Sauced

Letterpress Distilling Readies SoDo Facility

The small batch spirit maker will produce limoncello, vodka, and gin to start.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jan 05, 2012 at 08:59AM 0 Comments

Letterpress spirits soon can be yours. Photo courtesy Lettepress Distilling.

Eric Tognetti, a California native, moved to Walla Walla on his eighteenth birthday, when Washington wine was a nascent enterprise. He’d go on to work in several wineries but grape juice never struck his fancy the way the hard stuff—especially limoncello—did.

Tognetti (he goes by Skip) has dedicated years to perfecting his recipe for the lemon liqueur. Soon you’ll be able to try it when Tognetti opens SoDo-based Letterpress Distilling this spring.

Tognetti and his realtor trudged around to 40 some sites before settling on the space at 85 South Atlantic Street—funnily enough, an erstwhile winery. “We gave one of those silent looks to each other, like Oh my god, this is the one.”

The facility will house a tasting room and production of the limoncello as well as a “subtly complex” vodka and then a gin. Tognetti, who comes from an Italian family, talks of one day doing some Italian liqueurs like amaro or a walnut spirit. (Side note: His blog post about his grandfather’s liquor store in Rome is quite warming.) Eventually he hopes to barrel bourbon.

But in his first year Tognetti will be all about the Washington-centric limoncello, vodka, and gin, between 1,000 and 1,200 cases of which he’ll put out. He “wants to build the brand locally” before going regional, but the fact that Tognetti is producing limoncello bodes well for bigger business—domestic producers of the liqueur are somewhat hard to come by.

The distillery is in the final stages of construction, and there are still permits to acquire and those pesky inspections to pass. Keep tabs on Letterpress via Facebook, and of course check back here for updates.

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Tags: Microdistilleries, Distillery Report, Seattle Spirits

Introducing Captive Spirits, Ballard’s New Microdistillery

Big Gin, a particularly vibrant juniper juice, will be available in March.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Dec 19, 2011 at 10:00AM 5 Comments

The Captive Spirits label. Photo courtesy the distillery.

Big Gin is the name of the flagship liquor Captive Spirits will produce. It’s a play on Ben Capdevielle’s nickname for his dad, Big Jim, a craft distiller in Wisconsin. Big Jim’s dad also was a distiller, a purveyor of Templeton Rye during Prohibition.

Capdevielle along with Holly Robinson and Todd Leabman—“he’s our brains,” explains Robinson—are carrying on the family tradition with their Ballard-based operation. Though he might not say as much, it’s obvious owning and operating a distillery is a lifelong dream of Capdevielle’s—the guy was positively gleeful when he showed me around their spirits lab last week.

Three years ago Capdevielle set the wheels in motion; since then the Linda Derschang and Tom Douglas alum quips that the owners “let our strokes of genius come sporadically.” You can’t force inspiration or settle for just any space, says Robinson, a Walla Walla native. “It’s like starting a restaurant.”

In September Captive Spirits took over the back room of 1518 NW 52nd Street, now tricked out with a 100-gallon Vendome-made still and boxes upon boxes of bottles waiting for their juice. That will come in March, when 1183 dictates spirit makers can commence self distributing.

Big Gin also is a reference to the spirit’s robust flavor. What botanicals Capdevielle uses he won’t reveal, but he says to expect “a very vibrant gin.” Savory and a bit spicy, he compared it to something your grandpa might swill. Junipery? “Oh yeah, big time.” According to Robinson they sampled juniper juice of all stripes to create something “that’s missing from the market.”

The trio wants to keep Captive a small-batch outfit but they do aspire to implement a mail-order system and release an aperitif and a whiskey, barrelling for which could start in the summer. Bottling parties are in the cards but a tasting room isn’t. But Big Gin shouldn’t be hard to come by at local watering holes. “The bars around Ballard have been incredibly supportive,” said Capdevielle. “They keep asking, ‘Where is it? Where is it?’”

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Tags: Ballard, Microdistilleries, Distillery Report, Seattle Spirits, New Ballard Bars

Senate Approves Samples in Washington State Liquor Stores

A pilot program is planned for 30 stores.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Mar 31, 2011 at 08:19AM 0 Comments

Quarter ounce samples (much smaller than these guys) are okayed for state liquor stores.

Photo courtesy: Bartendingbasics.com

Washington’s state senate passed a bill on Wednesday, March 30 allowing samples in state liquor stores, according to the Seattle Times.

As when wine and beer samples were okayed for grocery and specialty stores in 2009, the liquor control board is now tasked with running a pilot program. The plan is to try out samples in 30 stores state-wide.

“Samples would be allowed no more than once a week at each store,” reports the Times’ Queenie Wong, “and each sample would not exceed a quarter ounce. Customers under the age of 21 years old and those intoxicated would not be allowed to sample spirits. The board would report on the pilot program to the Legislature by December 2012.”

This February, state reps passed a similar bill allowing beer and wine samples in farmers markets. All of these measures are obviously positive steps for those trying to sell alcoholic products, but what’s particularly promising about the liquor sample measure is that it acknowledges spirits as products to be appreciated and evaluated rather than simply controlled. We don’t see that a lot with the hard stuff.

Read the full article here.

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Tags: Local Spirits, Liquor Laws, Seattle Spirits

Distillery News: Local Bottles Win at San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Plus, now you can buy Woodinville Whiskey products in state stores.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Mar 29, 2011 at 10:09AM 2 Comments

Photo: Andrew Waits

Pacific Distillery’s excellent Absinthe Pacifique won big in San Francisco.

Starting March 29, Headlong—Woodinville Whiskey’s unaged whiskey—will be on shelves at Washington State liquor stores; the Peabody Jones vodka is on its way to getting listed in state stores too, reports Woodinville Whiskey’s Cameron Rogers.

The week before last Peabody Jones won a silver medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. And speaking of that competition, another Woodinville-based distillery, Pacific, did some butt-kicking there this year too. Distiller/owner Marc Bernhard’s Voyager gin won a double gold medal, his Absinthe Pacifique won gold.

I agree with your choices, San Francisco World Spirits Competition. That’s why I included both of Voyager’s products (as well as Headlong, onto which the Beverage Testing Institute recently bestowed a whooping 92 points—pretty fly for a white guy) in this recent roundup of recommended local spirits, bitters, and grappas.

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Tags: Whiskey, Awards and Accolades, Vodka, Microdistilleries, Distillery Report, Absinthe, Seattle Spirits