Farm to bottle: Dry Fly’s Washington Wheat Whiskey.
Good whiskey takes time to make and age, of course, and in years to come Washington will probably be force to be reckoned with as not just a center for world-class wines, but whiskey as well. Recent additions like 3 Howls, Oola and Batch 206 right here in Seattle are particularly exciting, but for now, other distilleries in the west have the advantage of age, if only by a few years.
Spokane-based Dry Fly Distilling produces its own award-winning vodka, gin and whiskeys using a farm to bottle approach—only local grains and botanicals—in custom stills that produce annual batches in limited quantities. Their gin and vodka have become local favorites, and their recent additions of whiskey and bourbon are now among the few that are truly craft produced locally, rather than rebottled.
Apropos of that, you might have read a recent article in The Daily Beast titled “Your ‘Craft’ Rye Whiskey Is Probably From a Factory Distillery in Indiana,” which explains that a lot of whiskeys labeled as craft produced may just be rebottled. The Daily Beast article notes that the Indiana product is better quality than other mass-produced whiskeys, so this isn’t to say that those whiskeys aren’t bad; some are really good, in fact, as a skillful blend by these upstarts is a fine product on its own. They may only rely on these sourced whiskeys until their own stuff comes to maturity. (It’s true in the wine world, as well.) For example, 3 Howls originally offered Backbeat Bourbon, a sourced whiskey that they have since discontinued since their own product (rye, malt and hop-flavored whiskeys) became ready to sell. Oola’s Waitsburg Bourbon is a blend of sourced and locally produced whiskey.
So caveat emptor: If you want true craft whiskey produced here in the west, the real stuff will still be rare for a few years, but Dry Fly is the real McCoy. Here in Seattle, Dry Fly product is pretty easy to find, but may be overlooked for the more established stuff—and if you are lucky you might find one of their smaller, limited run Creel Collection whiskeys, available in 375 mL bottles—so give it a shot. Or two. Neat.
To purchase: Prices vary from shop to shop, of course, but it is widely available.
See more of our 2014 holiday gift recommendations in our Gift Guide. We have another favorite recommendation for drinkers.
