Tales of the Cocktail

At this years Tales of the Cocktail (July 16-20) they will be announcing the winners for the following categories:

Best Drink Selection
A venue stocking an outstanding range of spirits and liqueurs. The judges will favor discernment as well as sheer numbers of bottles stocked.

Best Classic Cocktail Bar
Classic bars continue to uphold best bartending practices and serve drinks in relaxed lounge-like environments. The judges are looking for bars, which uphold this tradition (but are not necessarily old) and offer superb service and consistently well-made drinks.

World’s Best Cocktail Bar
This award recognizes the international influence on cocktail trends and seeks to award the world’s best cocktail bar.

Best New Cocktail Bar
Only bars which have opened in the 18 months preceding the awards may be nominated. This award aims to reward new creativity and ideas as well as well executed drinks.

Mixologist/Bartender of the Year
The absolute best drinks mixer. The winner should be proficient at making all recognized classic drinks and also have created contemporary cocktails, which have been copied by his/her peers.

Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book
The best book published in 2007 regarding cocktails, liquor, bars, bar design or bartending in general. New editions of existing works published in 2007 may also be nominated.

Best Cocktail Writing
Great journalism is one of the best ways to communicate to the general public the value and significance of great cocktails and related products. This award is for any non-book journalism (Magazine, Newspaper, Website, etc) which promotes bars, bartender, or cocktails in general.

Best New Product
This is awarded to what the judges consider to be the best new cocktail ingredient (spirit, liqueur, syrup or juice) or piece of cocktail equipment (muddler, shaker etc.). To qualify products must be on general retail sale in at least three US states.

Best Cocktail Menu
The judges seek to reward innovative and thirst inducing cocktail menus. Both the design and content will be considered.

Best Drinks Brand Representative/Brand Ambassador
An award which recognizes the importance of personality in the promotion of drinks brands.

Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award
The impact that some people have on the general cocktail community can span over the course of many years. There are individuals who have worked long and hard to change the industry and educate the public. This award is to provide special recognition to these individuals and the wonderful efforts they have undertaken.
And the nominees are…

Best Drink Selection

• Cantina - San Francisco, USA
• Death & Company - New York City, USA
• Der Raum - Melbourne, Australia
• Doheney - Downtown Los Angeles, USA
• The Merchant Hotel - Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Salvatore’s Bar at Fifty - London, England
• Trio Bar - Berlin, Germany
• Matterhorn - Wellington, New Zealand

Best Classic Cocktail Bar

• American Bar - Connaught Hotel, London, England
• Bramble - Edinburgh, Scotland
• Death & Co. - New York City, USA
• Dukes Bar - Dukes Hotel, London, England
• Experimental Cocktail Club - Paris, France
• Flatiron Lounge - New York City, USA
• Milk and Honey- New York City, USA
• Bar Le Forum - Paris, France
• The Merchant Hotel - Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Montgomery Place - London, England
• Widder Bar - Zurich, Switzerland

World’s Best Cocktail Bar

• The Flat Iron Lounge - New York City, USA
• Le Lion - Hamburg, Germany
• The Lonsdale - London, England
• The Merchant Hotel - Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Milk & Honey - New York, USA
• Milk & Honey - London, England
• Paparazzi - Bratislava, Slovak Republic
• Salvatore at Fifty - London, England
• Star Bar - Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

Best New Cocktail Bar

• Bar Milano, New York City, USA
• Beretta, San Francisco, USA
• Death & Company, New York City, USA
• Le Lion de Paris, Hamburg, Germany
• 02 Lounge, Ritz Carlton, Moscow
• PDT (Please Don’t Tell), New York City, USA
• Ruby, Copenhagen, Denmark

Mixologist/Bartender of the Year

• John Gerstern - No.9 Park, Boston, USA
• Kenta Goto of Pegu Club - New York City, USA
• Charles Joly - The Drawing Room, Chicago, USA
• Duggan McDonnell - Cantina, San Francisco, USA
• Erik Lorincz - Purple Bar, London, Englan
• Jim Meehan - PDT, New York City, USA
• Ago Perrone - Montgomery Place, London, England
• Sam Ross - Milk & Honey New York City, USA
• Nick Strangeway - Hawksmoor, London, England
• Charles Vexenat - The Lonsdale, London, England
• Philip Ward - Death & Company, New York City, USA

Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book

• Imbibe by David Wondrich
• Mixing New Orleans, Cocktails & Legends by Jennifer Adams
• In The Land of Cocktails by Ti Adelaide Martin & Lally Brennan
• And a Bottle of Rum - A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails by Wayne Curtis.

Best Cocktail Writing

• Debra C. Argen & Edward F. Nesta (Luxury Experience Magazine, USA)
• Jeff Berry (Tiki God)
• Paul Clarke (Imbibe Magazine & San Francisco Chronicle)
• Ted Haigh (Imbibe Magazine)
• Gary Regan (San Francisco Chronicle)
• David Wondrich (Imbibe! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whisky Smash)

Best New Product

• Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters
• Fever Tree Mixers
• Lucid Absinthe
• Domaine de Canton
• Plymouth Sloe Gin
• Q Tonic
• Qi White Tea Liqueur
• Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot Liqueur
• Sagatiba Pura

Best Cocktail Menu

• 1806 Bar - Melbourne, Australia
• Bayswater Brasserie - Sydney, Australia
• Death & Company - New York City, USA
• Doheney - Downtown, Los Angeles, USA
• The Drawing Room, Chicago, USA
• Bar Italia - Vienna, Austria
• Pegu Club - New York City, USA
• Ruby - Copenhagen, Denmark
• Tailor Restaurant - New York City, USA

Best Drinks Brand Representative/Brand Ambassador

• Jacques Bezendenhout - Partida Tequila, USA
• Julio Bermejo - Tequila, USA
• Jason Crawley - Maxiuum, Australia
• Phil Duff - Bols, Global
• John Gakuru - Sagatiba, Global
• H. Joseph Ehrmann - Square One Organic Vodka, USA
• Diego Loret de Mola - Pisco Bar Sol, USA
• Stuart McCluskey - Miller’s Gin, UK
• Xavier Padovani - Hendricks, Global
• Charlotte Voisey - William Grant, USA

Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award

• Salvatore Calabrese - Mixologist, writer & bar owner
• Dale DeGroff - Mixologist & writer
• Peter Dorelli - Formerly of the Savoy, London
• Phillip Hills - Founder of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society
• Desmond Payne - Master Distiller Beefeater Gin
• Brian Rea - bararchives.com, former 21 Club bartender, etc. etc
• Gary Regan - Mixologist & writer

You’ll have to check back after Tales of the Cocktail in July to see who won!

There were 847 products submitted, across 439 different brand classifications. Judging was done by a 25 different judges, who come from various parts of the industry and are well recognized as influentials in their fields. The products were submitted by the manufacturers, who also paid a fee (per product) to participate. Judging was done blind, and over the course of two days at this closed event.

Awards were given out for Double-Gold, Gold, Silver, and Bronze, as well as some special awards when the product s merited it. This is not an “Olympics” style award with only a single winner per medal, instead there can be multiple winners per award level. There can also be no winners for a particular award level if the judges didn’t feel any products were worthy of it. Out of the total 847 products submitted, there were 731 awards according to my count.

You can access the full list of award winners, along with more details and information about the competition here: http://www.sfspiritscomp.com/

But here are some highlights:

Vodka:
Top Vodka = Snow Queen
Double Gold = Cold River, Primo, Puriste, Rain

Gin:
Top Gin = Plymouth
Double Gold = Beefeater, Martin Miller’s, Rehorst Premium, Rogue Spruce

Rum (Dark/Gold)
Double Gold = St. Lucia Chairman’s Reserve, Sergeant Classick Gold Hawaiian Rum

Cachaça:
Best Of Show – White = Weber Haus Silver Cachaça
Double Gold = Cuca Fresca, Bossa

Tequila (unaged)
Top Tequila = AsomBroso Silver
Double Gold = Blue Head, El Tesoro Platinum, Gran Centenario Plata, Milagro Premium Silver

Tequila (Reposado)
Top Reposado = El Tesoro
Double Gold = Amanecer Ranchero, Herencia De Plata, Semental, Tequila 5150

Tequila (Anejo)
Top Anejo = Siete Leguas
Double Gold = Blue Head, Don Tepo, La Certeza

Whiskey (Straight Bourbon)
Double Gold = Wild Turkey 101

Whiskey (Straight Rye)
Top Rye = Rittenhouse Single Barrel
Double Gold = High West, Thomas H. Handy

Absinthe
Top Absinthe = Vieux Pontarlier

Herbal/Botanical Liqueur
Best Of Show – Liqueur = Domain de Canton Ginger Liqueur
Double Gold = Averna Sambuca, Chartreuse Green VEP, Cynar, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

Fruit Liqueur
Top Fruit Liqueur = Cointreau
Double Gold = Grand Marnier

You can access their full listing here: http://www.sfspiritscomp.com/2008_results.html

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it might be Salmon which appears to get all of the attention, perhaps it’s just because they have a good PR agency. But you’ll also often find great Halibut being proudly featured on menus in many fine restaurants.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a special “Ode to Halibut” dinner that was put on by McCormick & Schmick’s in downtown Seattle. McCormick & Schmick’s is a nationwide restaurant group with more than 50 locations across the US, specializing in seafood. On this night there was a special focus on Halibut, and why I’m specifically paying attention to it is because the menu was specifically pairing different specialty cocktails with each course.

Food and wine pairing has of course been the de-facto standard for diners across the country, but equally exciting, if not more so in my mind, is the concept of pairing cocktails with individual dishes. There are a number of benefits here. To begin with the restaurant can now highlight the skills of both the chefs in the kitchen, and the chefs behind the bar. Second is that both the dishes and the drinks can be unique creations, which might only be available here. And thirdly is that it makes it very easy to pair individual drinks with each course and to individual diners at the table, while with wine it is often necessary when buying a bottle of wine to find something which works across multiple dishes and courses.

Chef Eric Naruszewics prepared for us the following lineup:

Appetizer:
Four Citrus Ceviche, with toasted tortilla chips
Served with: White Wine Sangria

The Cerviche was wonderfully constructed, with a nice balance of citrus and spices which teamed up well with the halibut. The Sangria was almost a fruit salad in the glass, a combination of apple, melon, and citrus with a light white wine along with some sweetener, either just simple syrup, or perhaps a triple sec (I forgot to ask). Unfortunately it didn’t quite match up with things as well as it could. It was too sweet, and didn’t have the complexities of finish to stand up against the ceviche. As I was drinking it I was thinking how much better a good gin punch might be here instead.

Salad:
Cashew Crusted Filet of Halibut, on a bed of mixed greens tossed with honey mustard vinaigrette, pears, and red grapes
Served with: Basil Grape Refresher

The cashews went really well with the halibut, with the entire dish also working really well as a follow on to the appetizer course. The Basil Grape Refresher was made by muddling red grapes, simple syrup and basil, then adding vodka and topping it off with ginger ale. Like the previous drink, I felt that this one was also too sweet, and likewise didn’t quite achieve the pairing which would have properly accompanied the dish. Just switching the vodka to gin would have been a good start, but cutting back on the syrup (if not leaving it out entirely) would definitely be recommended. I did like the use of basil however.

Main:
Seared Halibut, on udon noodles with fermented black bean and white miso sauce
Served with: Lychee Martini

The thing that almost everybody seemed to note about this dish, was how “just spicy enough” the black bean and miso sauce was. This Asian inspired dish really made a great impression, and even with the spicy kick, the halibut was still the star attraction. The Lychee Martini was made with vodka, a little cointreau and apparently shaken with a lychee sorbet, and garnished with a canned lychee nut. The pattern with the drinks was being continued here, in that it was again too sweet, and being made with vodka it was fairly two dimensional in flavor. A couple of us ended up squeezing some fresh lime juice into our drinks, which improved them considerably.

Dessert:
Spiced Asian Pear Tart, with a vanilla bean and cinnamon reduction
Served with: Blackberry Mojito

Part of me was a little disappointed that Chef Eric didn’t try to find some way to bring halibut into the dessert course as well, but then I’ve also seen some of those “Iron Chef America” episodes where fish ice cream was attempted, and perhaps I’m better off that he didn’t. The pear tart was delicate and flaky, and a nice gentle closer to the evenings meal. Pairing it with a Mojito however really didn’t make sense. This was essentially the biggest drink of the evening, and so that just seemed a tad odd. Something which would function better as a digestif would have been far more appropriate, even if it were a simple snifter of calvados.

My overall summary of this event is that the food was great, and Chef Eric did a wonderful job at selecting the individual dishes, what was unfortunate however is that for a menu which was attempting to create a food/drink pairing, that the same level of attention to detail wasn’t spent on properly selecting the drinks which were served throughout the evening. All of the drinks were overly sweet, and while aside from that most of them were reasonable well balanced, they also weren’t great choices to pair with the dishes that were served. But I do have to give them credit for trying!

I was recently traveling with some friends in England, and happened to be passing through Whitstable, a seaside town well known for its oysters. In England the local beverage is often beer, and in Whitstable the local food is clearly going to be oysters. When we stopped into a beachside pub, and saw that one of their specialty ales was an “Oyster Stout” by the Whitstable Brewery, we clearly knew what to order!

Personally I love a nice dark beer, their full malty flavor seems to be a perfect choice for a chilly England (or Seattle) afternoon, but their light crispness is also very refreshing. The Oyster Stout was a perfect fit for a quick round of oysters before we headed back out along the beach. The light and subtle sweetness of the stout didn’t overpower the oysters, nor did it get overwhelmed by them. Instead the two suited one another with great harmony. We even picked up several bottles, as well as a bag of oysters as we headed back home for the evening so we could repeat our repast in order to celebrate the local cuisine.

Today, we are thankfully graced with an ever expanding collection of bitters. Recently I was made aware of a bitters being manufactured and sold in South Africa, “Santy’s Aromatic Bitters”. A little online searching was able to find some information about them. Ok, ok… so a little online searching was able to find just a SINGLE bit of information about them, that being that they are made and sold by “Edward Snell & Company Ltd.” in Isando South Africa.

I eventually got in contact with a representative for the company and he confirmed that they do in fact provide this product, but that it currently is not being distributed in the US market. He also provided the following description of their product:

“A unique blend of oriental and occidental herbs and spices imparts a lingering warmth to this exotic bitters recipe which contains Angostura bark, Red Sandalwood, Galangal Root, Mace, Cloves, Orange Peel, Cinnamon, Cardamon Seed, Liquorice Root and Ginger. All these herbs and spices are macerated with extra fine spirit in small oak casks to produce this acclaimed health-enhancing aperitif and tonic.”

I am of course intrigued by the prospect of new/different bitters to add to my collection, and so I jumped through a few hoops in order to get a few bottles to test out. Special thanks to both Andre Brink at “Edward Snell & Company”, and Dominic Venegas of “John Walker & Company” in San Francisco (an excellent liquor store with a great selection of products) for helping me with negotiating the details of arranging for this shipment. From start to finish, it was about a 5 month expedition to complete.

Tasting Notes:
As might be expected, they have a fairly similar flavor profile to Angostura bitters, however they are also fairly different as well. Specifically noticeable is an additional “heat” to the Santy’s bitters. This almost certainly is from the ginger, which isn’t overpowering at all or even unpleasant, but is clearly detectable. Also there is more of a clove forward flavor, with cinnamon accents then there is in Angostura. When compared side-by-side, there is also a slightly noticeable sweetness to Angostura, which isn’t as present in the Santy’s.

I think that Santy’s would make an excellent addition to any bar which is interested in having a robust collection of cocktail bitters at their disposal, that is of course if a US distributer ever picks them up.

The “V” shaped cocktail glass has become commonly known as a “Martini” glass to pay homage to the drink which so often calls it home. The same also happened to the short and stout rocks glass, which is commonly referred to as an “Old Fashioned” glass. Many people even mistakenly refer to any drink served in this iconic cocktail glass as being a Martini, without realizing that a Martini is a specific cocktail, and not a drink category.

The glass itself is believed to have been formally introduced to society at large at the 1922 Paris Exposition, although I have yet to uncover specific details to this effect. What had cocktails in general, and Martinis in specific, been served in before that time? Then, as now, glassware options were extremely varied, with each manufacturer and even each line from a specific manufacturer, providing different flourishes, and design concepts. Bars would often carry a wide variety of glasses, and would choose different ones based on the drink they were serving, or sometimes the customer they were serving it to.

Today, the form of the cocktail glass has become so engrained in the minds of most customers, that glass manufacturers seem reluctant to stray too far from the stiffly slopped angles. In my mind, this results in glassware that becomes highly predictable, if not boring. Periodically I encounter a glass design which tries to buck the trend a little bit, but more often than not, when I approach a restaurant supply store to order them, I discover they have gone out of production.

It has been noticed however, that as the cocktail resurgence gradually evolves, craft style cocktail lounges are striving more and more to impart some of their personality into the glassware that they use. It is becoming more common for such bars to have their glasses custom made for them by a local glass manufacturer, this allows them to not only have a glass which reflects the specific character they wish to impart upon their customers, but it also allows them to select glasses of just the right size for the drinks they choose to serve.

The average home mixologist however would find it difficult to justify both the expense, as well as the often minimum required order it would take to have glassware custom made for them. This does not however mean that all is lost. A fabulous option for finding unique, inspired, and high quality glassware is to simply visit a local antique store and carefully browse through their offerings. Chances are good that you’ll uncover a wonderful variety of glasses to select from, and who says they all have to match?

For an example, here is just some of the different glasses I picked up on a recent visit to a single antique store, prices ranged from $6 to $12 apiece on average, which is cheaper than I could have picked up a “boring” cocktail glass at many department stores.

Another benefit of shopping at antique stores, is that you can return to an era when cocktails were a more manageable size. Most cocktail glasses from the 40’s and 50’s were in the far more appropriate 5 or 6 ounce size. Today, such sizes are next to impossible to locate, stores like Crate & Barrel feels we want 9 to 12 ounce cocktails. I don’t know about you but that just seems like too much to swallow for me.

Now that the holiday season is over, and that Christmas tree is begging to be put out to pasture, it might be worthwhile to consider alternate ways at disposing of it besides just putting it out on the curb. While carving it up at the kitchen table might be something only Euell Gibbons would have attempted, it might be interesting to know that Clear Creek Distillery has thought of another means of recycling a little bit of the holiday spirit.

OK, so they probably aren’t using old Christmas trees, but they are making a wonderful product from the freshly picked buds of Douglas fir.

There apparently is a slightly obscure Alsatian liqueur known as “Eau de Vie de Bourgeons de Sapin” (translates to: “brandy of fir tree buds”), which is a spirit made by careful maceration of Scotts Pine buds in brandy and re-distillation to create a product that has a wonderfully piney character.

The folks at Clear Creek Distillery, who have a penchant for going out on a limb for their craft, have recently come out with their own take on this product, using the more common Douglas fir from the Pacific Northwest. If you think about it, there is little else which could possibly be more representative of this area, besides of course applejack or perhaps a salmon liqueur.

It took Steve McCarthy, founder of Clear Creek Distillery, nearly 10 years of dedicated experimentation to arrive at a process which he felt properly captured the woodsy essence he envisioned. And it frankly is an excellent product with lots of interesting potential.

At about $50 for a 375ml bottle (which is a half-bottle, or also known as a “split”), it may not necessarily be something you’ll be seeing becoming a standard product at your local bar, but it hopefully will make appearances at some of the bars which enjoy blazing new trails.

I decided to take my bottle out for a spin and see if I could work up a new cocktail which properly used this product.

Woodsman Sour

• 2 ounces Eau de Vie of Douglas fir
• 1 ounce St-Germain Elderflower liqueur
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

The combination of the slightly piney flavor from the eau de vie, and the floral notes of the St-Germain really worked well in this slight variation of a traditional sour.

Some time back, I saw what looked like a fabulous travel kit, which had been specially made up by a distillery as a special gift to some bartenders who had helped them out with a seminar or something. It was designed sort of like a traditional chef’s roll up “knife bag”, but out of leather and a beautiful silver rayon. It included a special slot at one end for a Boston Shaker, which would form the center of the roll, and then places to put jiggers, pour spouts, strainers, muddlers, channel knifes, bar spoons, juicers, paring knifes… almost anything a bartender would want, in one tidy package.

This got me thinking, what would be the perfect traveling bar kit? I’d seen various sturdy metal attaché cases with foam cutouts on the inside to provide safe and secure storage for all of your tools, so I bought one of those, but it was just too clunky awkward to use. Plus if you wanted to store something it wasn’t prepared for, you had to cut a section of foam out for it, eventually you end up with a mess.

I thought back on this roll-up kit I saw, and started looking around for a leathersmith who could perhaps make me up something similar. But I also needed to a design, and to figure out exactly what might be needed so I could have a proper slot for everything. In the meantime, I also had a real need for something to tide me over. One day while browsing around on eBay I spotted this interesting travel case. It was apparently an old case used by Beltone reps or staff to carry their hearing aid testing equipment in, but it looked like something which might suit my purposes as well. Thankfully I got it for a pretty good price.

It was a hard-sided case, with a “clamshell” type top, which opened to reveal side compartments, as well as a bottom compartment. As luck would have it, the bottom compartment could perfectly fit 10 of the 4 oz cocktail glasses which I have taken to using, and the upper compartments could do a decent job of storing my tools. This was a good solution to tide me over.

But it wasn’t quite perfect. It was still a tad too large and bulky to travel easily with. The thought did strike me however that this “doctor’s bag” approach might work well. I went back to eBay and browsed around, but after a few weeks couldn’t quite find what I was looking for. I resulted to searching out medical/doctor supply companies, and ended up with a nice new doctor’s bag, and it only cost about $40. It was big enough to carry all of the tools I might need, and simply being a big bag with no compartments (besides a side zipper compartment which nicely stored my cutting board, knife, peeler, and channel knife), it meant it could hold all sorts of random things quite easily, including a smaller “kit bag” in which I keep a small stash of bitters.

I’m still thinking about the “perfect” bartender’s kit bag, but frankly this has ended up coming pretty close.

The “Great Experiment” had failed, miserably. Prohibition was enacted by the desperate arguments that it was necessary in order to protect families, women, and children from the moral decline that alcohol created. In the end, many of the same people that fought for Prohibition, fought just as hard for its repeal, their continued interest was essentially the same: Prohibition was undermining the family and corrupting the morals of women and children.

In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt won the Presidential election running on a platform which included the “anti-prohibition” plank, and on December 5th, 1933 with a 74 percent majority, Prohibition was finally repealed.

Proper celebration of course requires a visit to your favorite cocktail lounge to lift a glass and toast the day. My choice for this evening was to head to downtown Seattle and drop in at Vessel, where Jamie Boudreau had been anxiously planning a celebration to remember for his customers. Since Prohibition was repealed at 2:32 (PST), Vessel would be opening at that time to pay special tribute to the day. They of course also lined up some interesting drink specials. Stella Artois and Monmousseau Brut Etoile for $2.32, as well as 33% off for anybody who came in dressed in 1933 fashion. But perhaps one of the biggest drink specials to specifically celebrate the day, was that Jamie had acquired a bottle of “Prohibition Bourbon”. A bottle of Pebble-Ford Kentucky Bourbon, which had been distilled in 1917, then bottled in 1931. While $40 an ounce is much more than it would have gone for back in 1933, it was indeed a bargain to be able to celebrate this year’s Repeal Day in such a style.

Judging by the crowds this evening, Jamie had a great thing going. I showed up at 4pm, their normal opening time, and they were already crowded, and things continue to grow throughout the evening. It also appeared that more than half of them had made efforts (many quite good) to dress the part.

At 5:32 Jamie opened the bottle of Pebble-Ford, which I naturally had to sample. It had a somewhat distinctive and not unpleasant muskiness to it, and was quite smooth as you might expect. We toasted the evening and gave thanks that Prohibition ended before we were born.

Washington State FINALLY has a fully operational distillery that is actively manufacturing spirits. We’ve had a few licensed distilleries for a while, but they weren’t in the business of producing things like Gin, Single Malt, Bourbon, or Vodka. All of which are now being produced in a new craft distillery in Spokane Washington.

Dry Fly Distilling Company is the brainchild of Don Poffenroth and Kent Fleischmann. They hatched the idea a couple of years ago on a fishing trip (hence the name), and in just a short time have gone from concept to cocktail in what I can only think must be record time, especially since there hasn’t been a full distillery of this type in operation in Washington State since before Prohibition.

The hoops which are necessary to jump through in order to get a distilling license here can be often insurmountable. They have signaled the demise of at least one attempt that I am aware of (Rouge Spirits, from Oregon, tried to open a distillery in Issaquah a while back), and I expect several others as well. Besides needing to get approval from the Federal and State governments, it is also necessary to get signoff from County and Municipality as well. As I understand it, any one of them can object to anything they want to without needing to have specific or documentable reasons. To top it off, approval of license is based on an inspection of the finished construction and not just the plans. So you first have to spend all of the necessary cash up front to set things up, without any sort of guarantee that you’ll even be able to fire things up once you’re done.

So it’s probably not surprising that we haven’t had a distillery for all of this time.

Dry Fly is currently bottling both a vodka and a gin. And are also working on a Single Malt Scotch, as well as a bourbon whiskey, which due to the necessity of aging, won’t be on the market until 2009.

I attended a release party last night in downtown Seattle, and had a chance to meet with both Don and Kent to discuss their product, and process. I was quite pleasantly surprised to learn that their entire product is distilled on premises. They have both a pot still and a column still, which are a necessity for taking on that level of operation. Many vodka and gin producers will actually buy the bulk of their alcohol from large commercial/industrial distilleries, and then either further rectify and/or filter the product in their facilities before getting down to bottling the product.

Their alcohol is totally based on locally grown wheat. After distillation and filtering they then add highly filtered water to make their vodka product, or combine it with juniper, coriander, lavender, mint, dried apples, and hops to make their gin. Yes, you heard right. Mint, dried apples, and hops. We aren’t talking traditional “London Dry” style of gin here, but something rather unique. Other “Pacific Northwest” gins (from Oregon, our sister to the south), which tend to be heavier on the coriander, resulting in a dryer, almost savory flavor. Dry Fly then has chosen to create something very uniquely their own, with a crisp “green” flavor to it which differentiates it in a special way.

I am very much looking forward to not only their two whiskies when they come out, but I’m also curious to see if they are going to be just the first of many distilleries who may be coming to market in the years to come.

To get a idea of the process it took to bring Dry Fly Distilling Company to life, you can check out their blog.