Page 112 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2018

chow | local habit

CRAFT DISTILLERIES

Immortal Spirits, Table Rock and III Spirits

CHRIS DENNETT PROVIDED BY EZRA MARCOS

elow the surface of America’s slick and polished Big Liquor Industry
Blies a second kind of liquor industry that operates a little differ-
ently. This shadow industry—that has become known in recent dec-
ades as the “Craft Spirits Industry”—operates differently. They don’t
have multi-million dollar advertising budgets, or the kind of facilities
to produce 132 million bottles annually (which is what Jack Daniels
says it did in 2012). They’re not distributed in 11 countries, or even 11
states. And there’s a really good chance that you would never know you
were standing next to them in line at the grocery store.

This is where I have to insert the disclaimer. Every large corporation
started as a small idea, so we need to be careful not to assume that
“big” equals “bad” or “disingenuous.” The slick and polished Big Liquor
Industry makes a product that is consistent, and there is no doubt that
the people involved in its production care deeply about distilling. That
being said, let’s leave those big guys to their games.

The producers I’m talking about are the small, local producers who
carry on the tradition of distilling that has an almost unbroken history
for as long as, well, history. For these people, distilling is a labor of
love. It is something they would do no matter what, and no matter who
drank it. They do it because they have to; because they love it.

110 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | winter 2018