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Something unusual is happening in the heart of Willamette Valley Wine Country: Distillers are putting down roots.
While not as well known as their pinot noir-producing neighbors, a collection of six brands making a variety of spirits hopes you’ll add them to the itinerary the next time you’re sampling your way through Yamhill County’s vineyards. And anyone new to hooch will find that the experience is very similar to visiting a winery: There are flights, you can take tasting notes (or not—some of you are only there to get day drunk), and the views of forests, farmland and tidy rows of grapevines are just as lovely.
Since many of the area’s distillers—located in the towns of Newberg, Dundee, Dayton and Carlton—are discovered by accident (wine tasters who spot their signs and make an impromptu stop), the group banded together this past spring and launched Oregon’s first Wine Country Whiskey Trail. The program includes a passport (hard copy and digital versions are available), allowing visitors to easily plan their route, study up on each business’s backstory, and collect stamps along the journey. Once you’ve worked your way through the booklet, show it to the final distillery you drop by to collect a prize for all of that drinking: a labeled rocks glass.
Of course, you can sip spirits and earn those stamps anytime of year, but it’s an activity best suited for winter. Gray skies and frigid temperatures for days on end? That’s whiskey weather, trail buddy.
Ransom Wine Co. & Distillery Tasting Room
23145 Highway 99W, Dundee, 503-538-3199, ransomspirits.com. 11 am-5 pm daily.
Ransom is probably best known for its Old Tom Gin, a maltier style dating back to the early 1800s that eventually went out of production by the 20th century due to the rise in popularity of London dry gin. During the past two decades, however, it’s made a strong comeback thanks to Ransom founder Tad Seestedt, who revived the spirit in 2006 with author and historian David Wondrich by researching old recipes.
“It’s our biggest seller,” tasting room associate Steve Himelfarb explained before walking me through my flight. “[Old Tom] funds everything.”
That includes the business’s five whiskeys, which, along with the gin, are made on a 40-acre certified organic farm in Sheridan using a hand-hammered, old-timey alembic pot still from France. While you can’t sample a flight at that property, where Ransom also grows barley and rye in rotation, as well as grapes for its wine label, you can book tastings at Duck Pond Cellars in Dundee (clustered much closer to the rest of the distilleries). The winery was just renovated and now has a spirits lounge complete with a gas-powered fireplace, clubby black leather armchairs, and a display of Ransom bottles draped in medals. Though, on one of those clear, sunny winter days, you’ll want to bundle up and migrate to the patio, where you can gaze at what I assume is the titular pond or play cornhole.
Pro tip: When a food truck pays a visit, the tasting room can legally serve you more booze, so after your spirits flight, order a Ginger Snap cocktail with ginger beer, ginger liqueur and Whipper Snapper Whiskey that’s aged for up to two years in American oak and French wine barrels.
Brixeur Spirits
18401 NE Ribbon Ridge Road, Newberg, 503-538-9898, brixeur.com. 11 am-4 pm Saturday-Sunday. Reservations required.
Every now and then, a taster will break away from their group at Trisaetum Winery and wander into the vineyard to examine a strange white cottage. There is no sign or window on the large wooden door that looks like it could open into a quaint dwelling or a dungeon. Inevitably, they peer inside—most with a look of confusion that quickly gives way to surprise. The little house is a speakeasy of sorts, a tasting room for Brixeur Spirits, founded in 2020 by the family who operates Trisaetum.
During a visit, you’ll likely encounter a few of those curious, stray wine tasters like I did—after popping their heads in, they always vow to return. And it’s easy to understand why: The opulent space with blue velvet nailhead-trimmed chairs, a stained-glass window behind the bar, and a stunning chandelier dripping with crystals looks like the kind of place where you’d want to get snowed in for the weekend and have to rely on Brixeur’s ample supply of booze to stay warm.
There are currently 11 different spirits made in a wing of the winery near the barrel cave, with more to come, sales and hospitality rep Nick Clark shared with me in between pours. He also explained the meaning behind the name: “Brix” is a measurement of the sugar content in grapes, and “brixeur” is an expert in both winemaking and distilling. The mashup of those two industries is evident in the methods, since all of the whiskeys are finished in wine casks and the vodka is made from pinot noir grapes. There is a flight featuring all barrel-aged offerings, but you shouldn’t pass up the mixed-spirits option, which features two tiny cocktails (a take on a French 75 and a toddylike Apple Bee’s Knees on my visit), a rye, and a gin infused with an eye-popping 59 botanicals.
Killdeer Distilling
20000 Windy Ridge Road, Newberg, 503-421-3881, killdeerdistilling.com. Noon-5 pm Thursday-Sunday. Call ahead before going in January or February.
Despite what you might expect based on the name, there are no mounted stag heads on the walls of Killdeer, though there is the skull of a big-horned sheep along with other odds and ends on display—from a Shriners fez to an antique sewing machine to a portrait of a horse. A killdeer is actually a large plover—the birds nest on the property where distillery owner Colin Fisher both lives and works (the tasting room is a converted livestock barn). While you won’t see them this time of year, there are plenty of other animals to look at, since the small farm is also home to “six sheep, God knows how many chickens, two cats and a dog,” Fisher rattled off to me.
Hardcore beer lovers who ever made the journey out to Paul Arney’s rural Bend property (or someplace similar) for a tour and tasting before The Ale Apothecary upgraded to a taproom will be reminded of that visit while at Killdeer. Here, you’re also drinking among the barrels and boxes of inventory in an almost claustrophobically small space—but it’s also about as authentic an experience as you can get.
The tasting will likely start with a light, bright gin made with juniper, coriander seeds, grapefruit and orange peel—a recipe Fisher’s 10-year-old developed because, as he put it, “she tends to the herbs.” You can then compare that sip to a barrel-aged version of the same spirit, which has a slight yellow tint and more warmth—a perfect gin-whiskey hybrid. It’s also a good warmup for the bourbon and a spicy rye whose grains come from Virginia because they have “the best damn grain you can find and they’ve been doing it longer than anyone,” Fisher added. Based on its striking assertiveness, I didn’t disagree.
Branch Point Distillery & Tasting Room
15800 NE McDougall Road, Dayton, 503-714-4181, branchpointdistillery.com. 2-6 pm Thursday, noon-6 pm Friday-Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday.
Branch Point owner Steven Day couldn’t help but be reminded of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” when making his big career move. But if you really think about it, the neurologist turned distiller didn’t just take the road less traveled; he bushwhacked an entirely new path.
That diverging route is reflected in Branch Point’s name and logo as well as its practices—Day sources most of the grain he uses from small local farms. The business also stands out because it’s the only one on the passport that exclusively makes whiskey, which offers a great opportunity for a deep dive into the nuances of the spirit, especially if you’re just becoming acquainted.
While neurology and whiskey production may seem worlds apart, Day realized that both are rooted in biochemistry. He first got into homebrewing—a process that helped him become more familiar with the qualities that malt brings to the table—while also reading about distilling. Hands-on experience followed via coursework at distilleries across the country.
When not actively running his copper still, which you can admire through a window in the modern, streamlined tasting room, Day serves cocktails and flights behind the bar with his wife, Debra, who also left her career as a CPA to help launch Branch Point. And they’re no slouches when it comes to mixology, regularly experimenting with unusual bitters and other ingredients. Do yourself a favor and order the curated selection of mini mixed drinks. During my visit, that included three versions of an old fashioned: Southern, tiki and cacao.
Bull Run Distillery Carlton Post
214 W Main St., Suite B, Carlton, 503-852-3196, bullrundistillery.com. Noon-6 pm Friday-Sunday.
One question that might come to mind once you arrive at Bull Mountain Distillery’s Carlton location is, why would the Portland-founded company open an outpost in a seemingly tiny market? Turns out, the director of operations lived in nearby McMinnville for almost two decades, so she was familiar with the area and knew a spirits tasting room would do well in a sea of wineries. Tasting room manager Hannah Miller was also quick to point out that the town of just over 2,000 people lacks a liquor store, so the opening of Bull Run in 2018 helped the locals more easily replenish their bottle stock.
The brand started out as whiskey focused in 2010, but now it produces everything from aquavit to Eastern European-style vodka to brandy. Since this is a whiskey crawl, ward off the chill of winter with the Maple Whiskey—infused with real syrup from Vermont. If you bring some home, use it to make an old fashioned and you’ve got yourself a perfect fireside sipper. And while not a whiskey, the Pacific Spice Rum begs to be consumed during the holiday season, with its warming notes of anise, cinnamon and cloves. If it’s that time of year and you do have presents to buy for whiskey lovers or otherwise in your life, the Carlton tasting room doubles as a gift shop, selling jewelry, barware, bourbon cologne, and candles shaped like morels handmade by manager Miller.
Ewing Young Distillery
18715 Highway 240, Newberg, 503-799-6667, ewingyoungdistillery.com. 1-5 pm Saturday-Sunday.
Newberg Public Schools failed me. I’m sure I’m not the first alum to make that declaration, but I needed it to be official and in writing after my visit to Ewing Young Distillery. That’s where I learned more about the business’s namesake and literal trailblazer than I ever did as a student in my hometown. After traveling the country via wagon train, Young settled in Oregon’s Chehalem Valley, establishing the area’s first grist mill, sawmill, trading post and bank in an effort to end settlers’ reliance on the British Hudson’s Bay Company. Still not impressed? He also led the first documented cattle drive in North America. The man was a goddamn hero, and all I knew about him prior to embarking on this whiskey tour was that his name had been slapped on the Newberg elementary school where the weird rural kids went.
Thankfully, this business on the western edge of town keeps Young’s memory alive. It’s a fitting tribute, too. Young established the first distillery in what was then known as “Oregon Country.” And there’s a lot to sample here at his former homestead, including the peppery yet not astringent Rye Mash Whiskey; an aggressively spicy fresh pepper vodka made with serranos, habaneros, jalapeños, Anaheims and poblanos; and a crowdpleasing gin named after the woman who planted an acorn on Young’s grave in 1846, five years after his death. You can see the resulting oak with an 88-foot crown that’s since been named a Heritage Tree from the distillery’s yard. After paying your respects to an Oregon original, test your aim by trying to sink some of the distillery’s axes into the provided log. It’s an activity the adventurous Young most certainly would have approved of.
Oregon Winter is Willamette Week’s annual winter activity magazine. It is free and can be found all over Portland beginning Wednesday, December 6, 2023. Find your free copy at one of the locations noted here, before they all get picked up!