Sauced

Released: Oola’s Hot Pepper Vodka

An early cold snap means an extra-limited supply.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Dec 15, 2011 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

Available only at the tasting room. Photo via Oola Distillery.

One thing I love about Seattle: I visited Oola Distillery’s tasting room on a cold Tuesday night, and the counter was busy with patrons buying locally distilled spirits with the same ease and familiarity that one might stock up on apples or pasta at QFC.

This week, owner Kirby Kallas-Lewis quietly released a vodka flavored with hot peppers. He says Howard Lev of Washington pepper phenom Mama Lil’s was instrumental in finding exactly the right peppers. Goathorns give the vodka a delicate orange hue and the same fresh, piquant flavor you get when biting into an actual raw pepper; this vodka practically crunches. The wallop of heat is courtesy of Thai chile peppers.

The 375-mL bottles are $22 and only available at Oola’s tasting room (it’s a nice excuse to visit, not that you should need one). Kallas-Lewis didn’t exactly intend for this release to be so exclusive, but no sooner did he identify just the right combination of peppers than an early freeze decimated the Yakima-grown goathorn crops before he could secure an order. Hence this vodka is in relatively short supply; Oola has produced 400 bottles and Kallas-Lewis estimates he could produce another 400, but that’s it until next year’s pepper crop ripens. But hey, there’s always the rosemary vodka that Oola is releasing in the early part of 2012.

What does one do with hot pepper vodka? Bloody Marys are an obvious conclusion, though it seems a shame to douse this fine product in a salty, overly processed Mary mix. Oola recommends mixing two ounces of the spirit with an ounce of lime and a quarter-ounce of simple syrup.

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Tags: Vodka, Distillery Report, Oola Distillery, Kirby Kallas-Lewis

Sun Liquor Spirits: An Addendum

Will bottles be retailed at the distillery on Pike Street? Definitely maybe.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 03, 2011 at 09:38AM 0 Comments

Hedge Trimmer gin, finally out of the box. Photo courtesy Sun Liquor

Sun Liquor spirits are flowing freely at the label’s two Capitol Hill bars—yay—but, asks reader McLean, Will people be able to purchase bottles of the gin and vodka at the distillery on Pike Street?

Last we checked the answer was maybe, but for a more detailed explanation we turn to Erik Chapman, Sun Liquor manager and a lead distiller. The distillery is also the site of one of the aforementioned bars. This complicates things—the hybrid is a first for Washington. “Being the only one in the state, [the Liquor Control Board] doesn’t quite know what to do with us. We are still trying to, but not sure what will happen.”

Also asked reader McLean: Aren’t only craft distillers allowed to sell on site? And didn’t Sun swap a craft license for a regular one so as to dodge regulations regarding local sourcing?

True, Sun does operate under a regular permit but not for sourcing reasons, says Chapman. (Sixty percent of the ingredients in Hedge Trimmer are from Washington, for example). Two motivators prompted that decision: Again, there’s the uncertainty of whether bottles will be retailed at the distillery—“one of the biggest perks of having a craft license.” Secondly, “We didn’t want a limit of 100k gallons per year. This way we can produce more than just gin and vodka,” adds Chapman, hinting at seasonal small batch releases and forthcoming liqueurs.

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Tags: Gin, Vodka, Microdistilleries, Distillery Report, Distilling

You Can Now Consume Sun Liquor Gin and Vodka

Try the long-awaited spirits at either of Sun’s Capitol Hill bars.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 01, 2011 at 09:36AM 3 Comments

Sun Liquor’s Hedge Trimmer gin: go forth and try it.

Before she departed for D.C., Sauced mama Jess Voelker snuck a sample of Sun Liquor ‘s gin, Hedge Trimmer. She described it thusly: "A nice floral nose… round-bodied and easy-going on the palate. If you eschew super junipery gins you’ll be happy, the juniper was surprisingly subtle."

Now you, too, can sip the house hooch and its compatriot, Sun Liquor Vodka. Over the weekend the original Sun on Summit Ave and the Pike Street distillery (where both are made) popped bottles of the booze.

Currently those are the only two spots pouring the spirits. Says bartender Chelsea Anderson: “We have not yet received our permit to sell bottles at both bars but that process is in the works. For now you will just have to let us do the mixing.” She added other Seattle bars aren’t yet stocking the Sun Liquor labels “but hopefully they will soon.” Those wishing to buoy their home bar can special order the spirits through Washington State liquor stores using order numbers #975506 (gin) and #975507 (vodka).

“We are producing more every day then selling it to the liquor control board, so once they have it it will be available for bars or anyone else to purchase.”

What’s the best way to taste Trimmer? If you’re at the Summit Sun, try it with a Pink Gin. If you’re on Pike, go with an Alaska. Those are on the bars’ respective new fall/winter menus.

And for the booze nerds: here’s some background on Hedge Trimmer and the tireless tweaking of its master distiller, Erik Chapman.

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Tags: Gin, Vodka, Microdistilleries, Distillery Report, Distilling

Local Spirits: End of Summer Party at Italianissimo

Pay $15 for the chance to try Woodinville-made spirits in an array of cocktails.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Sep 14, 2011 at 10:42AM 0 Comments

Try Woodinville-made Single Silo Vodka tonight at Italianissimo.

Photo: PV Distillery

With about 40 distilleries now licensed in Washington State, this thing is getting pretty real.

Some of them have tasting rooms of course, but if you’re just taking a first toe dip into Seattle-area spirits, you might check out something like this: Tonight, Wednesday, September 14, Italianissimo Ristorante in Woodinville is having a sampling party on its patio. Pay $15, get the chance to try some cocktails featuring spirits distilled nearby.

Here’s what you’ll be tasting:
Project V Single Silo Vodka (one of my favorites among the local neutral grain spirits), Woodinville Whiskey Co. Headlong White Dog Whiskey, Soft Tail Vodka, Pacific Distillery Absinthe, and Voyager Dry Gin.

Appetizers will also be offered. Italianissimo—a family restaurant that cooks up what you might call unfussy Italian food—has really pillowy gnocchi. Consider having some of that while you’re out there.

The party begins at 5:30pm.

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Tags: Cocktails, Parties, Woodinville, Vodka

Soft Tail Spirits Opens Second Woodinville Tasting Room

…and plans to release new products in the coming months.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 18, 2011 at 07:53AM 0 Comments

Soft Tail’s original tasting room.

Photo: Facebook

Grappa and vodka maker Soft Tail Spirits will host a grand opening party this weekend at the microdistillery’s second tasting room, says part-owner Dennis Robertson. The company has expanded into a single-occupancy house at 14356 Woodinville Redmond Road for two reasons.

First: Soft Tail has grown out of its current space on Woodinville Drive. At liquor stores, products are selling faster than they can be made, reports Robertson. The company also hopes the new 1,000 square foot space, which has two outdoor patios, will be booked for private parties. Inside, there’s a 20-foot marble bar for tastings that Robertson procured through his other business—a stone company. There are two new stills on their way to the new space, which will double Soft Tail’s distilling capacities.

Second: The new digs are right in the middle of Woodinville’s tourist district and Soft Tail hopes to pull some of that sweet, sweet street traffic away from the wineries. “We don’t have a lot of money for advertising and marketing, so we have to grow organically,” says Robertson, who says Soft Tail has some new releases planned for the coming months that include an oaked grappa, a viognier grappa, and a “cognac-style product” that has rested on oak for two years. (As one of the oldest microdistilleries in the state, two-year-old Soft Tail will also be one of the first to release aged products.)

If you want to check out Soft Tail II, stop by this Saturday, May 21 when the distillery is hosting a pig roast at its Woodinville-Redmond Road tasting room from noon to 5pm. There will be pork sliders, potato salad, baked beans, and of course some bracing brandies to wash it all down.

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Tags: Woodinville, Vodka, Microdistilleries, Distillery Report, Distilling, Grappa

Locavore Makeover: The Bloody Mary

A morning cocktail that comes with bragging rights.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Apr 14, 2011 at 10:27AM 3 Comments

Give Linda’s Tavern—this is a picture of the bar’s bloody—a run for its money with homemade marys featuring local vodka and spicy pickled garnishes.

Next time you’re serving up brunch made from eggs laid in your backyard chicken coop and bread baked from organic Washington wheat and preserves preserved from local berries, remember that you can drink local too.

Here are four easy ways—okay three easy ways, and one more way that requires buying up half the grocery store—to localize your bloody marys.

1. Use local vodka
Truth be told, a bloody mary masks a spirit—rather than showcasing it—by design. So you could, theoretically, pour in cheap mass-produced vodka, but where is the fun in that?

Local artisanal vodkas include: Ebb and Flow from Sound Spirits in Interbay and Peabody Jones from Woodinville Whiskey, Bainbridge Organic Distillers makes one too as does Woodinville’s Soft Tail Spirits and Dry Fly in Spokane. All are listed in state liquor stores.

2. Rim the glass with all-natural sea salts
There are three or four sea salts from locally based Secret Stash that could work well in a bloody mary, but the obvious place to start is with its bloody mary sea salt, an additive-free mixture of sea salt, organic sun-dried tomatoes, paprika, cayenne pepper, wasabi powder, and celery salt.

3. Make your own Worcestershire sauce
This is a little hardcore, but once you go homemade Worcestershire, you never go back to the bottle. Okay, you might go back to the bottle because there are so many freaking ingredients involved. (Here is a recipe). But if you do have the bandwidth to make your own, and can source some of the ingredients from local purveyors, you are very impressive indeed.

4. Pickle your liver and your garnish.
Even if you aren’t into drinking local, you should consider ditching the celery stalk garnish. There is nothing exciting about a celery stalk. Woodring Orchards has a stand in Pike Place Market where you can sample all of its spicy pickles (called Parker Pickles). There’s pickled asparagus, pickled green beans, super-spicy wasabi pickles. They are all fantastic; they will all do wonders for your bloody mary.

Of course, you can always pickle your own veggies too. If that’s what you’re into, consider investing in this book.

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Tags: Local Spirits, Vodka, Bloody Marys

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

Night School: Blind Tasting with Liberty’s Andrew Friedman; Absinthe Soiree Returns

Value-priced drinking events coming up at the Sorrento Hotel.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jan 20, 2011 at 11:50AM 0 Comments

She’s baa-ack. The Sorrento’s Absinthe Soiree returns.

Oh boy, vodka. It’s been so maligned among members of the cocktail community, it was an inevitable that it would make a comeback.

On January 24, Andrew Friedman—co-owner of Liberty on Capitol Hill—is hosting a blind vodka tasting at the Sorrento Hotel’s Fireside Room. It starts at 7pm and costs a measly $20. Quite the bargain.

Whatever your feelings, there’s a lot to talk about, and vote on. In addition to trying a number of the world’s notable vodkas, you’ll also be helping to choose Drinking Lesson’s vodka of the year. Not sure what happens from there, but it’s always fun to vote on stuff, I suppose.

Tickets at Brown Paper.

Another highlight on the Sorrento’s Drinking Lessons schedule is its second-ever Absinthe Soiree. In attendance will be two local absinthe notables: Gwydion Stone, who founded Seattle’s Wormwood Society (celebrating all things absinthe), and Marc Bernhard, distiller at Pacific Distillery in Woodinville. Nathan Webber of Tavern Law is mixing drinks, DJ Greg Vandy is mixing music.

This happens April 18th, also begins at 7pm, and also costs just $20. Tickets at Brown Paper.

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Tags: Drinking Events, Vodka, Drinking Lessons, Absinthe

The Gulpable Gift Guide #4: Local Spirits

Easy-to-love bottles from around these parts.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Dec 08, 2010 at 11:15AM 3 Comments

Give them local boozes to mix into holiday cocktails.

I spent some time thinking about all the local booze that has started to show up since the distillery laws changed.

There is some good stuff out there, and local spirits make for fun presents, but for the gift guide I wanted to choose bottles that would be well received by all kinds of home bartenders. Because let’s face it: If you offer Aunt Betty a bottle of white dog whiskey, she’s going to think she got punked. (That said, if you are shopping for a moonshine fan, you can buy some from Woodinville Whiskey.)

Here are the crowd-pleasers:

CACHACA Cachaca is a Brazilian liquor made from fermented sugarcane that you may have tried in a caipirinha cocktail. Novo Fogo cachaca is made in Brazil, as you might expect, but the company is based here in Seattle. Does that qualify it as a local spirit? Not exactly, but I still think it makes a good gift.

There’s the novelty factor of course, cachaca is not all that well known in the states. But I also find both products from Novo Fogo are very drinkable; everyone seems to like them. I suggest picking up the unaged Silver ($27.50) for rum fans, and the aged Gold ($34.95) for whiskey sippers.

GIN What I like most about Voyager, a London dry-style gin from Pacific Distillery in Woodinville, is that it’s very versatile in cocktails, so it will earn its keep as a true workhorse of the home bar. Voyager is $25.90 at state stores.

VODKA Interbay distillery Sound Spirits has received high marks for its Ebb and Flow vodka, converting even vodka snobs with its distinct barley character. Ebb and Flow retails for $24 $31 at the liquor store, or you can also buy it at the distillery. Hours vary, so call ahead.

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Tags: Local Spirits, Gin, Vodka, The Sauced Gulpable Gift Guide

White Dog in Woodinville

Woodinville Whiskey Opens This Weekend!

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Sep 03, 2010 at 03:18PM 6 Comments

Woodinville Whiskey’s Orlin Sorensen (left) with partner Brett Carlile (right) and mentor David Pickerell, former master distiller at Maker’s Mark (center, wearing Kentucky gentleman hat).

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Woodinville Whiskey’s Orlin Sorensen (left) with partner Brett Carlile (right) and mentor David Pickerell, former master distiller at Maker’s Mark (center, wearing Kentucky gentleman hat).

View Slideshow » Illustration:

You can taste and buy WW’s vodka and unaged whiskey at the tasting room starting tomorrow, or special order through a Washington State liquor store.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Tours of the production room begin tomorrow. See if you can stop staring at that Kothe 16-plate column still. Hot stuff.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Woodinville Whiskey, formerly known as Puget Sound Distilling, will be open for tours and tastings beginning this weekend. You can find it at 16110 Woodinville Redmond Road Suite three, just up the road from the Redhook Brewery and the Herbfarm.

The big plan is bourbon. Woodinville Whiskey has been working with David Pickerell, recently retired master distiller at Maker’s Mark, to create the bourbon that has been aging for two months in 30-gallon new American oak barrels in their production room. When will they bottle it? “When it’s ready,” says Orlin Sorensen, who owns WW alongside best pal Brett Carlile.

What’s available to taste and buy now is a vodka called Peabody Jones ($38.95) and a white dog—clear, unaged whiskey—by the name of Headlong ($34.95). Both are 100-percent organic.

I stopped by this morning and tried both. The vodka has a distinctly creamy mouthfeel and a hint of citrus. And the raw whiskey? By its very nature, White Dog is a bumpy ride. At first you grab the car door handle and hope the airbag is functional. But once your system adapts, it can be a pleasant experience, and one that stays with you for a while afterwards—like the aftershocks of adrenaline you experience after bungee-jumping off a bridge in New Zealand (to use a highly specific example). And I found Headlong to be readily palatable, even at 10 in the morning. It tasted to me like banana skins and, naturally enough, corn. I liked it.

A word about white dog: It’s only been two years since craft distilling has been a viable business in Washington State. New distillers who want to ultimately sell an aged spirit but need to start seeing some return on their investment have to offer up an unaged spirit (or two), and try to sell that while their flagship product gathers flavor in the barrel.

The typical way to do that is to make vodka and gin. But neither of those can help WW establish itself as a whiskeymaker. But by bottling a white dog, they’ve created a calling card for the quality of their product. When you drink aged whiskey, much of what you experience—from a flavor point of view—happened in the barrel. You don’t get to taste the base spirit. But white dog is about tasting grains and whatever the distiller lends to them during distilling. It’s like an x-ray of the whiskey.

Stop by the distillery this weekend and taste some for yourself.

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Tags: Whiskey, Woodinville, Vodka, Microdistilleries

Sound Spirits Tasting Room Opens

You may now try Seattle’s first legal vodka since prohibition.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 26, 2010 at 02:09PM 4 Comments

If you’d like to try Ebb and Flow, a malt vodka and the first product from Sound Spirits (which has the distinction of being the first legal distillery in Seattle since prohibition), you can.

The tasting room is now open most evenings and weekends at 1630 15th Avenue West.

The catch, says distiller Steven Stone, is that Sound is still a one-man show. If he has to run an errand, the tasting room closes. Therefore, if you want to sample some spirits, call Stone first and let him know you are coming. The number to call is 206-651-5166.

In accordance with state law, each customer can purchase up to two bottles per day. I haven’t tried the vodka yet; Stone describes it as a “really flavorful neutral spirit” with a surprising sweetness courtesy of the malt.

Ebb and Flow should be showing up in local liquor stores and bars soon. The price is $31 per 750-mL bottle.

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Tags: Vodka, Microdistilleries

Oola…la. Another Craft Distillery Coming to Capitol Hill

The Oola Industries tasting room will be “right near Pike/Pine corridor,” says distiller.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 30, 2010 at 02:59PM 5 Comments

Following in the gin-drenched footsteps of Sun Liquor’s Michael Kleeback, Kirby Kallas-Lewis plans to open a Capitol Hill tasting room for his distillery—Oola—within 60 days. And he hopes to have a vodka and a gin listed in Washington State liquor stores by Christmas (provided there are still WS liquor stores in which to list them).

Yes, all you people who care about such things, he makes his own mash. And not just for the aged spirits. “Even with vodka, there’s a lot that happens in fermentation that affects the product,” says Kallas-Lewis. Amen to that, Kirby.

Future plans include a pisco-style brandy made with wine from Eastern Washington (Kallas-Lewis has a yet-to-open boutique hotel in Waitsburg, Washington). The wine he’ll use in the brandy was originally slated for bottling but got repurposed as bulk thanks to the sad economy. Sad economy=good wine for pisco. He also plans to roll out an Irish-style whiskey.

Kallas-Lewis learned the distilling dark arts at the Dry Fly apprentice program in Spokane, and at workshops around the country.

I will update you on the exact address of the tasting room as soon as I get the go-ahead.

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Tags: Capitol Hill, Whiskey, Gin, Vodka, Pisco, Microdistilleries, Tasting Rooms