Spirits high as Heritage Distilling prepares for grand opening

Last-minute work is being done at the 8,000-square-foot, two-story Heritage Distilling that will open next month.

Workers at the Gig Harbor facility are finishing the upper-level tasting room, which includes a bar built by well-known woodworker Carlos Taylor-Swanson of Madera Fine Decorative Furnishings in Tacoma, installing a few remaining lights and engaging in some general cleanup.

The Nov. 3 grand opening will mark the first legal distillery in Gig Harbor since Prohibition, thanks to new liquor laws in Washington state.

A few years ago, the Legislature allowed small distillers to make spirits and even offer tastings at their distilleries, but distillers had to buy back their own booze to pour in their tasting rooms.

Starting in December, local craft distillers were allowed to serve from their own bottles at their shops without the state intervening. However, distillers now have to pay a 10 percent distributor license fee and a 17 percent retail spirits license fee on gross sales.

As of March 1, distillers have been able to sell directly to licensed retailers.

For Justin and Jennifer Stiefel, husband-and-wife owners of Heritage Distillery, the business is more than a facility that produces gin, vodka and two types of whiskey — the traditional flavor and a white whiskey based on a recipe by George Washington, the first president of the United States under the Constitution.

It’s a place where people will get to observe up close the process of making hard alcohol, and even take part in producing their own spirits, if they so desire.

“This program is not about the alcohol,” Justin said. “It’s about the experience. They get the experience. Life is about experiences.”

The tasting room overlooks the distillery through a window, and a second bar downstairs will offer visitors the chance to walk down to the ground level for a closer view of the distilling process.

Heritage Distillery features an Italian-made, 525-gallon pot still with a whiskey dome, a secondary column with 12 plates for maximum purity and a condensation tower that’s nearly 14 feet tall.

“It is kind of a work of art,” Justin said of the still.

“Distilling is both an art and a science,” he said.

He should know: He studied chemical engineering in college, and he also earned a law degree.

A distilled beverage, spirit or liquor is an alcoholic beverage that contains ethanol produced by distilling — that is, concentrating by distillation, ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit or vegetables. That excludes undistilled fermented beverages such as beer, wine and cider.

The term hard liquor is used in North America to distinguish distilled beverages from undistilled ones, which are implicitly weaker.

The process for grain-based spirits:

Step 1: Milling. The raw material is ground into a coarse meal. The process breaks down the protective hull that covers the raw material and frees starch.

Step 2: Mashing. The starch is converted to sugar, which is mixed with pure water and cooked. This produces a mash.

Step 3: Fermentation. The sugar is converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide by the addition of yeast. With the addition, the yeast multiplies and produces carbon dioxide, which bubbles away, and a mixture of alcohol, particles and congeners, or the elements which create flavor to each drink.

Step 4: Distillation. The alcohol, grain particles, water and congeners are heated. The alcohol vaporizes first, leaving the water, the grain particles and some of the congeners in the boiling vessel. The vaporized alcohol is then cooled or condensed to form clear drops of distilled spirits.

Two additional steps often are taken to make some distilled spirits (where the art of distilling comes into play):

Step 5: Aging. Certain distilled spirits (rum, brandy, whiskey) are matured in wooden casks, where they gradually develop a distinctive taste, aroma and color.

Step 6: Blending. Some spirits go through a blending process whereby two or more spirits of the same category are combined. The process is distinctive from mixing, since the blended spirit remains of the same specific category as its components.

For those who want to go beyond just seeing how spirits are produced, there’s the Cask Club and the My Batch program.

“It’s an education to the community,” Jennifer said of getting people personally involved in the production of spirits. “We’re both very much hands-on.”

Cask Club members receive the highest level of premium single-batch, hand-crafted spirits made on their terms and bottled when they say it is ready. Members get their own 10-liter cask, filled the way they want it, displayed with their name and hometown on the barrel in Heritage Distillery’s classic tasting room, as well as special pricing on their custom spirits.

The first phase of the Cask Club is limited to 250 members.

The unique My Batch program offers individuals the opportunity to legally be involved in the making of their own ultra-small batch of distilled spirits. Participants will get to use equipment and ingredients housed in Heritage Distilling’s licensed distillery and under the guidance of its distillers.

Participants get to help operate the 26-gallon micro-stills that sit in the shadow of Heritage Distilling’s custom pot and column system. And when it is done, participants get to put their name on the bottle.

“We’re the only distillery in the country doing this,” Justin said. “It’s a chance to get your hands dirty and learn about the process.”

For some 150 years, he said, if people wanted spirits, it generally meant having to travel to a far-off place to get hard alcohol.

“We think it should get a little closer to home,” Justin said.

Even though Heritage Distilling hasn’t officially opened, business is booming.

Bars and restaurants, including several out-of-state establishments, are making inquiries about utilizing the My Batch program to create their own house alcohol blends, Justin said.

“It’s all about brand awareness for the patrons at their bars and restaurants,” he said.

One of Heritage Distilling’s signature brands is the white whiskey based on Washington’s recipe. Made from a combination of rye, corn and malted barley, Washington’s Rye Whiskey is served unaged.

“It’ll be made for the first time in the state that bears his name,” Justin said of the whiskey.

It’s clear Heritage Distilling is a labor of love for the Stiefels. They take great pride in their work and the product they produce.

“It’s a great time to be in the spirits industry,” Jennifer said. “We’re just trying to make a good, quality product.”

Grand opening

Heritage Distilling’s grand opening will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 3 at 3207 57th St. Court NW in Gig Harbor. It will feature tours, samples and a chance to purchase merchandise. At 5 p.m., there will be an invitation-only thank-you reception. Heritage Distillery rents out the space for parties and other events. For more information, visit www.heritagedistilling.com.