On a damp and foggy winter day — the kind of weather that wouldn’t be out of place in the world’s best-known whiskey-producing countries like Scotland and Ireland — a group of about 20 spirits enthusiasts mull about in a small warehouse space in the Willamette Valley. They aren’t there to drink the region’s renowned Pinot Noir, but rather to celebrate the release of two new whiskeys from Patty Green Whiskey Distillers, the playfully named distillery side-project of award-winning Pinot producer Patricia Green Cellars.
In between bites of mushroom arancini and pulled pork sliders, they sip on a flight of freshly released whiskeys with names like Full Pint and Gazelle. There’s even a “speakeasy” (basically a wine barrel with mixers on it) where an enthusiastic staff member stirs up mini cocktails for those who ask nicely. Even with the laid-back vibe of the event, there is still a hint of celebration wafting through the air as the Patricia Green crew and their guests raise a glass to one of the more exciting success stories to emerge from Oregon wine country in the last year.
The whiskeys from Patty Green aren’t a product from another winery trying to diversify its portfolio — an increasingly common practice in this wine region that has been working on creative ways to drive visitation. Rather it is the product of catastrophe. Specifically, the unprecedented wildfires of 2020 that made it nearly impossible for many of Oregon’s wineries to actually make wine. Stuck with tens of thousands of gallons of smoke-tainted Pinot Noir wine, the crew at Patricia Green Cellars came up with a crafty, though expensive, solution. Working with the talented distiller Lynsee Sardell, they hatched a plan to turn their ruined wine first into brandy and then into whiskey — even against their own doubts that they could pull off an exceptional product.
“We had tasted another winery’s effort to distill 2020 wines into brandy that were unsuccessful, so we didn’t think there was a path forward on that. We met Lynsee Sardell who said we should let her take a crack at it,” says Patricia Green Cellar co-owner, Jim Anderson. “She took some nominal amount of wine and brought back a handful of quart mason jars with different cuts of brandy. The hearts cut jar was absolutely pure and delicious and buttery in texture. That was the big moment of knowing that we could pull off something unique.”
At the time, making wine into whiskey felt like a Hail Mary experiment. At worst, the team might produce a product that was undrinkable and therefore lose not only the wine but the rather large investment in distillation and barrel storage. At best, they might wind up with something that was a niche beverage but appealed to a small group of spirits nerds and at least wouldn’t be a total waste. What they ended up with a few years later exceeded their expectations while also achieving the feat of creating a product using 100% Oregon-grown ingredients, a point of pride, purity and marketability.
“As an Oregon winemaker and now an Oregon distillery, one of the important parts of this venture is that this is a 100% Oregon-based endeavor using agricultural products that are well-known, established, ongoing and vibrant in Oregon’s agricultural heritage and economy. The big deal is getting people over the fact that we have replaced corn (not really an Oregon industry in a big way) distillate with grape distillate. They are both simply neutral spirits that are there to drive up the initial ABV and help with mouthfeel/texture. From a practical point of view, they are not really different from one another,” says Anderson.
The result is a collection of premium whiskeys made entirely using Oregon-grown products. Working with a ratio between 10-20% brandy by volume versus 80-90% actual barley or rye distillate, the end result is a beverage that drinks like some of the better whiskeys and bourbons coming out of Kentucky and Tennessee, but still carries a whisper of Oregon Pinot Noir that lingers pleasantly in the finish.
“If you want to experience the flavor differences that exist between Francin Barley, Purple Karma Barley, Baronesse Barley, Gazelle Rye and on and on, there is no place that can do that like this distillery,” says Anderson.
Drawing on the tradition of single varietal malted barley in Scotch (though these whiskeys are peated) as well as brewers sharing their grain bill — Lynsee Sardell saw an opportunity to Oregon-ize the Patty Green offerings, highlighting not only the Willamette Valley’s terroir but also the barley. To her knowledge, there aren’t any other distilleries in the country taking this same approach and getting quality results.
“Through working in the distillery, I was able to meet a group of farmers and local-food advocates called Tuality Great Grains,” says Sardell. “They had already begun a program to invigorate the local barley market by trying to get bakers to use more barley in their breads and commercial goods. However, when I came across this group, the opportunity to make Oregon grown, single varietal whiskey seemed obvious.”
Consumers looking to score a bottle of the Patty Green whiskey might be in for a little bit of sticker shock, starting with Full Pint Barley at $48 and going up to $200 for the Purple Karma.
“If people are looking for a whiskey that is made by an independent distillery, using local, unique, high-quality materials and putting together small-batch bottlings, the number of players drops precipitously. We have a 25-year track record of putting together wines that compete in the upper tiers of wine quality in the world,” says Anderson. “Our whiskeys are at premium price points because they are in fact artisanal, rare, unique and delicious in ways that are eye-opening. If someone is willing to pay for high-end whiskeys, these will not and do not disappoint.”
At the tasting, the Patty Green team also keeps bottles of hard-to-find bourbons like EH Taylor and Willett as a way to invite conversation about quality to prove to attendees that their whiskey stacks up to some of the most sought-after, hyped bottles out there. Tasting Patty Green’s Multifarious side by side with Willett invites conversations about which whiskey is smoother, has a richer mouthfeel and a lasting finish. While not every consumer will be so lucky to get to try these whiskeys side by side, doing so provides more of a validation of both the quality and the price point. As an example, Full Pint offers notes of baking spice, dark cocoa and orange, while Gazelle Rye ($95) has a powerful nose of honey and floral aromas with an intense palate of oak and walnut, cinnamon and spiciness.
In the warehouse space, the mood gradually gets more jovial as the afternoon lets on and people make their way through the flight being offered. The reaction to the whiskeys is clearly positive as several attendees purchase bottles on the way out and ask for second pours. What may have started as an experiment is already gaining steam and, considering the low price of bulk wine, Anderson sees an opportunity to keep building on the success of Patty Green. He plans to start with the winery’s mailing list and take it from there.
“We have to be creative to figure out how to get folks what they actually want,” Anderson says. “We have barrels of incredible, interesting and as-yet-released strains of barley aging in our warehouse so we have lots of cool stuff to continue to show people as time goes along.”
