Art Chowder January | February 2022 Issue 37 | Page 41

Family Tradition at VINN DISTILLING
“ The fact that we could make distilling into an issue of supporting local agriculture facilitated the legislation for establishing craft distilling in Washington State . Dry Fly is a locally-raised , family-owned business and our farmers reflect that approach .” Ken continues , “ Despite the fact that our spirits are distributed across the U . S . and many other countries , our interest in what happens here in our own backyard is primary .”

Family Tradition at VINN DISTILLING

Wilsonville , Oregon
www . vinndistillery . com
In 2009 , Dry Fly Vodka was awarded Best of Show and Best Vodka in the World by the International Spirits Competition . And they have never looked back . As of this writing , there are 11 gins , vodkas and whiskies available to the public . There are even more available to the Whiskey Club , miniscule batches of whiskey aged in stout beer barrels or port barrels or whatever the creative team at Dry Fly would like to try .
Dry Fly continues to garner accolades for their whiskeys , including their Straight Triticale , a rye-wheat hybrid aged in huckleberry port barrels from a local winery , and a legitimate 10 year-old Single Malt ( one of the first craft distilleries to do so ). Dry Fly was also the first to issue a 100 percent wheat whiskey in the region , defying traditional expectations of what that kind of spirit should taste like .
What sets them apart from other local distillers is the maturity of these whiskies . These have had the time and patience applied to them to bring out the character that only maturity offers . The most popular innovation recently ? Blend your own barrel . This “ BYOB ” makes it so that unique , barrel-aged whiskey can be crafted to an individual whiskey-lover ’ s taste and made truly a one of a kind .
Just outside of Portland , one of the nation ’ s most unique distilleries is in its second decade of production . Michelle Ly came to Oregon in 1979 with her parents and four siblings as refugees from China and Vietnam . “ The recipes have been in our family more than eight generations . Distilling alcohol is one part of how we honor our ancestors . Of course , we also use it for medicinal purposes , celebrations , and everyday consumption . When alcohol was not available in the small villages of China and Vietnam , knowing how to make it helped maintain our traditions .”
Four generations ago , the family migrated to Quang Ninh Province , North Vietnam from China hoping for a better life . “ Our current generation brought it full circle when we were deported from Vietnam back to China in late 1978 . Regardless of what country we lived in — Vietnam , China , or the United States — we carried on the tradition of our ancestors by making Mijiu ( China ’ s version of Sake ) and Baijiu ( pronounced MY-joe and BY-joe ) wherever we went .”
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