The Whiskey Mafia Welcomes its Seattle Chapter

Last week I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with my oldest son Collin in his home in Seattle. We tend to enjoy going out to craft breweries together, and so this is always on our agenda when we get together, and of course we wanted spend time enjoying the outdoors in the Washington State summer. What's more relevant for this blog, though, is another activity that I got to enjoy with Collin and two of his best friends.

Milena, Collin, Me, and Clarisse at Batch 206

I don't remember which one of us suggested it first, but at some point we started talking about the possibility of visiting some craft distilleries, and Collin indicated that some of his friends might be interested in joining us for a tour of local distilleries. The next thing I knew, Collin was asking for T-Shirts that he and his friends Clarisse and Milena could wear while we were out sampling the local libations, because we hadn't yet added them to the Mafia Swag Store. (You can probably thank the Seattle gang for the fact that they're available now.)  A couple of weeks later I headed off to Seattle with the requested Whiskey Mafia T-Shirts, and some surprise glencairns for this group of young people that were willing to share their Saturday with me.

Meeting these ladies for the first time when they arrived at Collin's apartment was a pleasure. They were fun and easy to talk to even for an old guy like me, and had some genuine curiosity about the subject of our little adventure. Clarisse,  in particular, enjoys whiskey and whiskey cocktails, especially old fashions.

Our Seattle Craft Distillery Tour

I had taken some time to research Seattle distilleries and whiskey bars before I arrived, and there are 20 or so to choose from. I narrowed the list to distilleries that produce bourbon, but even though Seattle is something of a single malt town, there were still more on my list than we could visit in an afternoon.  We narrowed if from there mainly on the basis of some online reviews I had seen, the advice of Collin's former boss, and finally to minimize travel.  The final list was Freemont Mischief, Batch 206, and Skybound Distilling. 

One of the things I found most interesting about most of the whiskies we sampled was the higher barley content and the way it makes Seattle bourbons and ryes different from other parts of the country.  Seattle is truly a malted barley town, even when it comes to bourbon.

Freemont Mischief Distillery

Freemont Mischief Distillery is on North Canal St in Freemont. In addition to the distillery (closed for tours when we were there) and its tasting room and gift shop, Mischief also has a cocktail bar with small plates across the shared patio. Having eaten before we came, we limited our visit to the tasting room, but there were some very alluring aromas coming from a smoker on the property.

Mischief is first and foremost a rye distillery, and our "Master Mischief Maker," Elsa was pretty direct about the fact that she is a rye person as she poured our samples. They do produce a bourbon, however.  Canal Street Bourbon is a relatively new addition to the line, and characteristically for a rye distillery, Canal Street fits into the category of  high-rye bourbons.

Freemont Mischief Tasting Notes

John Jacob Rye: Mash Bill: 80% Rye, 20% Malted Barley. 80 Proof.

Nose: Vanilla and cereal notes. Ethanol.

Palate: Vanilla and honey with pepper and spice. Ethanol is present but not overpowering.

Finish: Citrus, Pepper, and ginger.  Warm Kentucky hug.

Skagit Rye: Mash Bill: 80% Rye, 20% Malted Barley. 90 Proof.

Nose: Fresh cut grass, grain

Palate: Dry sweetness, mint, pepper 

Finish: Lingering pepper and a medium ethanol burn.

Straight Rye: Mash Bill: 85% Rye, 15% Malted Barley. 95 Proof.

Nose:  Rye Bread, Vanilla, Spice

Palate: Dry sweetness, spice and pepper.

Finish:  Pepper, moderate ethanol burn.

Canal Street Bourbon: Mash Bill: 51% Corn., 30% Rye, 19% Malted Barley. 90 Proof.

Nose: Vanilla, honey and citrus.

Palate: Vanilla, caramel, cherry

Finish:  Dry sweetness, pepper.

Batch 206 Distillery

The next two distilleries were a short drive away in a semi-industrial part of Queen Anne. The first of these was Batch 206. We entered to a large tasting room with a bar in the rear left corner and large tables throughout. There was also a function room off to one side, and you could just catch a glimpse of the still and barrel ricks in the back. To the right rear was a pizza shop that sells by the slice on weekends. Our bartender Brad seemed to be working alone, but he was friendly and very helpful with information.

Milena & Clarisse check out the Batch 206 ricks.

Batch 206 sells a number of different spirits including clear spirits as well as whiskies. I chose a flight that included two variations of their signature high malted barley bourbon, a more traditional rye flavored bourbon, and an Irish Whiskey aged in bourbon barrels. Collin ordered a Manhattan and  Clarisse an Old Fashioned, while Milena chose to go with something else entirely. The ladies also ordered a couple of slices, which were large enough that we ended up sharing them.

After our tasting Brad led us out back for a look at the ricks and the custom made pot-and-double-column still, shared some notes on the respective mash bills and ages of the whiskies I had tried, and took a few pictures for us before heading back out front to attend to other customers.

Batch 206 Tasting Notes

Old Log Cabin Bourbon: Mash bill 51% Corn, 49% Malted Barley. 86 proof. Aged 3-4 years in new American oak. Honestly, the malt content of this makes me think of Irish whiskey.  The corn sweetness, combined with the malt reminds me in some ways of Writers' Tears.

Nose: Malt, Citrus, Vanilla

Palate: Malt, Vanilla, Caramel, Oak 

Finish: Lingering malty sweetness, medium ethanol burn.

Old Log Cabin 7 Year Single Barrel: Mash bill 51% corn, 49% malted barley.  Aged 3-4 years in new American oak.

Nose: Malt, Citrus, Vanilla

Palate: Caramel, Vanilla, Malt, Cherries

Finish: Lingering malty sweetness, stronger ethanol burn ethanol burn.

Back Porch Bourbon: 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% malted barley. 124 Proof. Aged 8 years in new American Oak

Nose: Vanilla, red fruits, ethanol.

Palate: Vanilla, brown sugar, caramel cocoa and apples. Hints of baking spice.

Finish: Lingering dry sweetness with spice and pepper. 

Barrel Raider Irish Whiskey: Mash Bill: 95% corn, 5% malted barley. 84 proof. Aged 3 years in Ireland, and then aged 4 years in Seattle in used Old Log Cabin Barrels.  I'm used to Irish whiskies that have high barley content, and placed in context with Old Log Cabin, this actually tastes less like an Irish Whiskey to me than the Bourbon does.

Nose: Citrus, vanilla.

Palate: Vanilla, corn, oak

Finish: Lingering sweetness, corn, mild ethanol burn.

 

Skybound Spirits

Skybound Spirits is just a short walk from Batch 206, but we made the walk looking for another distillery called 6 Spirits. As we learned on arrival, 6 Spirits was an early casualty of the pandemic, but the owner of Skybound had acquired the equipment, inventory, and space and had rebranded and reopened it using the same master distiller.

Skybound is also a bit tucked away in an industrial building, there was no open sign or flag on the door to invite us in, and we were debating whether or not to go to the door when the owner's fiancée, Seema got out of her car, greeted us, told us the distillery was open, and encouraged us to enter.

When we did enter, we found a small but inviting space that featured dark blue walls, interesting spiky chandeliers and an industrial-looking steel bar.  We also met Haley, the bartender and the distillery owner, Stephen.

Stephen graciously showed us around the distillery, and we learned one of the steps he had taken to improve profitability was to dramatically reduce the amount of real estate, which resulted in a very tight distillery space.  If you believe you can do more with less, I think this distillery may be a useful case study.

I tried a neat pour first, and after sampling a sip of Clarisse's Old Fashioned I followed up with an Old Fashioned of my own. Haley makes her old fashions with muddled fruit, rather than bitters, which makes for a refreshing cocktail on a warm summer day, and yet still has that old fashioned flavor.

Skybound Bourbon Tasting Notes

Mash Bill: 56% corn, 28% barley, 16% rye.  92 proof.  Aged 7 years.

Nose: Honey, citrus, baking spices.

Palate: Caramel, vanilla, honey, malt and cinnamon.

Finish: Lingering sweetness, black pepper.

I can't close my review of Skybound's bourbon without mentioning the bottle, which is a truly beautiful bottle that includes all of the lunar cycles for 2021, as well as an easter egg view of the moon as you drink your bottle.  Really creative design that I am glad to have added to my shelf.

Closing Thoughts

We didn't try Mischief's Storm Tossed Rye,
but we couldn't resist a picture!

Reflecting on my adventure with Collin, Milena, and Clarisse one week ago, I really want to extend my thanks to the three of them for a terrific time. They were all wonderful to hang out with, and were really curious to learn about the spirits we were tasting, which makes it really fun for a guy Collin calls "Dictionary Dad." In addition, I am so glad that they came up with the idea of wearing matching shirts out on our little tour. We got all kinds of questions about them from both distillery staff and the general public. Even though I'm a marketing guy, these three software engineers managed to school me on marketing! I'm looking forward to getting together with them again someday.

I also want to express my appreciation to the distillery staff and the other guests at the distilleries. Everyone we met was friendly, helpful, and fun to talk with. I especially want to shout out to Seema, Stephen, and Brad for going above and beyond to make us feel welcome and share their stories with us.

This has been a rather long post, but what a day it was! 

Cheers!