HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY
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Hand finished concrete bar, by Jarrett himself.
The depth of color and professional finish translates
quite
well into his whiskey making.
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You could say the idea of opening up a distillery literally hit Jarrett in the face a few years ago. I confirmed this story on his website is true:
“It all started one wet October day while pouring a concrete
slab in Eatonville. While waiting for the concrete to set up a bit he noticed a
very old barn in the field behind him. He decided to check it out. As he
entered the decrepit old barn he noticed in the corner was a very old moonshine
still… He opened the front hatch of the still to get a look inside, just than
an all-white barn owl (also known as a ghost owl) flew right out of the still
into Jarrett's face knocking him to the ground. The owl flew up into the
rafters of the barn and cocked his head sideways starring at him.”
He also adds that the Ghost Owl hit him on his face with its
talons, but didn’t even scratch him, let alone shred his face if it wanted to. So, when he founded his company years later,
in honor of that owl he named it Parliament, after a gathering of owls.
Most of the small batch start-ups that have sprung up over
the last few years start off by selling vodka & gin, as they don’t require
any aging. This gets their product to
market faster so they can stay afloat, and start squirreling away whiskey in
casks for future releases. Because of
this, many of them own column stills, which are optimized for vodka & gin
production.
Jarrett isn’t a huge fan of vodka, and would rather
concentrate on making whiskey that he’d love to drink. If there is some sort of cosmic scale that
measures the makeup of a man, with one side representing the corner-cutting businessman
and the other side representing the creative artisan, the scale would soundly
tip towards the latter with Jarrett. So,
they took a risk & invested in a 50+ year old alembic still. These stills, which are very similar to the
pot stills used in Scotland for making Scotch, produce more depth in their
flavor than a column still. But, this
presents a business survival problem. If
you use regular-sized barrels, whiskey takes a couple of years to mature. Smaller casks impart flavor more quickly, as
there is more surface area touching the liquid.
But, even quarter casks take months to mature, and even then the liquor
still has a freshness (or kick in the face harshness if you do it wrong) that
is not what people expect when they buy an American whiskey. How do you stay afloat long enough to get
your product into the hands of your customers?
GHOST OWL PACIFIC NORTHWEST SMALL BATCH MOONSHINE
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| Moonshine on the left, Whiskey on the right |
Their solution was to release moonshine first. By definition moonshine, aka white dog, is
unaged whiskey. Most of the moonshine
I’ve tried is barely drinkable on its own.
It can be used for cocktails, or the hobbyist can put it in a barrel
& age it himself. Parliament’s Ghost
Owl Pacific Northwest Moonshine is an exception. It is very drinkable and very smooth. I enjoy sipping it neat.
After they completed their first batch of moonshine, the
guys went to a ton of different bars in Washington, and sold it out of their
1984 Brown Chevy pickup. Jarrett has a
fierce loyalty to those who supported him early on. The bars that picked up their unaged whiskey
are going to be the first ones to have access to their new whiskey releases.
GHOST OWL PACIFIC NORTHWEST SMALL BATCH WHISKEY
That first batch kept them afloat, and in the meantime, they
squirreled away as much booze into casks as they could. They used special casks from Black Swan to
get more flavor into the whiskey faster.
But when they were ready to bottle, they realized that this was not
enough. If necessity is the mother of
invention, then limitations are the mothers of creative innovation. And when people get creative, they often come
up with a better result than anyone would have otherwise.
This defines their second release, Parliament’s Ghost Owl
Pacific Northwest Small Batch Whiskey.
Their single malt barley has some wonderful pepper notes, caramel,
vanilla & spices. But on its own, it
wouldn’t have enough depth of flavor. As
Jarrett says, “You can’t beat Father Time when it comes to aging”. There are things that happen over time in the
cask that makes whiskey taste the way it does.
By adding 40% 5 year old bourbon, they get that depth and
smoothness. This results in what Jeff, a
visitor during my interview, referred to as “Caramel Corn”. He was loving it, and so do I. I tasted something closer to a Maker’s 46,
which has additional complexity by being aged with French Oak staves. But, Jarrett assured me that he is using all
first fill American Oak casks in the blend.
TECHNIQUE
Their still produces only 5 gallons for their moonshine
runs, as they make tight cuts for a smoother flavor, and in Jarrett’s words,
“It contains less of the fusels that can cause a hangover”. They employ a few
extra tricks to get the fusels out of the whiskey after distillation too. “It’s
done all the time in Scotland, but it seems that people over here with their
huge production runs don’t feel the need to do the extra steps.”
These same fusels are what turn into wonderful fruit notes
in an aged whiskey, after it has been laying in the charred innards of a barrel
for long periods of time. So, for their
runs that are to be laid into casks, the still produces about 6.5 gallons.
He distills by smell & taste, just like the old timers.
Often, newfangled equipment will say what is coming off the still is good when
it wouldn’t meet his standard. His cuts
are tighter than larger distilleries.
WHERE TO GET IT
Trader Joe’s is expanding their liquor selection to include
more locally made whiskey. After their
buyer got a taste of theirs, they called up and bought nearly the entire run of
their first batch of aged whiskey, grabbing 90 cases before anyone else could
get to it.
Right now, besides Trader Joe’s, about the only place you
can get their aged whiskey is from the distillery itself.
I have seen their unaged moonshine in other places, such as Wine World & Spirits. I encourage you to go out and grab some now, while it lasts. The next batch
isn’t going to be ready until after Christmas.
Sláinte!
13708 24thst East, suite 103
Sumner WA 98390
Noon to 6:30pm,
7 days a week!
(253) 447-8044
7 days a week!
