Openings, Closings and Dishy Gossip

[August 13th, 2008]

ECO-BOOZE: Cascade Peak Spirits (cascadepeakspirits.com), a craft distillery in Ashland, made headlines when it debuted Oregon’s first organic vodka in May. Now, the company’s Organic Nation gin ($29.30 a bottle) hits Portland liquor store shelves this week. What makes it organic, exactly? “It’s a little bit like an organic tomato,” Cascade Peak head Diane Paulson explains. “The raw product used [to make the spirits], like the wheat or rye or corn or potatoes, there’s been no herbicides or pesticides used on them.” Cascade’s “raw” materials come from certified organic farmers with sustainable growing practices. She says she doesn’t see slapping the big “O” tag on her booze as buying into the marketability of the “organic” label. To her, producing a sustainable product is a matter of responsibility. “That’s why we named our brand Organic Nation—it comes with a system of values,” she says. With only one still, Cascade Peak is certainly small, but its plans are big. The company is researching ginger and vanilla vodka, as well as projects with local food craftsmen like Ashland’s Dagoba Chocolate. It also has an organic whiskey currently sitting on oak, but, as with all whiskeys, patience is a virtue.