They say “what grows together goes together.” We source all of our grain and potatoes within a 30-mile radius of the distillery, this means there’s a myriad of other fresh agricultural products at your fingertips around Bellingham that would go great in any cocktail. Keep it fresh and keep it local! There are many excellent honey producers in Whatcom and Skagit counties. Shrubs from Shrub Farm are our go to for adding an extra fruity kick to any drink. Some classic cocktail ingredients we can’t consistently source locally, but we always recommend buying organic and using fresh citrus when possible.
Some spirits are all about the distillate. Bourbon, for example, isn’t distilled over 80% alcohol and therefore retains much of its grain character. Gin, however, is all about the botanicals. Many distillers will often use a neutral grain spirit just over 96% ABV in order for the base to be as neutral as possible. This base spirit, as well as the proof-down water in gin, provide a blank canvas for the botanicals to tell their story.
This presented a bit of an issue for us at the outset of our gin making career here at Chuckanut Bay Distillery. Our first still, a simple pot still, had a difficult time running above 95% alcohol, and as a result, we ended up with spirit right at 95% alcohol by volume (ABV). The resultant spirit was a bit more “character-forward” than the above 96% ABV spirit that we’ve since settled on for our gin since 2015. Essentially, this early spirit was not a blank canvas, and as such, we deliberately selected a botanical blend to complement this reality. After dozens of iterations, we discovered that dialing back the botanicals just a bit allowed us to create a more balanced, better integrated product. Our gin is delightful to sip neat and makes a fantastic martini.
Juniper is the star in every gin. (If it isn't, you might ask yourself, am I really drinking gin?) As a company, we always strive to use the most local ingredients possible, so of course we wanted to use a juniper indigenous to our neck of the woods. Juniper, however, is a complex creature, and finding one with the desired fruit/resinous character just wasn’t in the cards. Fortunately, Europe has been at this gin thing for some time now, and we were able to locate an Italian juniper that integrated perfectly.
The next most important botanical, in our opinion, is Angelica root. This distinctive ingredient makes an appearance in most all gins, and for good reason: it contributes earthiness and enhances mouthfeel by providing weight and gravitas to the resultant product.
Next, we have coriander seed which provides a citrusy, spicy character that harmonizes with juniper especially well.
Together, these first three botanicals are often referred to as the "Holy Trinity of Gin.” Getting these ratios just right was particularly critical for us in terms of how they would balance against our base spirit.
The rest of the characters in our gin include cardamom pods, grains of paradise, and orris root. Cardamom pods provide a green spiciness… think of the spiciness of wheatgrass with just a touch of citrus. Grains of paradise provides a white peppery component, resulting in a layering effect on the spice profile of our gin. Orris root functions to balance out these spicy contributors by providing a gentle floral character which provides the slightest suggestion of sweetness.
Our gin has evolved, and dare we say, matured since we initially released it in 2013. In our new location, our still set-up allows us to produce neutral spirit consistently above 96% ABV. As a result, the spirit we use now provides a tighter, cleaner foundation than the 95% spirit we produced originally. Despite this subtle change in our base spirit, we’ve kept our original botanical recipe, albeit modified to integrate it into the product as a whole. We feel that our practices have dialed in a very approachable, balanced gin that will delight those seeking a charming interplay of spirit and botanicals.
Happy Gin season to you!
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Truth be told, you can make vodka from just about any agricultural substrate, as long as you can get it to ferment. In addition to grains like wheat, you'll find vodka made from corn, rice, fruit, and much more. To call it vodka, you just have to meet the following criteria (as spelled out by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau):
Spirits distilled from any material at or above 95% alcohol by volume (190 proof), and if bottled, bottled at not less than 40% alcohol by volume (80 proof). Neutral spirits distilled or treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials so as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color.
It's that last part that is particularly interesting: "...without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color." If that's the benchmark for quality vodka, how does one product achieve superiority over another? Should it strive to be even MORE without character? To have even LESS taste?
If that's the be-all, end-all goal for vodka, it has certainly been met many times over by countless (perfectly fine, mind you) products on the market. There's obviously a place for this type of spirit. When you're mixing a cocktail and want a versatile alcohol to provide punch without distracting from the flavor profile of the other ingredients - vodka!
But as with most things in life, one size doesn't necessarily fit all. Sometimes, when you're sipping a vodka martini, for example, you'd rather conjure up images of lush, rolling fields in the old country than an austere hospital room scrubbed down in antiseptic. Needless to say, Chuckanut Bay Distillery Potato Vodka strives for the former.
Making vodka from whole, fresh potatoes is no easy task. In fact, it’s almost comically inefficient. This is due in part to the biomass of a potato, which consists largely of water (about 80%). The other 20% is dry matter, and of that dry matter, only 60-80% of it is starch – the component that gets converted to sugar which is then fermented to create alcohol.
So it’s the starch of the potato that we’re after in this process, but potatoes don’t contain much starch relative to their total mass. An easier workaround for a less ambitious distiller would be to use dried potato flakes which contain far higher starch levels than whole potatoes on a per pound basis. And indeed, potato flakes serve as the substrate for several potato vodkas on the market.
Alas, that’s not how we roll here at Chuckanut Bay Distillery. Whenever possible, we strive to work with ingredients in their most natural, unprocessed form. That means procuring whole Yukon Gold potatoes harvested at the peak of growing season just a few miles south of us in the Skagit Valley, considered to be one of the finest potato-growing regions in the world.
It takes at least 50 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes to make just one 750ml bottle of our vodka. Multiply that by 600 bottles, our batch yield, and you have 30,000 pounds of potatoes.
Why use Yukon Golds instead of cheaper and more readily available russet potatoes? Well, we tried that, actually. The result was less than impressive – an “oily” vodka that lacked the earthy old world charm we were striving to achieve in a potato vodka in the first place.
In contrast, our vodka made from Yukon Golds is simply exquisite. But don’t take our word for it; Chuckanut Bay Distillery Potato Vodka was one of only two vodkas in the world to win the New York International Spirit Competition’s Double Gold Medal in 2013.
We’ll leave you with the tasting notes from the prestigious Beverage Tasting Institute, where our potato vodka earned a gold medal and a score of 92 out of 100: “Clear color. Toasty aromas of nougat and raisin bread with a supple, crisp, dryish light-to-medium body and a tingling, interesting, long mocha cream, ground nuts, spiced fig, and minerals finish. A zesty fruit nuanced vodka that will mix brilliantly.”
]]>Announcing the Chuckanut Bay Distillery Spring Cocktail Challenge!
Hear ye, hear ye... we formally invite you to participate in the inaugural, and infinitely prestigious, Chuckanut Bay Distillery Spring Cocktail Challenge!
What is the Spring Cocktail Challenge, you ask? A fine question, indeed... It's where you make your favorite spring cocktail using your favorite Chuckanut Bay Distillery spirit, then post a photo and description of it on Instagram and/or Facebook using the following two hashtags: #CBDspringcocktail and #craftspirits
Our panel of experts will then select a winner from the entries submitted.
When is this illustrious event? Entries must be received between 4/21 and 4/30. Winner will be announced in the first week of May. Say...what's in it for me? Glory! Fame! And some distillery swag, including a CBD hat, CBD t-shirt, 2 CBD shot glasses, and a $50 CBD gift certificate!
Let the creativity... begin!
]]>Come sample the Bellingham Bengal this Saturday at the distillery. Made from our Old Busker Coffee Liqueur and Grand Marnier, and garnished with an orange twist, this tasty little treat is orange and black... like a tiger... rowwwrrrr. Come by between 11am and 5pm for a taste.
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