Dry Fly Washington Wheat Whiskey

"The stills are the pretty part," says Don Poffenroth as he points to his twin, custom-designed 450-liter Christian Carl copper-pot stills. Manufactured in Goppingen, Germany, the stills traveled over seven thousand miles to Dry Fly Distillings home in Spokane, Washington, and today, are used to make the distillerys award-winning Washington Wheat Whiskey.Poffenroth and his co-founder, Kent Fleischmann, were inspired to open the doors to Dry Fly Distillery when they were knee-deep in the Gallatin River during a fly-fishing trip. "It was still early and the sun was rising slowly behind the alders," says Fleischmann. "It occurred to us how privileged we were to live, work, and fish in one of the most amazing places on Earth. We felt so fortunate that we wanted to find some way to share the natural beauty and purity of the great Northwest."Dry Fly Washington Wheat Whiskey is made from 100 percent locally-sourced soft winter wheat. "Were in wheat country," says Fleischmann. "We have beautiful resources. Thats why we utilize only local ingredients." Farmers from the Co-Ag Cooperative 25 miles north of Spokane ship bags of Washington winter-wheat to Dry Fly Distilling every other week.After Poffenroth and Fleischmann receive the wheat, they mill and mash it before fermenting it in tanks located next to an electrocution-warning sign stamped in Russian Cyrillic. Following fermentation, the wash is distilled in the twin Christian Carl copper-pot stills before being aged in new, medium-charred American oak barrels sourced from the Bluegrass Cooperage in Tennessee. After aging the whiskey for a minimum of two years, Poffenroth and Fleischmann fill and seal each bottle by hand, noting its batch number and bottle number within the batch.Dry Fly Washington Wheat Whiskey, which won the Triple Gold Medal at the Micro Liquor Spirit Awards in 2011, has a nose of buttery toast and sweet, smooth notes of biscuits and baked bread. Light yet surprisingly complex, it is the first whiskey made in Washington since Prohibition. "We are trying to challenge the norm," says Fleischmann. "We want to raise the bar and produce something memorable that keeps people coming back."Challenge the norm and pick up a bottle of Dry Fly Washington Wheat Whiskey today!