Got to Baindbridge Island on Saturday around 2 pm with a little bit on time to spare, decided to visit the Bainbridge Organic Distillers. Heard of them & saw their ads in the local press, but never tried any of their products. The fact that they are a local, new (since 2009) and organic distillery made it worthy of a stop while on the island.
The location is about 5 mins from the ferry dock, in an office park (next to a pre-school 
). The space serves as a spacious tasting room and shop, as well as a distilling, storing and aging location. Keith was working when we came in — he kicked off the next step of the distilling process, and asked whether we wanted a tour. Yes, definitely! He described the process of distilling, their equipment and the challenges of being all-organic in detail. It is clear that he cares about the origin of his supplies (far beyond what’s required by the Craft Distilling laws) — the company uses only WA-grown organic grain, and the casks come from a family business in Arkansas that’s been making them for > 100 years — and that places its own limitations on what they can produce (e.g. no rum yet — sugar cane doesn’t grow in WA state!).
After the informative tour and answers to our questions, it was time for a tasting. We sat around the tall round tables (on each of which there was a bottle of either vodka, whiskey or one of the 2 gins), and Keith poured a taste of each of their products.
Vodka (the Legacy Organic vodka) — at room temperature, smooth, strong, clear; i didn’t find any flaws. A very good product! (Ended up getting a bottle).
Gin — we tried two, the first a very interesting herbal gin, with a nose of a variety of green herbs, paisley, and a smooth taste. A great thing for cocktails, to add interesting flavours. The 2nd gin (the Heritage Organic gin) was a “bigger”, stronger- and cleaner-tasting of the two. Even though i don’t normally drink gin, i liked both of them, and would have bought at least 1 bottle — except it is not approved for sale by the Treasury yet.
Whiskey (Battle Point whiskey) — after the gins, i have to say the whiskey was a bit underwhelming. I would have preferred stronger flavours in the taste (might be because of the wheat, or due to the small 10g casks they use for aging, and the shorter aging process – 13-14 months). A decent product, not worth going out of your way to find, in my opinion.
We also tried a vanilla vodka (their vodka w/ 2 vanilla beans in the bottle) — it smelled like dessert (the aroma of vanilla is associated w/ baking in my head); was a little too sweet for my taste (but then again, i don’t drink vanilla vodka).
As we were leaving at 3pm (closing time on Saturdays), after buying 1 vodka bottle, a group of 4 people was just coming in. Good to see that this place is popular! If you find yourself on Bainbridge, the Baindbridge Organic Distillers is worth a trip, and a taste — and if you like tried new (especially local & organic ) things, it is worth looking for their products int eh stores.
