distilling destinations
THE GREAT PDXPERIMENT As ACSA prepares for the 2020 Convention in Portland, we take a closer look at the complicated craft beverage cradle that is the Rose City.
On the craft beverage front, Portland’s claim to fame was as the pre-eminent beer city in the U.S.—many might even say the world. And that helped set the stage for craft spirits producers within the Rose City limits, now numbering in the double-digits. “I think it’s a natural progression,” observes ACSA Board member Molly Troupe, partner and master distiller at Freeland Spirits, which launched its namesake gin in late 2017 and opened its distillery and tasting room in northwest Portland about a year ago. “When you’ve seen the craft beer movement, people have really responded not just to the fact that they were making good beer, but that they had something to say. And I think that’s where a lot of craft spirits have gone as well.” Given the city’s pioneering pedigree, one might (naively) assume that launching a distillery and developing a full-fledged craft spirits scene is a walk in the park. But Portland is a far more complicated environment than the average “Portlandia” viewer might think—especially a decade after the heyday of its Distillery Row. “Portland’s been an interesting place,” says Christian Krogstad, co-founder of House Spirits Distillery, which opened there 15 years ago. “I think it is a good bellwether for the national distilling scene just as it was for the national brewing scene.” Krogstad moved to Oregon’s largest city nearly three decades ago to work in the thenburgeoning brewing scene. “When I moved to Portland in ’91 there were
56 |
AUGUST 201 9
like 14 breweries—there were more breweries there than anywhere else in the country,” he recalls. “That’s why I moved there. Now there are 90 breweries.” When House opened 13 years later, there were only about 35 distilleries in the entire country. “Seven or eight of them were in Oregon,” he remembers. “Now we have 15 or so in Portland.” House Spirits had the advantage of being one of the early movers in the city. For the most part, the local government’s only frame of reference was the craft beer movement, of which Portland was the undisputed epicenter. “In the early days in Portland, we were treated very much like a brewery,” Krogstad explains. “Starting a distillery in Portland at first was probably easier than it should have been and probably had less regulatory oversight than it should have. Fast-forward 15 years and it has more regulatory oversight than it should and the city is more cautious than any other city that I have experienced.” Those distilleries that have survived the often-protracted permitting process can’t just offer the same spirits and experiences that their local peers provide—especially when Portland consumers are notorious for their “been there, done that” attitude. Of all of the producers currently operating in the city, no two are alike. And while being the “local” distillery may have cachet in other markets, Portlanders mostly greet that notion with a yawn. “People probably aren’t as drawn to
C R AF T S PI R I T S MAG .CO M
PHOTOGRAPHS: JEFF CIOLETTI
BY JEFF CIOLETTI