Winter is a boozy, boozy season—the time of year for spiking the eggnog at the office party, tromping around in the snow with a flask of whiskey, and getting your relatives tipsy so they’ll spill the family secrets. According to the Beverage Information Group, Americans purchase more liquor in December than any other month. (July is a close second.)

But the companies that own your favorite liquors might not be companies you want taking your money. A surprisingly small number of businesses produce a surprisingly large number of the bottles you see on the shelves of bars and liquor stores. Maker’s Mark is made by the same company that makes Jim Beam, Knob Creek, Old Crow, Old Overholt, Laphroaig, Canadian Club, and other whiskeys and bourbons—as well as Courvoisier Cognac, Effen and VOX vodkas, Sauza and Hornitos tequilas, Cruzan Rum, Starbucks Coffee Liqueur, Pucker flavored vodkas, and more.

The company that owns all of those brands is Beam, Inc. Like many corporations, the company has a political action committee (PAC) that gives money to political candidates and causes. In this election cycle, Beam, Inc.’s PAC is funding Republicans at a three-to-one ratio against Democrats.

Likewise, Jack Daniel’s, Canadian Mist, Early Times, Southern Comfort, and Woodford Reserve are all owned by Brown-Forman Corp., based in Kentucky, which also owns Finlandia Vodka, Korbel champagne, el Jimador tequila, and more. The majority of Brown-Forman’s lobbying money in this cycle is also going to Republicans.

William Goldring, the chairman of Louisiana’s Sazerac Company (Buffalo Trace and Pappy Van Winkle whiskeys, Peychaud’s Bitters, lots of other brands you might think of as small and local) has been giving thousands of dollars to Newt Gingrich for his 2012 Republican presidential campaign. Gingrich has described Occupy Wall Street protesters as “self-righteous” freeloaders who need to “go get a job right after you take a bath.”

But it’s not just the major liquor companies’ support of Republicans you should know about. Alcohol lobbyists have also defiantly opposed sensible and much-needed efforts to cool down the war on drugs. Last year, California alcohol distributors donated to campaigns against Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana. In 2008, they spent $100,000 trying to defeat California’s Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, which would have eased penalties for possession of marijuana and routed more drug-law offenders toward treatment instead of prison.

Apparently, the alcohol industry has forgotten the perniciousness of prohibition.

“Plus, you could be green,” says Kent Fleischmann of Dry Fly distillery in Spokane. “How much energy does it take to get a bottle of Absolut from Sweden to Seattle?”

Thanks to a 2009 law passed by the Washington State Legislature, which opened the door for craft distilleries to start doing business here, you can buy bottles of vodka—and gin and whiskey—that were made entirely in Washington. One unique aspect of that legislation is that to get the craft license, distillers must buy at least 51 percent of their grains from farmers in Washington State. That provision prevents distillers from buying “neutral spirits”—Everclear and its industrial cousins—from out of state, then adding their own water, flavoring, and coloring, and marketing it as “local.”

Crater Lake Vodka, from Oregon, is a classic example: The label on the bottle proudly proclaims that it contains “hand-crafted American vodka,” but it’s just neutral grain spirits put through a filtering process. Fleischmann says: “There’s so much smoke-and-mirrors in this business. There are over 400 distilleries in this country, and I bet 75 percent of them don’t even make their own alcohol.”

The first distillery in Seattle was Sound Spirits, owned by Steven Stone, who points out the very simple benefit of hiring local people, buying from local farmers, and supporting local business. Other distilleries in the state now include Oola, Fremont Mischief, Sun Liquor, Woodinville Whiskey, It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere, Bainbridge Organic Distillers, Sodo Spirits—the list goes on and on.

For anyone weaned on big-brand vodka, tasting a sample of the craft-made vodka at the Oola Distillery on Capitol Hill is a revelation in nuance. (Another benefit of the 2009 law: Distilleries can offer samples like wineries, so you can taste before you buy.) Oola gets all its wheat from an organic farm in Snohomish County. They mill it themselves—there’s white dust all over the concrete floor near their milling machine—and you can taste the sweetness and roundedness of the grain in the vodka. Their gin is another revelation. It’s piney and clean, a gin for people who think they don’t like gin. Also, you can taste the original grainy flavor of the Oola vodka that went into making it. (Most liquor starts as vodka before being tweaked and re-distilled.)

Luke, one of the guys at the distillery, leads me from the tasting room to the back to show me the big still, its curlicues of copper pipe, and barrels full of wheat, mash, and liquor. A barrel of wheat mash that’s been boiled and is now cooling smells both grainy and sweet, like a winter morning in New England, with hot breakfast cereal and brown sugar. It’s the smell of sugar and starch separating in preparation for fermentation, but I tell him it smells like childhood. “Yeah!” he says. “Sometimes we want to get some ladles and bowls and eat it!”

Pretty much all of Washington’s craft distilleries have vodkas and gins for sale this winter—some made from wheat, some from barley, some from potato. A few have whiskeys, but because the distilling industry is young in Washington, their whiskeys are also young. Traditionally, whiskey gets its color from sitting in large oak barrels for years and years. Some distilleries, like Bainbridge Organic Distillers and Fremont Mischief, are forcing the color and flavor transfer by using smaller barrels (so more of the liquor is touching more of the wood) with a heavier char on the inside of the barrel, so more of the color moves into the liquid more quickly. Others, like Woodinville Whiskey, are selling tasty clear whiskeys—they have a smoother, rounder flavor than you might expect for something that looks like white lightning. Woodinville Whiskey has also just released a bourbon aged in five- to eight-gallon oak barrels.

Washington State has tons of local distilleries where you can spend your money on bottles of exceptional alcohol—Dry Fly, Oola, and others have been winning national and international awards in the past few years—that won’t compromise your conscience. What you get up to once you’re drunk, though—that’s your business. recommended

Brend an Kiley has worked as a child actor in New Orleans, as a member of the junior press corps at the 1988 Republican National Convention, and, for one happy April, as a bootlegger’s assistant in Nicaragua....

24 replies on “Being Choosy and Getting Boozy”

  1. I was at the grand opening for the gin from Bainbridge Organic Distillery – tasty stuff. Now I hope all of these local “forced aging” whiskeys result in at least one worthy sipper (but I’m willing to try the clear as a completely different experience, I guess…)

    “Conscience buying” is tough when you really like something made by a creep.

  6. I got a bottle of Gimbal Gin from Westland Distillery (in Seattle) and it was awful. I couldn’t even finish the one drink I made; I threw the rest of the bottle out. I have never tasted a local alcohol (including micro brews) that I have liked as much as a major brand. Though I am open to keep trying them.

  10. I wish someone would write up a similar article for us in Arizona. Every time I go to the liquor store I wonder which brands have been opposing drug law reform. Unfortunately they don’t put that on the labels.

  13. Fascinating! Now we are supposed to politicize our single-malts, ryes, blends, etc…because why, again? Oh yes, it is your fault if you were sold, re-sold, and subsequently acquired and re-acquired.

    For example, we all know Laphroaig is the most politically disagreeable distiller the planet has ever known; the fact that they are of Scotland should give anyone pause. Indeed, why should we support a distillery that is in its second century of existence when we can swill local vodka mere weeks old?

    Now, I am in fact a champion of many of our local alcohols, but to boycott such a fine rye as Old Overholt in the age of massive conglomerating holding companies is nothing more than guilt by association.

    Please let us all know how one can divorce one-self entirely from the presumed ills of society (in the case of single-malts, civilization itself) to the extent that one’s spent grain does not stink?

    As an aside, the Canadian Club I would not suggest even for cleaning your bong.

  14. As to Canada, if you’re of a bit of a smuggling mind…you could try sneaking back a couple bottles of “Havana Club” rum the next time you go to Vancouver or Victoria for the weekend.

    It’s made in Cuba(you’d be breaking the pointless U.S. blockade)using the original Bacardi recipe(that family were Cuban fascist aristos before they bugged out to Puerto Rico). From what I”ve heard, it’s amazing stuff, and it’s a fun way to “stick it to the man” with your next “Cuba Libre”.

    Just a thought.

  16. Yeah a few notes. First, the Craft Distilling license (the 51% WA ingredients) was sponsored by the local congressman in Dry Fly’s district and the license bears a striking similarity to their business model. It even was amended to allow larger annual production after Dry Fly grew. But several of the small distilleries around, particularly gin and herbal liquor distillers, cannot get the ingredients they want of the quality they need and still meet the craft distillers license requirement. Particularly if they aren’t mashing themselves, just re-distilling on herbals (juniper, etc) with grain-neutral spirits. So not all small local distilleries are “Craft Distillers”, they’re just craft distillers. Just a different license and ingredient sourcing.

    Second, as has been mentioned, it takes years to get a whisky distillery up and running. Several of the locals who are bottling whisky are buying on the bulk market and re-bottling, or blending with some of the young whisky they have on hand. Look on the back of the bottle for “Distilled by” vs “Imported/Blended/Bottled by” and so on. Does this mean it isn’t good and you shouldn’t buy it? Hells no. Support these guys while they’re sitting on their barrels, you’re still helping a local company get off the ground. But be aware as well, the liquor industry is as much about hype as taste.

  18. If the list goes on and on…then you shoulda made a sidebar column and listed them, rather than leaving us to guess at who the rest might be after the first handful.

  19. Samish Island has a distillery that makes a wonderful single malt whiskey. It isnt peated at the end, so it’s alot cleaner finishing than scotch, but has more of that feel than a bourbon. They also have what they call an “immature whiskey” that has notes very much like a good blanco tequila. I toured the place, and they do the whole process all local stuff, in the smaller barrels. The name of the distillery is “Golden northwest” and their mailing address is in Bow, Wa. But they are actually on Samish island. The guy who rund the place used to own Franco’s hidden harbor, for historical reference.

  20. Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, Oregon, was the first distillery in the Pacific Northwest. Started in the mid-80s because of the abundance of local fruit, they buy and distill thousands of pounds of pears, apples, cherries, and plums from Oregon and Washington into some AMAZING fruit brandy….and I happen to know that the owner is an old leftie who went to Reed College back in the day. Not to mention, the single malt whiskey they distill is peaty and complex. And yes, I’m biased.

  22. Brendan, thanks for writing this, great that someone talks about NGS finally.

    To agree with an above comment, not all spirits in Washington are made craft. You really think Sun Liquor can mash in that space and use that tiny still without using NGS? That doesn’t mean their product is bad, it just doesn’t take as much effort to make. Same for Voyager Gin, it uses NGS, but it has great flavor. Also, it would be very difficult to make a quality absinthe without starting with NGS.

    I agree that we should buy local whenever possible, but I have a hard time imagining myself ever not purchasing a Pappy Van Winkle or Buffalo Trace Antique Collection because of their parent company. The distillers there still work very hard and create very good products. Inspiration for these local distilleries no doubt comes from these incredible distillers. Heck, Woodinville Whiskey Company works with former Maker’s Mark distiller Dave Pickerell.

    I see Washington shaping the future of distilling. Woodinville Whiskey Company is an inspiration for quality, as is Dry Fly.

    I wish all Washington distillers well in 2012. I will always be a customer.

    @SchmuckyTheCat – You can buy barrels of Willet, try there.

  23. @5: “locally distilled handcrafted vodka”

    I don’t get how they can claim this, I bought a bottle of Mischief vodka and it stated that they didn’t distill it locally, it was imported from out of the country.

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