Seattle: Sound Spirits

 

After checking out Sake Nomi, we headed over to Sound Spirits, Seattle’s first distillery since Prohibition.  The tasting is complimentary but tips are warmly accepted.

Besides the craft vodka and gin, Sound Spirits is working on an aquavit that is almost ready. They’re also experimenting with a liqueur. The vodka was surprisingly complex. This is what I’d drink icy cold. I liked the gin as well. I’m not really a fan of dry styles that tend to showcase juniper. I like the other herbs in this. The aquavit was a bit dry to me but I liked the liqueur. A bit sweet, it reminded me of a more viscous simple syrup with some herbal notes. A friend mentioned he thought it was similar to Benedictine but with a different finish. They don’t have a name for the aquavit or liqueur yet but they’ve been playing around with “the Sound of Silence.” I knew though that’s not quite the right name. The liqueur remind me of something happy and free spirited instead of silent monks (like the ones that make Benedictine or Chartreuse).

So how do you distill spirits? We took a quick peek at the distillery. Sound Spirits starts out with Washington grain.

 

I’m a bit shaky on the exact specifics but distilling starts off a bit like making beer. You put your grains (or whatever you’re distilling) with some water to ferment, after some time you remove it to the still.

You heat and add water, producing ethanol. This is about a third of what has been fermenting. And then you keep distilling it until you have your product- vodka. To produce gin, you distill it again with juniper and other botanicals.

Here are some other stills that didn’t have anything in them that day.

I found this guide on how to make your own booze amusing but it helps to explain the process.

Overall, it was a fun experience to check out Sound Spirits. Plus they have a small gift shop so you can stock up on bar tools, mixers, cocktail recipe books besides the gin and vodka!

 

Sound Spirits

1630 15th Ave W., Seattle, WA 98119 – (206) 651-5166