Homegrown Distillers Are Making Oregon a Libation Destination

Whiskey Rebellion

These homegrown distillers are making Oregon a libation destination

written by Eric Flowers

photography by Emily Joan Greene

THERE ARE MANY reasons why Oregon’s craft distilleries should be struggling. The industry is highly regulated, sales taxes are sky-high, distribution is a challenge, and competition from cheap imports and large-scale domestic producers is stiff.

Yet Oregon’s small-batch spirit makers are thriving. Dozens of new distilleries have opened their doors in the past decade, bringing handcrafted local spirits to nearly every corner of the state. Like their predecessors in the wine and beer industries, small-batch distillers place a premium on quality over quantity, providing consumers with a handcrafted product that emphasizes experimentation.

These spirits also reflect and embody the regions where they are produced, showcasing the flavors and textures of our diverse state. From Hermiston watermelon-infused vodka to heirloom rye whiskey in Madras, distillers are capturing the essence of Oregon and distilling it down for your sipping pleasure. Here’s a look at three producers taking the spirits business boldly into the next decade.

Vodka in the middle of the distilling process at New Deal Distillery.

New Deal Distillery (Portland)

THE CRAFT distilling movement has spread to nearly every corner of Oregon, but the epicenter remains in Portland, which has more than a dozen craft distilleries. Many of those are packed into a small area of the city, known as Distillery Row, a destination for connoisseurs of small-batch spirits.

Tom Burkleaux has been there since the beginning with New Deal Distillery, a craft operation that started in 2001 in a space not much bigger than a broom closet. Burkleaux said he started the business at the height of the Great Recession after joking around with friends that, if things got any worse, he wouldn’t be able to afford his favorite imported vodka. He figured if he couldn’t buy it, maybe he could make it.

What started on a whim soon evolved into a fullfledged business.

“If I had been in L.A., nothing would have come of this. But being in Portland, we thought, ‘Why not? This is a craft town,’” he said. “We didn’t know what the path looked like, but it seemed obvious we could do this.”

A bird’s eye view of New Deal Distillery’s headquarters.

Head distiller Tom Burkleaux.

At the time, he and his partner had one modest goal—to sell a single bottle of their handcrafted spirits to just one customer. Since then, New Deal has set the bar for craft distilling and raised it time and again.

Burkleaux started with vodka, a common jumping-off point for newly minted distilleries because it doesn’t require the barrel-aging process of whiskey. Almost two decades later, vodka remains a staple of New Deal’s lineup.

“For me, vodka is the loaf of bread at the meal. It’s not the centerpiece, but why shouldn’t it be good?” he said.

This year, Burkleaux expects to produce somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 cases of gin, whiskey, vodka and other spirits. Burkleaux believes that New Deal will triple that number in the next few years as it expands its storage facilities and bolsters distribution around the West and beyond.

“My goal isn’t to sell the brand, cash out and play golf,” he said. “I want it to be an ongoing family business.”

Aaron Hemphill filters coffee for a coffee liqueur.

Vodka exits the filtration system.

Karl Rohdin-Bibby and Trevor Hampson prepare ginger root for ginger liqueur.

Oregon Grain Growers Brand Distillery (Pendleton)

KELLI BULLINGTON blames the weather for pulling her and her husband into the craft distilling game. Bullington was living in Washington in 2010 when her husband, Rodney, was bitten by the distilling bug. It started when he volunteered to help Woodinville Whiskey, an upstart craft distillery near their home in northeast Seattle, bottle a batch of spirits. The process is a labor-intensive operation, and it’s common for small producers to enlist the help of friends and neighbors. Rodney showed up for one of these events in a snowstorm that kept most of the other would-be volunteers away. He used the opportunity to pick the brain of the master distiller, spending several hours walking through all the nuances of the operation.

“He likes to dive into stuff that he doesn’t know a lot about and learn everything,” Kelli said.

Kelli joked that Rodney’s casual interest quickly turned in a casual obsession. But it took a family trip back to Pendleton to spark the idea of opening a distillery.

Kelli said her husband assumed Pendleton had a distillery that produces the popular Pendleton Whiskey. But when Rodney started asking around, he was quickly informed that the only thing local about Pendleton Whiskey was the name. Pendleton Whiskey is distilled out of state and barrel-aged in Hood River. The seed of a business was planted, but it took several years to germinate.

The Bullingtons eventually relocated to Pendleton, which they saw as an ideal place to raise their children. Rodney went to work for an agricultural co-op but never gave up completely on the idea of the distillery. When the co-op disbanded a few years ago, Kelli, who was working at the community college at the time, encouraged Rodney to dust off their business plan for the distillery. The couple found an ideal location in a former Cadillac dealership in downtown Pendleton. The building needed work, but also offered ample space and a chic Art Deco feel as well as a full basement, perfect for storing barrels of aging spirits.

The entire process of securing state and federal licensing, local permits and seed funding took almost five years, during which time Rodney continued to study the art and science of distilling.

In 2016, Oregon Grain Growers Distillery produced its first spirits just in time for the Pendleton Round-Up, which draws tens of thousands of visitors to the region each September.

Last year, the distillery added a full restaurant onsite that features date-night and family-friendly events, such as taco battles and game nights. That’s helped to get the word out and drive traffic to the distillery. The focus, however, remains on the spirits, which Kelli describes as a natural extension of the region’s rich agricultural history.

“We really try to highlight and honor the work that they do,” Kelli said. “Coming back home and being here to do this with our community has been so great.”

The focus, however, remains on the spirits, which Kelli describes as a natural extension of the region’s rich agricultural history. 'We really try to highlight and honor the work that they do,' Kelli said. 'Coming back home and being here to do this with our community has been so great.'

New Basin Distilling Company (Madras)

RICK MOLITOR wasn’t necessarily looking for a second career when the then-school superintendent started kicking around the idea of opening a small distillery with a few friends in Madras. Molitor spent his career as an educator and enjoyed working in the small rural district about an hour north of Bend. The only thing that he and his partners, which includes a pair of local farmers and a professional crop-dusting pilot, knew about the spirits business was that they enjoyed a glass of good bourbon. That was enough to get them started.

Molitor at his Madras distillery.

After several years of spitballing, the partners opened New Basin Distilling in 2015. The smallbatch distilling operation churns out farm-to-bottle whiskeys, gins and vodkas. The centerpiece of the lineup is New Basin’s barrel-aged whiskeys, including Molitor’s “Resignation Rye,” a farm-to-bottle whiskey fermented with a strain of indigenous local wheat.

The distillery’s flagship whiskey was released on July 1, 2015, just one day after Molitor submitted his resignation to the Jefferson County School District. The move has allowed him to focus on his second career as a distiller and small business owner.

“I’m an educator, so I love learning and I was really enamored with the idea of taking something from the ground and making something out of it,” he said.

Head distiller Rick Molitor prepares a machine for brewing.

Roughly four years into the endeavor, Molitor, who serves as the business operations manager and head distiller, said New Basin has seen steady growth and is aiming to expand its distribution outside of Oregon. During a recent tour of the distillery and its roadside tasting room, Molitor, dressed in Levi’s jeans and plaid button-down shirt and sporting a wiry salt-and-pepper beard, offered a glimpse into the workings of the operation, which can take a batch from grain to bottle in just seven days using a 300-gallon fermentation system. The production facility sits in an industrial park outside Madras.

Having worked out most of the kinks, the fermentation and distilling process is now the easy part. The hard part is waiting for the whiskey to age, a process that can extend months or years. While most of New Basin’s whiskeys are opened around the oneyear mark, Molitor hopes to hold back a few bottles’ worth in the American oak barrels stacked neatly inside the small warehouse.

As clear whiskey drained from a plastic tube attached to a copper still in the next room, Molitor offered me one of New Basin’s signature made-fromscratch cocktails, the Madras Mule, made with New Basin whiskey and locally harvested mint.

As an early January wind gathered outside the door, the drink conjured thoughts of a summer afternoon on a beach, or maybe a boat. But I couldn’t help but think that this hometown rye whiskey would also be quite nice from a flask on a frigid chairlift ride. I didn’t mention it to Molitor, but I am pretty sure he’d be OK with that.

Distillation towers at New Basin Distilling.

Molitor checks on a batch of whiskey in progress.

Happy Hour Must-Haves

Three distillers share their favorite cocktail recipes

WATERMELON CRAWL

recipe courtesy of Oregon Grain Growers Distillery

• 1 ounce Pic-Nic Watermelon Vodka

• 1 ounce Cold Springs Mint Vodka

• 1 ounce cucumber puree

• ½ ounce watermelon puree or juice

• ¼ ounce fresh lime juice

• ¼ ounce fresh mint syrup

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a martini or rocks glass and top with soda water. Garnish with mint sprigs, cucumber slice and small watermelon chunk.

NEW BASIN STRONG MULE

recipe courtesy of New Basin Distilling Co.

New Basin Distilling's New Basin Strong Mule.

• 2 ounces New Basin Whiskey

• 1 teaspoon Navidi’s Honey Ginger Balsamic

• 4 ounces Sprite

• 1 lime wedge

• 1 pinch of fresh lime

• 1 large cocktail ice cube

Muddle the wedge of lime and mint sprig in a copper cup. Add whiskey and honey ginger balsamic. Top with Sprite and stir.

KENTUCKY CORSAGE

recipe courtesy of New Deal Distillery

• 12 ounces Distiller’s Reserve Bourbon Whiskey

• 6 ounces New Deal Ginger Liqueur

• 8 ounces orange juice

• 4 ounces lemon juice

• 4 ounces simple syrup

• 12 ounces The Jasmine Pearl Caravan Tea, cold-brewed (recipe below)

• 12 ounces sparkling water

• ½ ounce The Bitter Housewife Orange Bitters

• ½ ounce The Bitter Housewife Aromatic Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a standardsized punch bowl. Serve over ice in 5-ounce cups. Makes 10-15 servings.

Cold-Brewed Orange Spice Tea: Combine 3 tablespoons The Jasmine Pearl Caravan Tea loose-leaf tea with 24 ounces of cool water. Place in refrigerator overnight (10-14 hours). Strain off liquid and add to punch bowl or store in refrigerator for up to three days.

New Deal Distillery's Kentucky Corsage punch.