Ok, so some ideas are better than others. When we decided we were moving back to Oregon, we realized we would need to drive to get our 2014 Kia Soul back home. That turned into a discussion of what we wanted to do along the way, and where we would travel.
Since we have some friends on the East coast we hadn’t seen in a while and didn’t know when we would get a better chance we decided to go North and East from Columbus before heading South and West. 6142 miles and just over a month later we made it to our home in Hillsboro, OR.
Along the way we saw friends and family, made moonshine in the mountains of Vermont, ate some amazing food, and visited quite a few distilleries. I don’t have time or room here to show every city and distillery so I’ll cover the highlights of the trip.
Our first notable stop was actually our first night on the road, to visit with Gavin and Aaron at Altered State Distillery in Erie, PA.
Located in a strip mall in Erie, Altered State doesn’t look like much from the front but they impress inside and out back
Featuring live music and some great spirits in their tasting room has brought them some early fame, and I wanted to see how the whiskey stood up.
They have a few whiskeys in the line up, from a straight bourbon to a blend of bourbon and single malt, as well as a few whiskey selections with unique finishes including a luscious and fruity bourbon finished in a barley wine barrel.
The production side of Altered State is a little cramped but Aaron is cranking out some impressive whiskey.
I sampled five different whiskeys from the boys at Altered State, and came away impressed with their vision as well as their product. While only available in the Erie area now, look out for these guys when they get wider distribution. I won’t steal their thunder, but they shared some of their future release plans with me and they are going to surprise some folks.
From Erie we headed to the next must-see on our list - Niagara Falls! I had seen it from the Canadian side before Carrie and I got married but she had never been so we made the stop. It’s one of those places you really need to experience to comprehend, like the Grand Canyon.
Even from the walkway you can feel the power of Niagara Falls
Located just outside Adirondack National Park, High Peaks is piling up awards and whiskey
The next highlight came a few days later in Lake George, NY where I had a chance to visit with Mernie and Ian at High Peaks Distilling. I sampled every whiskey they make, and was quite impressed.
Cloudsplitter is a 92 proof American single malt. Nice smoke on the nose carries through, with leather and tobacco coming in mid-palate and continuing through a moderately long finish.
Night Spirit is a 92 proof straight bourbon. Very light nose, just a whisper of honeydew. Nice melon notes not usually found in whiskey at the front of the palate. Honey, leather, oak, and baking spices on the palate as the melon fades, then a smooth sweet finish. This was aged 3y11m in 30 gallon white oak barrels and is a unique bourbon taste profile. I also tasted a later batch and those melon notes were gone, but the whiskey was tasty all the same. I’m happy to have picked up a bottle of the first batch I tasted for the uniqueness of that melon note though!
Landrace Rye was bottled at 84 proof and is a straight rye. Very light, soft nose. Lots of licorice/anise on the nose, which holds through the entire way, combined with pepper, tobacco, and lots of oak as it fades away.
Their final whiskey product is Sugar Moon Maple whiskey. Interesting but too sweet for my palate. A combination of bourbon and Adirondack maple syrup, barrel aged after combining. Solid oak of the bourbon stands up to the maple but not enough bourbon shines through for me. If you’re a fan of Brown Sugar Bourbon from Heritage Distillery this will blow you away. Might want to fat wash this with bacon to really wow a brunch crowd.
This 1500 gallon spirit still at High Peak has produced some great whiskey
From Lake George we headed further North to visit some friends in Vermont for the weekend before heading East through New Hampshire and into Maine where we spent a few days exploring Portland, ME. We had the obligatory Lobster Rolls and visited the tasting rooms at a couple of small local distilleries that were OK but unimpressive before heading to New Jersey to visit some family for a few days.
After a long weekend in New Jersey we started the whirlwind portion of the trip, driving to Charlottesville, VA. While we didn’t visit Charlottesville’s largest attraction, Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello, we did take the time to visit their Downtown pedestrian mall and enjoy some great food, music, and whiskey.
Eight blocks of Charlottesville’s historic downtown has been turned into a pedestrian mall with a vibrant restaurant and entertainment scene.
From Charlottesville we headed down through Tennessee and Georgia to our next highlight, Laurel Mississippi and it’s historic downtown as seen on HGTV’s “Home Town”.
Ben and Erin Napier have turned their “Home Town” into a must-see destination for fans
Laurel is a beautiful little town, and Ben and Erin Napier have put it on the national map with their TV shows. Be warned when visiting that even at 4:00pm on a weeknight most of downtown Laurel was closed. Whether because of slow reopening post pandemic or businesses focusing on more lucrative weekend traffic we were disappointed that so little was open.
From Laurel we spent. a few days working our way West to Texas, where Waco was our destination. Carrie had a full day of work to do that Friday so I headed down to Hye and a visit with the folks at Garrison Brothers Distillery.
Garrison Brothers Distillery in Hye is a unique experience
Even after hundreds of distillery tours I expect uniqueness from distilleries, but as my first Texas distillery visit Garrison Bros set an interesting bar. Rather than being under one roof, the distillery is an interesting array of multiple mall buildings, each with it’s own purpose. The only thing close for reference is Buffalo Trace in Kentucky, but where BT is a bunch of large and historic buildings Garrison is spread out around a working Cattle Ranch. That wasn’t the only unique thing I found at Garrison Bros, but it was a start.
The Still house at Garrison Bros.
Charlie, our guide explained once we were on the tour that because of the heat, and the rapid cycling from cold at night to sometimes 100+ degrees in less than 24 hours their barrels were unique as well. Their barrel staves are standard width, but nearly 1.5 inches thicker so that the whiskey has more room to move in the wood. This shows itself in the whiskey by it’s more rapid aging and stronger oak flavor than Kentucky bourbon. Even with there thicker barrels they lose 13-16% to the angels share over a 3 year aging cycle.
The iconic Magnolia Silos in Waco, home base for Chip and Joanna Gaines and their Magnolia Companies
The next day we were staying in Waco to visit with friends, and started our day at The Silos, home of most of the enterprises that began as HGTV’s “Fixer Upper” with Chip and Joanna Gaines but has grown into it’s own television network and several blocks of downtown Waco. If you are a fan of the shows, or even just a fan of great design and food it’s a must visit.
From the Silos we headed over to meet up with more friends at Balcones Distillery for a tour and tasting. Balcones is perhaps the best known Texas Distillery, and their building is only a few blocks from Magnolia in the heart of downtown Waco’s Silo district.
Balcones Distilling in downtown Waco, TX
Balcones has been around a long time, and has made some iconic whiskeys and spirits. From their Blue Corn Bourbon to their mesquite smoked Brimstone, they have made quite a name for themselves. Now they have entered the American Single Malt movement with some unique takes including a distillery only Peated Single Malt that has more intense smoke than anything i’ve had even from Islay.
The tour was a good time, made more fun by a group of Texas friends that hadn’t been together since we met at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival last September. After the tour we had a great late lunch at a local Mexican restaurant before splitting up. The company actually was a bigger highlight than the tour.
While I love touring distilleries even alone, it’s much better when the experience is shared with friends!
After spending the rest of the weekend with friends in the Dallas area we were off again, though New Mexico and then up through the corner of Colorado into Utah. We spent a great night in Moab before continuing on to Park City, where we visited the tasting room at High West Distilling.
The High West Saloon in historic downtown Park City is a must visit if you’re in the area.
High West has been a long time favorite of mine, and their Campfire Whiskey became a distillery only product during the pandemic so I needed to stop in and get a fresh bottle anyway. While we were there we had a great meal and also grabbed a bottle of their other available distillery only release, Bourrye. A wonderful blend of 10+yo Bourbon and 10+yo rye that will impress any whiskey lover.
From Park City it was a quick couple of days up through Idaho and into our home state of Oregon. We made one more stop before arriving home at Hood River Distilling’s tasting room in downtown Hood River, OR. Hood River Distilling is the home of McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt, the first American Single Malt, that was established more than 20 years ago.
Hood River Distillers tasting room in Hood River, OR
These days in addition to McCarthy’s, Hood River Distillers are making award winning Trail’s End Bourbon, and an amazing bourbon barrel aged apple brandy called Old Delicious. If you happen to be in the Portland area, take a few hours and drive out to Hood River, you won’t be disappointed.
From Hood River it was just an hour or so to our home in Hillsboro, just west of Portland. It’s taken a couple of weeks for me to find time to write down this journal of our adventures while we get settled back into our home. Stay tuned for more adventures and announcements!
