Oregon’s Eastside Distilling Boards The American Single Malt Whiskey Train

The folks at Portland, Oregon-based Eastside Distilling have been on a trail of late that seems to reflect a growth and maturation of their once more whimsical looking whiskey line up. To date most of their products have been of a sourced nature, but the distilling team has seemingly gone the extra step of putting its own signature on the expressions via creative finishing in Oregon oak. Now, on the heels of a very recent rye whiskey release, word has come down of what’s described as its first authentic American single malt whiskey.

The new Big Bottom American Single Malt Whiskey, according to those behind it, comes courtesy of Eastside’s Big Bottom Distilling (BBD) subsidiary, which was acquired from Oregon craft spirits pioneer Ted Pappas back in 2017. This expression is a 100% barley mash bill, consisting of two-row malted barley, grown in the Pacific Northwest, and Big Bottom’s proprietary yeast strains that were developed  by veteran distiller Travis Schoney. Schoney previously served several years as a distiller and blender at craft distiller, High West Distilling in Park City, Utah, prior to its nearly $160 million acquisition by Constellation Brands.

“We tasted our new malt whiskey in barrel a year or so ago and were blown away by how well it was progressing,” said Grover Wickersham, Chairman and CEO of Eastside Distilling, in a prepared statement. “Frankly, it was a major factor in our wanting to bring the BBD crew into the Eastside family in the 2017 acquisition. We are excited by the high quality of this first release.”

Eastside’s latest whiskey is aged for a minimum of two years in new and used American Oak barrels before being bottled at 91 proof. It is set to be released at liquor stores in Oregon as well as Big Bottom and Eastside Distlling’s various tasting rooms in their home state.