BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. — No one starts off doing things perfectly. Just ask Master Distiller, Keith Barnes.
"We were the third distillery in the state so all the ugly teenage years are behind us," Keith said.
Less than a decade later, his company Bainbridge Organic Distillers is all grown up and producing some of the best spirits in the state.
Keith mentioned, "I had a firm belief that you can make an organic product that is as good or better than anything else that's out there."
They have all different types of unique liqueurs: Battlepoint Whiskey, Bainbridge Legacy Vodka, Vanilla Vodka and two original gins that use a little bit of douglas fir.
But it's another liqueur that put Bainbridge Island on the world whiskey map.
"We didn't set out to make a Japanese whiskey," Keith said, "but we set out to build a whiskey that had a connection to that place."
The place he's talking about is called Yama. It's a village built on Bainbridge in the 1880's where Japanese immigrants lived while working a local mill. When efforts started to help document and preserve artifact from the site, Keith's distillery set out to help.
"The idea was to build a whiskey that had some Japanese influence to it and we would carve off a vast majority of the profits of that and donated to Bainbridge History Museum."
The Yama liqueur is made of unmalted barley from Skagit Valley and uses a Scottish whiskey yeast.
However, what sets this whiskey apart from the rest is the wood they use to mature it: Mezanaer oak.
Bainbridge Organic Distillers had no idea their Yama whiskey would be o well received. Last year, it was named "Craft Whiskey of the Year" by Whiskey Advocate Magazine. It was an honor Keith was unaware of until a friend told him about the win.
And recently, it received global accolades when it was named Best American Grain Whiskey at the prestigious World Whiskies Awards.
It all just goes to show you don't have to be big to be the toast of the town.
Bainbridge Organic Distillers
9727 Coppertop Loop NE #101
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
KING 5's Evening celebrates the Northwest. Contact us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Email.
