Dry Fly Distillery opening in Spokane
I have often wondered why Washington state wasn’t dotted with small craft whisky and other spirit distilleries of the sort that are found in so many similar climates throughout the world. While traveling through Scotland this spring I couldn’t help but imagine the potential for such a business to thrive in the fair northwest climate, and relatively liberal political landscape. I had always assumed that there was a provision in the (uncharacteristically considering the local politics) strict Washington State liquor control laws forbidding the production of any spirits. Well, two men by he name of Don Poffenroth and Kent Fleischmann have investigate the subject in more detail and clearly found no such provision.
Poffenroth and Fleischmann have both resigned management roles in well established food processing and distribution companies to pursue their passion for the drink by founding what will be the state’s only operating spirits distillery in Spokane. Construction on the new Dry Fly Distilling facility is well under-way, with spirit production scheduled to begin in ernest in August of 2007.
While my interest in venture is predominately whisky (whiskey in this case) related, I’m thrilled to see any kind of quality craft distillery operation giving it a go in the state. Needless to say, I will be watching their progress with a great deal of interest in the coming months and years. If production begins as scheduled, we should be able to get our hands on a bottle of their vodka or gin late this summer. Our whiskey palates will have to wait for the spirit to come of age in 2009 at the earliest.
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Technorati Tags: Northwest, Washington State, Whisky
June 18th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I always figured the main hurdle in opening a micro-distillrey of any quality was the relatively long turnaround on product. vodka and such you can use pretty much instantly, but whisky and scotch have to age, and there’s a lot more chances for mistakes that will leave you with an undesirable product. so you either have to have some good experience with distilling recipes or a huge amount of capital to burn before you can see a lot of return.
this would also explain why longer-aged scotches tend to get exponetially more expensive. even an established distillry has to get a hefty return for sitting on a product for so long.
June 18th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Thanks for the great note on our distillery. Everything is on schedule as of today, and barring any wierd border related stops by the Department of Homeland Security, we should have our still on site and running in August.
I will note that one way a small distiller can produce a great whiskey in a shorter period of time is that the distillate quality is controlled way more than in any large distillery. Anyone who has toured a large distillery knows that many of their processes are fairly crude. A small distiller can put a much higer quality distillate in the barrel, thus reducing the time required to “mask” other imperfections.
Take time to seach out and read about “Baby Bourbon” a very young but well reviewed Bourbon being produced by a fellow craft distiller Tuthilltown in New York. Agreat example of a small distiller breaking new ground.
DGP
June 18th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Thanks for posting your note Don. I’ve been pretty impressed with what Steve McCarthy has been able to produce with his McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt in just 3 years of maturation. It’s still quite young and raw, but not a bad drinker all things considered.
The best of luck to you in your venture!