BEND, Ore. — Deschutes Brewery and Bendistillery are pleased to announce the second release of their acclaimed Black Butte Whiskey. The 2017 batch will go on sale Wednesday, December 6th at 4pm at Bendistillery’s Crater Lake Spirits Downtown Tasting Room located at 1024 NW Bond Street, Bend, Oregon. Black Butte Whiskey is an ongoing collaboration between Deschutes and Bendistillery. It is an American malt whiskey distilled from the wash of Deschutes Brewery’s famed Black Butte Porter beer. Bottles of the 2017 batch will be for sale only at Bendistillery’s Downtown Tasting Room and, like the 2016 release, are expected to sell out on the first day. Deschutes will be selling the 2017 edition by the glass at their Bend and Portland pubs over the course of the coming year while supplies last. It will also be available at the brewery’s new PDX Airport pub when it opens next year.
Black Butte Whiskey is double distilled and aged in new #4 char new American oak barrels. The resulting spirit is a complex whiskey that retains the malty, chocolatey notes of Black Butte Porter and finishes with the soft, nearly sweet character that has become the hallmark of spirits made with the water from the Cascade Mountains of Central Oregon. The idea for the whiskey began nearly 20 years ago as an ongoing conversation over beers between Jim Bendis, founder of Bendistillery and Gary Fish, founder of Deschutes Brewery.
“It all started when I distilled and barreled a small batch of Deschutes’ Black Butte Porter beer as an experiment,” said Bendis. “We all had forgotten about the project until we ran across that original single barrel when we moved the distillery. Tasting that spirit is what really inspired us to collaborate with Deschutes. It brings happy tears to my eyes to see how this 20-year-old dream is now a product so well received and highly anticipated.”
“This whiskey is more about an opportunity to innovate at a new level by elevating the beer and creating a very different product altogether,” said Fish. “This is what can happen when you’re having fun and not bound by convention!”
About Bendistillery
Founded in 1996, Bendistillery is one of the nation’s original craft distilleries and is still the most awarded craft distillery in the country. Their flagship Crater Lake Spirits brand are traditional American style gins, vodkas and whiskies all produced at their distillery in Bend, Oregon. To learn more visit www.craterlakespirits.com
About Deschutes Brewery
Family and employee owned since 1988, Deschutes Brewery – Bend’s original brewpub – has become the cornerstone of Central Oregon’s flourishing craft brew culture. Known for its generous use of whole hops in its defining beers such as Black Butte Porter, Mirror Pond Pale Ale, and Fresh Squeezed IPA, the brewery also keeps fans on the edge of their bar stools with the release of small batch experimental beers each season. Now available in 29 states and Washington D.C., Deschutes’ flagship brewpub has been joined by a main brewing facility overlooking the Deschutes River in Bend, a pub in Portland, and in coming years, a new east coast brewery in Roanoke, Virginia. www.deschutesbrewery.com