Summer Cocktail Recipes From Heritage Distilling

It’s summer! And we’re here to share three summer cocktail recipes from Gig Harbor’s Heritage Distilling.

It’s only as recent as 2008—75 years after Prohibition—that Washington State paved the way for a craft spirits movement by passing legislation to allow the distillery licenses.  In June, 2011, Justin Stiefel decided to take advantage of this. He drew up a business plan, and Gig Harbor’s Heritage Distilling Co. was born. Justin has both a Chemical Engineering degree and a law degree; two components that have served him well on his endeavor. (He was a little ahead of the curve; he distilled his first batch of spirits in 1987 when he was in 7th grade.)

They installed Nonna (“grandmother” in Italian), an Italian-made whiskey still, specially designed for the company, in September of 2012. They opened their doors to the public just two months later, although they didn’t release their first product, Elk Rider Whiskey, until a year later in November, 2013.

Today, they’ve added stills, and have an extensive line of whiskeys, gins and vodkas, including a long list of naturally flavored vodkas.

“The” Award Winning Craft Distillery

Are the spirits well-received? They are, indeed. This year, they were awarded their top award yet; their Brown Sugar Bourbon won the award for best flavored whiskey at the 2018 World Whiskies Awards. That’s big news. Heritage Distilling has also won more awards than any other craft distillery in North America by the American Distilling Institute five years in a row.

Visit the Distillery and Tasting Rooms

Heritage Distilling products are currently available in 20 states. But if you’re able, make a trip to the Tasting Room at the Gig Harbor distillery or the downtown Gig Harbor tasting room. At the distillery, a large picture glass window looks down on the operation so you can sip, look, and ask questions. Or, stop by at one of the three other tasting rooms, located in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Roslyn, Washington, and Eugene, Oregon.

Heritage Distilling offers tastings of their spirits at either their downtown tasting room or their distillery location.

If you enjoy the products — and you will — keep the fun coming by taking one of the My Batch classes, joining the Cask Club, picking up one of the “Here It Ages” kits, or joining the Spirits Club.

Summer Cocktail Recipes Are Here

Here, we share a few of Heritage’s summer cocktail recipes. We think these cocktail recipes will be a hit at your next gathering. Cheers!

BSB (Brown Sugar Bourbon) Churro

 Ingredients:

• 2 ounces BSB Brown Sugar Bourbon
• 1/3 ounce lime juice
• Ginger ale to top

Instructions:

1. Rim glass with cinnamon sugar and fill with ice.
2. Pour in ingredients, stir and garnish with a skewered churro slice.

And remember—you can’t spell baseball without BSB!

The BSB Churro (Photo by Erin Lund, courtesy Heritage Distilling)

Party Punch

Ingredients:

• 3 cups HDC Citrus Vodka
• 3 cups Limeade
• 3 cups Cranberry Juice
• 3 cips Club Soda or Sprite
• 1 sliced lemon
• 1 sliced orange
• 1 sliced lime
• 1 cup sliced strawberries

Instructions:

1. Add all ingredients to a large pitcher.
2. Stir and serve!

Party Punch from Heritage Distilling (Photo by Erin Lund, courtesy Heritage Distilling)

Peach Jalopy

 Ingredients:

• 1 ounce HDC Peach Vodka
• 1/4 ounce simple syrup
• ¼ ounce lemon juice
• ½ ounce orange juice

Instructions:

1. In a shaker, add ice and all ingredients.
2. Shake hard until fully cold, strain over ice into a tumbler over plenty of ice.
3. Garnish with a preserved cherry.

Peach Jalopy with Heritage Distilling Peach Vodka (Photo by Erin Lund, courtesy Heritage Distilling)

Have a wonderful summer!

For More:

• Heritage Distilling Co., https://heritagedistilling.com/
• Gig Harbor Guide, https://www.gigharborguide.com/
• On our site: More on Gig Harbor and Heritage Distilling Co. here.

– Cocktail photos, including cover photo, by Erin Lund, courtesy of Heritage Distilling. Distillery photos by Nancy Zaffaro.