Welcome to Sip Northwest’s Bar Tab, a weekly selection of what to drink in the Northwest now.
For the third installation of Bar Tab, we’ve curated a list of locals to get your fix with—new and old with big flavors and balanced narratives to equally suit your cravings. Come on in, belly up to the counter and order a metaphorical drink on us.
Temple Distilling Bookmark Limoncello | Just north of Seattle, Temple Distilling is a truly homegrown, family operation. With co-owners AJ and Jaime Temple at the helm of their namesake label, each bottle reflects true small-batch spirit, hand-bottled and otherwise doted upon to draw out the best flavor from a line of gin and liqueur. Bookmark, featuring organic, hand-peeled lemons and real cane sugar, presents itself with aromatic lemon up front before finishing with hearty candied fruit, yielding a perfectly sweet treat to enjoy chilled or as the star of your next cocktail.
Rainier Pale Mountain Ale | A happy homecoming! Beginning this month, Seattle-born Rainier is going back to its evergreen roots with its first new offering in almost 20 years, which will hail from nearby Woodinville, marking the label’s first Washington-brewed beer in 13 years. Your eyes do not deceive you: expect to see the brand long synonymous with crushing cans at the tailgate dressed up in a 16-oz. amber bottle sporting a retro yellow label. What’s inside? Pale Mountain Ale is a well-balanced union of malt and hops, courtesy of two-row barley and citrusy Yakima Valley hops, and well-suited for porch-front or lakeside summer sipping.
Willamette Valley Vineyards 2014 Estate Chardonnay | The vintage that earned the Oregon estate winery industry acclaim packs a rich, creamy texture on the palate, balancing well with an ever-so-subtle essence of citrus. The depth of flavor and aroma can be attributed to the labor of love the certified sustainable vineyard dedicates to growing a limited yield of Chardonnay grapes in Willamette Valley soils and aging the product for 10 months in 30 percent new French oak.
Locust Cider Wabi Sabi | In cider’s most pure form, Locust allows the fruit and yeast to do the talking in this rendition. The Woodinville, Washington-based cidery presses Washington dessert apples to provide a hearty base before adding small-batch wild yeast and Belgian ale yeast, which come through big on the nose. A golden and forward-forward expression of the pairing results, and is highly sessionable, true to the cidermakers’ self-proclaimed mission. Each bottle purchased doubly backs local business while also supporting those with Hydrocephalus, a condition close to the founder’s heart, as he aims to help his young daughter through her own treatment.
Genesis Organic Juice Organic Strawberry Lemonade | This stuff is lemonade stand-status refreshing, but without any of the often associated concentrates or artificial sweeteners. To achieve this level of sweet nostalgia relying only on organic produce and a hint of agave nectar is an impressive feat. The Springfield, Oregon-based company locally sources the starring lemons and strawberries, real human hands sort through each piece of fruit to ensure quality, and high-pressure, raw juicing methods keep all that natural Vitamin C goodness intact. All of the above elements combine to put the “juice” in “juicy.”
