-2527; novofogo.com

Vodka

Made from a barley mash (as opposed to wheat, far more common among domestic vodkas), vanilla-noted Ebb and Flow, crafted in Interbay by Sound Spirits, surprises vodka sippers by actually tasting like something. Something delicious. Distiller Steve Stone will be bottling his gin in the coming weeks; call him at the distillery to set up a tour and tasting. Sound Spirits, 1630 15th Ave W, Interbay, 206-651-5166; drinksoundspirits.com

Grappa

Soft Tail’s Sangiovese grappa starts with pomace (leftover grape bits) from wineries that neighbor the Woodinville distillery—reduce, reuse, refill our glasses, please. We love this easygoing take on the traditionally abrasive Tuscan beverage. Visit the tasting room from noon to 5pm, Monday through Saturday. Soft Tail Spirits, 12280 NE Woodinville Dr, Ste C, Woodinville; 425-770-1154; softtailspirits.com

Whiskey

Made under the tutelage of longtime Maker’s Mark luminary David Pickerell, Woodinville Whiskey’s citrus-forward Headlong white dog (unaged) whiskey is now behind the bar at the distillery from noon to 5pm, Wednesday through Sunday. We can’t wait to taste the barrel-aged version when it’s ready. Woodinville Whiskey Co., 16110 Woodinville Redmond Rd NE, Ste 3, Woodinville, 425-486-1199; woodinvillewhiskeyco.com

Not Your Grandma’s Punch

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 04:00:00 -0800

Image: Paul Kooiman

Styling by Gabriel Trivelas

Punch drunk love Sherry-infused holiday punch is a stylish new take on old-school drinking.

DOES THE WORD “SHERRY” inspire, for you, an image of lace-clad old biddies sipping gaggy-sweet syrup from cut-crystal stemware, a few doilies flung about to complete the picture? You are not alone, says Alison Sever, bar manager at the Local Vine (thelocalvine.com) on Capitol Hill. “Sherry has a reputation as something your grandmother used to drink,” she says. “Most of us grew up with an awful impression of it, and rightly so. The product available was a terrible imitation of true sherry from Spain.”

But bartenders like Sever are rediscovering real sherry—the stuff made in the Jerez area of Andalusia, Spain. There, sherry is fermented, fortified, and aged in the barrel using the solera system, which blends older and newer vintages. “By the time the wine has gone through, five to 100 years may have passed,” says Sever. “Despite all of the time and care, the wines are a bargain because they have not been popular here in the U.S. for some time.”

When stirring up cocktails, Sever reaches for Manzanilla, a delicate type of sherry with a somewhat crisp edge. Recreating recipes she unearthed in pre-Prohibition bartender books, Sever found the classic sherry cocktails were often pucker-up sour, so to soften the Local Vine’s Bombay punch, she subbed oranges and orange juice for lemon and lime. She infuses the mixture with cinnamon, cardamom, and star anise, approximating the flavors created when teas were steeped into cocktails of yore. These same spices lend a deck-the-halls vibe to the drink, so a big boozy bowl of it makes for fun times at holiday parties. Feel free to lay out a doily or two for old time’s sake.

BOMBAY PUNCH FROM THE LOCAL VINE

Ingredients

Image: istockphoto

6 very thinly sliced lemons
6 very thinly sliced oranges
¼ cup sugar
4 oz brandy
4 oz dry sherry, such as Manzanilla
½ oz maraschino liqueur
½ oz orange liqueur, such as Cointreau or Triple Sec
8 oz sparkling water
16 oz dry sparkling wine
2–3 cinnamon sticks, to taste
3–6 star anise
5 cardamom pods, wrapped in cheesecloth tied with butcher string

Directions

In a pitcher or punch bowl, toss the fruit with the sugar and let sit for 5 minutes. Add brandy, sherry, maraschino liqueur, orange liqueur, cinnamon sticks, and cardamom pods, stirring to combine. Slowly pour in sparkling water and sparkling wine. Ladle into 3–6 glasses over ice and add 1 star anise to each serving.

Kombucha Culture

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:00:00 -0700

LAST JULY, shops that stocked kombucha, a fermented tea touted for its health benefits, pulled the trendy beverage from shelves. The move mystified customers—kombucha’s popularity has soared in recent years, with annual sales estimates ranging from $100 million to $300 million. Why deny folks their funky health juice, especially when they’re willing to pay up to $6 for a 16-ounce bottle? Turns out, some commercial kombuchas exceeded 0.5 percent alcohol per volume, making them boozy enough for the Food and Drug Administration to take notice. But before the FDA could slap on warning labels and an alcohol tax, shopkeepers simply put the kibosh on kombucha.

The drink’s sudden scarcity in shops motivated a spiked-tea-making movement. In Seattle, newbie brewers turn to Chris Joyner, owner of local kombucha brand CommuniTea (communitea—kombucha.com), the first kitchen licensed by the Washington State Department of Agriculture to make kombucha. Along with most makers of nonpasteurized kombucha, Joyner suspended sales this summer due to the concern over alcohol levels. Before the crackdown, he’d set up his stall at Seattle farmers markets, handing samples of his pale yellow kombucha concoction to curious market goers. Faced with the tea’s musky vinegar aroma and floating bacteria cultures, some people’s lips puckered in disgust while other curious shoppers held it up to the light, awed by the floating gunk.

There’s been much debate over the tea’s health claims—devotees say it can do everything from ease indigestion to fight cancer, but it has never been tested in a clinical trial. Local nutritionist and Bastyr University associate professor Jennifer Adler says she’s confident about the tea’s immunity-boosting property and regularly prescribes it to help alleviate her clients’ heartburn. Adler adds that kombucha is a good pick-me-up because of its vitamin B content, and it’s packed with beneficial bacteria and digestive enzymes. “It’s better than a cup of coffee and more convenient than sauerkraut,” she says.

Kombucha starts as a symbiotic colony of yeast and bacteria, or a SCOBY. The SCOBY, which looks like a thawing chicken breast, is added to a mixture of steeped tea and sugar and left to ferment in a warm, dimly lit place. Also known as “mushrooms,” “mothers,” or “cultures,” SCOBYs can be found easily on the Internet or through local brewers like Joyner. Depending on the SCOBY and the temperature, fermentation usually takes at least a week.

“Check for mold, that’s what I worry about,” says Adler. But as long as kombucha makers keep the environment hygienic there shouldn’t be a problem. Fermentation, Adler points out, has been around a lot longer than sanitation.

Still Secret

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Lindsay Borden

Downlow spirits Distillers can buy copper alembic stills, invented in the Middle Ages, online. But using them to make booze is illegal without a permit.

ON A BREEZY spring day, guests gather for a backyard barbecue near Green Lake. As our host flips the bratwursts, a man introduced as Bob unscrews the cap from an unlabeled bottle and pours short slugs of rum into a row of tumblers. The rum is dark and thick, with an aroma of raisins and sulfur and a taste of plums and molasses. It’s rich, it’s potent, it’s delicious.

It’s also illegal. With his white hair, tinted glasses, and “Heya, neighbor” demeanor, Bob has the bearing of a golf-playing retiree. But he fermented, distilled, and bottled this rum at home, without acquiring any licenses or permits or paying a penny in taxes. While the rum was made as a hobby—the same way people make beer and wine at home legally, with none of it exchanged for cash—in the eyes of local police and the Treasury Department, Bob is an outlaw.

There’s no reliable metric for gauging the popularity of home distilling, but signs indicate it’s on the rise. At the internationally popular website homedistiller.org, membership grew from 4,900 to 5,500 between February and April, and the “New Distillers” Yahoo! group has close to 4,000 users. “The cops used to say that for every moonshine still they found, there were nine more in operation,” says Max Watman, the Hudson Valley–based author of Chasing the White Dog, which chronicles America’s moonshine tradition. “You can estimate there’s at least five times as many people now distilling at home, and it is booming.”

The word “moonshiner” tends to conjure the image of a jug-toting hillbilly, but Watman says today’s home distillers are mostly in their 30s and 40s, with locavore inclinations and a taste for good liquor. “We’re in a cultural moment when people make their own pickles and cheese and cure their own meat—whiskey just shows up next,” Watman says.

Contributing to this boom is the relatively easy availability of home-distilling equipment and information. Online shoppers can find and legally purchase stills starting around $150, with top-of-the-line equipment peaking around $11,000. (U.S. retailers of complete stills must provide a customer’s address and details to federal authorities upon request.)

And while learning the craft of distillation once required either a lengthy apprenticeship, a studious demeanor, or a taste for danger, today’s distillers have plenty of how-to options, ranging from the aforementioned online resources to books such as Moonshine!, by Matthew B. Rowley.

Spirits poured on the sly around Seattle (word-of-mouth is the way to find them) include exceptional homemade absinthe from Wallingford, a Tacoma kirschwasser made from Rainier cherries, and a Queen Anne apple brandy as heady as any commercial Calvados. (As for liquor distilled from Walla Walla onions, the less said, the better.) Resource-strapped federal agents have higher priorities than confiscating someone’s handcrafted grappa; the only moonshine busts in recent memory took place in Eastern Washington around 20 years ago. But that’s not to say there aren’t consequences. Mike McCaw heads Seattle’s Amphora Society, which produces and sells books and equipment for home and commercial distillers. He says he gets calls all the time from people who want to buy a still and don’t know it’s illegal to distill spirits at home. “You need to get a permit or be comfortable with being a criminal, and if you tell me you’re going to break the law, I’m not going to do business with you.”

Cocktails & Spirits

A New Chapter in Washington Hard Cider

Tasting Room Info

Vessel Reopens as a Cocktail Geekout Heaven

That’s Amaro

A Guide to Washington’s Craft Distilleries

Bainbridge Organic Distillers

Black Heron Spirits

Challenger Ridge Vineyard and Cellars

Dry Fly Distilling

Fremont Mischief

Golden Distillery

It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere

MacDonald Distillery

Oola Distillery

Pacific Distillery

Project V Distillery and Sausage Company

San Juan Island Distillery

Sidetrack Distillery

Skip Rock Distillers

Sodo Spirits Distillery

Soft Tail Spirits

Sound Spirits

Sun Liquor Distillery

Whidbey Island Distillery

Wishkah River Distillery

Woodinville Whiskey Company

Locavore Libations

The 1022 Corpse Reviver

Bramble and Vine

The Apple Blossom

The Björk

Headlong Cocktail

Tiki Cocktails Return

Tiki Terms

Tie One On

Absinthe and Gin

Bitters

Cachaca

Vodka

Grappa

Whiskey

Not Your Grandma’s Punch

BOMBAY PUNCH FROM THE LOCAL VINE

Kombucha Culture

Still Secret