Tacoma, WA: Hop Wild And Artisanal Too

Each year, my writer pal Chelsea Lin and I research some of our Tacoma Visitors Guide stories together. This year, we kicked things off right at Heritage Distilling Company in Gig Harbor. The one-year-old company not only produces its own blends, but invites customers behind its microstills.

Heritage Distilling's tasting-room bar, glimpsed between shelves of the Cask Club's library. Image copyright www.amandacastleman.com.

Gin bathtubs—and any DIY equipment, in fact—remained illegal, even when Prohibition eased.  Now, for the first time in America, enthusiasts can handcraft small-batches of spirits or custom-age 10-liter casks of whiskey.

"We like to say that every spirit has a story," explains Distiller Dain Grimmer. "So each barrel has a number, name, where the owner is from and a nickname on it." These include some beauties like:

• Angel's Share
• Cowgirl Blue
• Crying Towel
• Chunder & Lightning
• Moon Dance
• Spontaneous Wood
• Whispering Eye
• Ye 'Ole Funny Face

Discover more about the area's brewing, distilling and wine-making in my 2013 Tacoma Visitor's Guide cover story Hop Wild And Artisanal Too.

My feature in 2013's Tacoma Visitors Guide, page 18. Works best in Safari for Macs.