The Top Whiskeys from Oregon

McCarthy's Single Malt Whiskey is produced at Clear Creek Distillery outside of Portland, Oregon. Master Distiller Stephen McCarthy, ever the spirits pioneer, wanted to make an American whiskey in the style of Islay Scotch, but give it a local spin. So he sourced peated malted barley from Scotland, distilled it in Oregon, and aged it in Oregon oak.

This Oregon distillery makes their wheat whiskey with locally-grown Oregon winter wheat. The spirit is aged 3 years in a new American oak barrel, then blended with pure Cascade Mountains water and is bottled at 90 proof.

Vinn Whiskey is distilled from rice, with fermentation begun by jiuqu, a starter similar to the Japanese koji used in making sake. The distilled spirit is then aged in new, American oak barrels at a level #4 char.

Located on Distillery Row in downtown Portland, Oregon; Eastside Distillery is a true-to-form micro/craft space dedicated to bringing Oregon's rich agricultural history to the forefront. Using only locally sourced product, Eastside is following it's mantra " Local Just Tastes Better". The Oregon Oaked Bourbon takes their traditional Burnside Bourbon and continues aging for an additional 60 days in heavily-charred, new 59-gallon Oregon oak barrels.

Produced in Bend, OR, C.W. Irwin is named for the brother of Oregon Spirt Distillers' owner Brad Irwin. The grains used in the mash bill - a blend of corn, wheat, rye and malted barley - are locally grown. The barrels in which it's aged for 3 years are produced at the Barrel Mill, which uses sustainable practices to harvest the trees used, planting 3 for every one cut down.

Whippersnapper is a whiskey as unique as its iconoclastic distiller, Tad Seestedt of Ransom Spirits. It’s closest to a bourbon with a corn-heavy mash bill, but it also has a hefty portion of malted barley like Scotch whisky and a nose reminiscent of unpeated Gaelic whiskeys. Aged for an average of one year (with individual ages of barrels in the blend ranging from six months to two years), in a variety of barrels, from used French oak wine barrels to used whiskey barrels to new whiskey barrels, this young whiskey punches far above its weight.

This is a recreation of an Irish whiskey from 1865 by using a mash bill recipe that was found by drinks historian, David Wondrich. Both malted and unmalted barley are used, much like a single pot still whiskey is, but rolled oats and malted rye are also utilized. An alembic pot still is used for distillation and the barrels used for aging are both French and American. The whiskey is aged for 3 years.

Released in August 2017, this is distilled at House Spirits in Portland, Ore. The American single malt whiskey is distilled from Oregon two-row pale malted barley which was fermented with ale yeast. It is double pot-distilled and aged in full-sized, new charred American oak barrels. Each bottling is comprised of several single barrels, typically five to six for each batch. The whiskey is non chill-filtered and bottled at 45% ABV.