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Woodinville Whiskey Co. Releases Its First Rye Whiskey

While the rye will be a distillery mainstay, the first batch is bound to go fast.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Mar 30, 2012 at 10:00AM 3 Comments

The spirit that will be one of the distillery’s main products debuts April 14. Photo via Facebook.

Woodinville Whiskey Co. is about to debut another product that justifies the use of an alarm clock on a Saturday morning. On April 14, owners Orlin Sorensen and Brett Carlile will release a rye whiskey, being billed as the first rye produced (legally, anyway) in Washington since Prohibition.

The distillery opens at 7am on the 14th and will be selling 750mL bottles for $50, with a limit of two per person. The first 100 people who show up and stand in line will be rewarded with a Woodinville Whiskey Co. beanie, and coffee will be flowing freely.

The rye will be one of Woodinville’s core products, along with bourbon, says Sorensen. While this first batch is likely to sell out fast, other batches will be released in the coming months. The distillery released its first aged spirits, a bourbon and an American whiskey, back in November, and Sorenson says they sold the entire run of about 4,000 bottles in a few short weeks. The guys are still busy bottling, so Sorensen didn’t have any specific numbers on the rye release, but he estimates it will be about the same size.

Sorensen says the nation is also experiencing a shortage of rye whiskey—another factor that might have people lining that morning. Demand has grown exponentially in recent years, he says, “and distilleries just didn’t have any aging inventory; it was a niche product.”

These days rye is the go-to whiskey for Manhattans and a host of other craft cocktails. “I think people are gravitating toward flavor in general,” says Sorensen. “The rye has more character, more complex more flavor.”

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Tags: Whiskey, Distilling, Woodinville Whiskey Co., Still Life

Woodinville Whiskey Co. Releases Its First Aged Spirits

Set your alarm on November 19 if you want a bottle (or two).

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Nov 11, 2011 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

Woodinville Whiskey Co.’s microbarreled bourbon will be released November 19.

Here’s some booze news that has nothing to do with a ballot initiative: On November 19, the guys at Woodinville Whiskey Co. will release a pair of limited edition whiskeys, one of which they say is the largest bourbon release in the state since Prohibition.

The bourbon and its counterpart, an American whiskey, are the first of what co-founder Orlin Sorensen says will be an annual harvest time release. The spirits are also Woodinville’s first aged products to hit the market, though the two-year-old company’s vodka and white dog (unaged) whiskey are already hits amongst local drinkers.

The distillery will open at 7am on release day, and don’t be surprised if you see scores of whiskey aficionados lining up early in the morning. Each person can purchase two bottles, which go for $40 apiece. Right now the operation is in the midst of the bottling process; Sorensen says they will have between 3,000 and 5,000 bottles of each style to sell.

Both whiskeys were aged for up to two years in 5- to 8-gallon barrels. These are significantly smaller than the 53-gallon barrels that larger operations use; exposing the whiskey to more barrel surface area helps accelerate aging and deepen the flavor.

You’ll recall that Sorensen and fellow founder Brett Carlile have benefited from some big-name tutelage from David Pickerell, former master distiller for Maker’s Mark Bourbon. Pickerell will be hanging out in the tasting room on release day. It’s not weird at all to ask him to sign your bottles. In fact, it’s encouraged.

Early next year, the distillery will start releasing its core offerings of aged whiskeys, a Mash Bill No. 9 bourbon and a 100 percent rye whiskey.

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Tags: Whiskey, Microdistilleries, Woodinville Whiskey Co.