The long-awaited (try nearly six years) release of Woodinville Whiskey Co.’s flagship Straight Bourbon Whiskey marks an historic event not just for Pacific Northwest craft spirits, but for the world of craft whiskey as a whole.
“This has always been our plan,” says Orlin Sorensen, who co-founded Woodinville Whiskey Co. in Woodinville, Washington with longtime friend Brett Carlile in 2010. Everything else along the way—the attentively crafted vodkas and even award-winning microbarreled whiskeys—were stepping stones plotted out to get the distillery to this exact point.
Getting to this point is a big deal not only because Woodinville Whiskey will now be able to focus almost exclusively on this signature bourbon and a forthcoming 100 percent rye whiskey (they’ll begin phasing out their stepping stone projects as the flagship bourbon provides them with the stability to do so), but also because no craft distillery outside of Kentucky up to this point has produced a whiskey aged to the same specifications as “the big boys,” as Woodinville Whiskey PR Representative Kat Spellman refers to the bourbon industry’s most established brands.
“Ninety-five percent of the world’s bourbon is produced in a small region of Kentucky,” explains Spellman. “While there are many craft whiskeys produced throughout the country, this is the first to be aged in a full size barrel for a comparable length of time of those in the Kentucky region.”
How did Woodinville Whiskey do it? With a little help from some friends. One was Arnie Omlin, who agreed to take on the challenge of growing and supplying the grains the distillery required from his family farm in Quincy, Washington. Soon after, Sorensen and Carlile determined that Quincy provided not only the perfect growing conditions but the perfect aging conditions as well: today, their three aging warehouses are also built on Omlin’s property.
Another indispensable mentor and friend throughout the process was Dave Pickerell, an inimitable whiskey industry icon, who served as the master distiller for Maker’s Mark for 14 years. “I’ve been approached by hundreds of people asking me to mentor them,” says Pickerell, “and the people I say yes to have three things. They have to be people I can be friends with, they have to have a solid business plan and they have to be willing to learn.”
The tipping point between years’ worth of hard work and payoff came at 7 am on Saturday. That was 39 hours after the line outside the distillery began to form. Dedicated fans continued to pour in, and by 6:30 am on Saturday—when coffee, croissants and donuts were set out to get everyone in line through the last half-hour of their wait—the group had swelled to more than 350 thirsty bourbon aficionados determined to get their hands on the very first bottles. As sun crested the Woodinville hills to hit the front of the distillery, waiting in line looked more like a party than a chore: groups were socializing amiably, music played around the fire pit and San Juan Cigars was hand-rolling bourbon-infused stogies to commemorate the occasion.
With a celebratory cigar tucked in his own shirt pocket and a big grin on his face, Pickerell alongside Carlile and Sorensen signed bottle after rectangular bottle in gold ink for customers, as the equally golden sunlight streamed in through the distillery’s high windows. “These guys [Carlile and Sorensen] are doing everything right,” Pickerell says, and upon savoring the first sip of the whiskey, that certainly seems to be the case.
Woodinville Whiskey Co.’s Straight Bourbon Whiskey is an exceptional spirit that draws directly on bourbon tradition yet displays a distinctively Northwest character. Nods to tradition include its unmistakably classic caramel and vanilla flavors and its five-year age statement, while its uniqueness stems from Washington-grown grains, pure Northwest mountain water and an unusually high rye content (35 percent of the mash bill, alongside malted barley and the requisite proportion of corn). On the nose, the 90-proof amber liquor reveals hints of charcoal and wildfire smoke enmeshed in aromatic Madagascar vanilla and honey, while those deep, warm caramels and vanillas are braided together in rich strokes across the palate. In the finish, crème brûlée is balanced against elements of oak, brown sugar, buttered toast, and that lingering, subtle yet unmistakable rye spice. If you’re a whiskey lover or even a cautious admirer, get your hands on a bottle of this bourbon.
