Growing malt in our maritime climate allows for unique experimentation with micro-climates contained within it. From all the way up to the headwaters of the Skagit River to out on the islands of the Puget Sound, changes in how barley interacts with the environment and gives distillers and brewers uniquely local expressions to play with. Whidbey Island Distillery is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this exploration and we’re proud to work with them to highlight one of these micro-climates in their products. We did a brief interview with Mike Huffman, their General Manager, to help profile this great little distillery.

Who are you? Name/Distillery/Location?

Mike Huffman, General Manager, Whidbey Island Distillery

What is your distillery known for?

Whidbey Island Distillery is known for it’s world-renowned Berry Liqueurs and Bunker Rye Whiskey. We focus on local ingredients and our unique distillation process let’s the raw ingredients shine through in our final spirits. We work with local farmers to highlight the bounty of the Northwest and we take a calculated approach in every spirit we make.

Why did you start to use Skagit Valley Malts?

When we discovered that Skagit Valley Malting was producing local barley just beyond Whidbey Island we jumped at the opportunity to pay them a visit. We were instantly impressed with their like-minded innovative process and quickly transitioned to using only grains provided by SVM in our Bunker Rye whiskey.

What has been your favorite malt from us?

By far it’s the Whidbey NZ Pale Malt. We were able to work with a local farmer on Whidbey Island to grow NZ Barley in the beautiful Whidbey Island Coupeville Prairie. The grain gets malted at SVM and comes back to the island to become a main ingredient in our Bunker Rye Whiskey. Having locally grown Island grains turned into Whiskey is our way of bottling up the magical essence of Whidbey Island.

What is your favorite distillery smell?

Smelling and sampling the white dog whiskey right off the still is one of my personal favorites. It’s really fun to see what’s been created through the brewing, fermenting, and distillation process. Although I love the addition that oak brings to the whiskey, there is something special about smelling the unaltered new make whiskey directly off the still.

What’s next from you?

We have more Whiskey coming in the pipeline. We have a few 3-year-old Straight Bunker Rye barrels that should be ready in the near future. We also hope to develop an all-Island Single Malt Whiskey.