“Purpose and joy in kettle and coil.” Those are the first words you’ll meet on Seattle Distilling’s website, and they’re printed again in gold foil on Idle Hour Whiskey’s beautiful sepia-toned label. For Idle Hour, the purpose is straightforward—a grain-to-bottle single-malt whiskey crafted from local, sustainable ingredients. It’s clear that the two families who distill the spirit on Washington’s Vashon Island have set out to do things with great care and intention—for one thing, they’ve hand-labeled their bottles all the way up to Bottle No. 960 of Batch No. 2, at least by the time a bottle found its way into my hands. Surely they’ve gone further since.
The second piece of the puzzle—the joy aspect—is in the amber liquor inside bottle. Having tied the malted Palouse Valley barley spirit together with a hint of wildflower honey, the richness of the grain is balanced by the lightest bit of sweetness, and united they stand up to dark charcoaly smoke and woodsy spice that comes from aging in reclaimed and house-charred Sauvignon Blanc barrels before bottling at a solid 88 proof.
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