Whiskey-A-Goo-Goo

Hey, y’all.

OK, that’s what happens when the National Public radio signal quits out on the rental car, and one finds out, pleasantly enough, that the vehicle just happens to be equipped with Sirius/XM. Not quite the commercial-free radio deal promised a decade ago, but listening to “Blue Collar Comedy,” even with the interstitial ads for adult toys and DVDs, was a saving grace for the dozen total hours we drove on our Washington state adventure.

Uh, I drove. No cruise control on the rental. Weeks later, my right foot still cramps up.

We had a surprisingly great time at K’s 30-year reunion BBQ (actually a wonderfully catered event on alumnus Kevin’s acreage). Lots of laughs, lots of memories.

When we left the BBQ, early, there was a dodgey group of dudes drinking from a Cuervo bottle. And not the Anjejo, We always read in the newspaper about some folks infiltrating a house party, and trouble ensuing. We split, and set the alarm for 5:30 a.m. to be on the road the next morning by 7:00.

It was several hours later when we met our good friends and wine-tasting pals Susan and Derek in Woodinville, the suburb just north of Seattle where every winery seems now to have an outpost. Ya can’t grow vinifera on this urban side of the Cascade mountain range, but the truth of the matter is that if you want to sell your stuff made from grapes grown on the other side, you often need to truck the tonnage over the hill and hook up a tasting room where the market is. The market is Seattle, and we could not believe what we saw in Woodinville, two years after selling our little White Center/West Seattle house.

First off, virtually every Walla Walla tasting room in the far east of WA state has opened a tasting room outpost in Woodinville. My increasingly not-so-funny joke was that they all rented a moving van to come over together. The story that we heard, at more than one new tasting room, was that a lot of their wine club members didn’t want to pay for shipping. So, to paraphrase the old expression, Mohammed came over the mountain.

We saw lots of tasting fees, too, though (for now) refundable with purchase. Apex Cellars has a nice wine lounge, with board games on the center table. I’d be Sorry! if they, and others, went to nonrefundable fees, though I’m already seeing some evidence of this happening around Woodinville.

OK, enough about Susan and Derek; let’s talk about Derek and Susan. These cats are the coolest, most game/up-for-anything folks we know; totally everything I am not! One of the coolest messages we ever received when we lived in Seattle was “Wine Tasting This Weekend?” in the subject line of an e-mail from Susan.

So, here we are, two years after seeing our pals, at the same Park&Ride at which we’d meet them, and 750 days just melted away. Oh sure, we tasted and we toured, but S&D hipped us to the new WA state vibe: distilleries. Dry Fly in Spokane was the first one in WA since Prohibition to get papers (As a Canuck, I still scratch my head at this “Great Experiment.”); in Woodinville, Susan and Derek hooked us up with at least two more new, completely legal distilleries in our wine-tasting burg of Woodinville. Welcome to the ‘90s” Washington state, even if it is the 1890s.

So, Susan and Derek present to us, upon our arrival, a fave 2009 Efeste Feral Sauv Blanc, fermented solely with wild yeast. Then, they hit us with a bottle of Single Silo Vodka from the new Project V Distillery. We visited Project V that afternoon and purchased another bottle of Vodka that comes with an aromatic spice packet and a Mason jar, in order to craft a wildly infused Chai-like Vodka spirit. After steeping for a mere two-and-a-half days back home here in CoCo, the spicy amber concoction is ready for sipping!

Oh, and then D is working on his latest project: He purchased a whiskey kit from another new area distillery, the Woodinville Whiskey Co., pictured above. The kit consists of two whiskey-tasting glasses, a bottle of colorless blond whiskey and a small oak barrel to age it in, all packaged attractively in a box. The idea is that Derek becomes his own whiskey cellar master, making his own decisions as to how long to let the booze age in barrel, imparting color and wood flavors as he sees fit. Oh, so civilized. Derek promises us whiskey ageing reports from his “barrel room” as the project progresses.

And what of our spicy Chai Vodka project? Well, this tasty little shot exhibits an unfiltered amber color with hues of burnt orange. On the tongue it’s all spice box: cardamom, cinnamon, peppermint and clove; it’s like those Christmas “Storybook” assortments of rolls of LifeSavers candy. There’s a slightly sweet edge to the spiciness, and no alcohol burn on the long finish.

BTW, we came back home with all three of our empty Styrofoam wine shippers filled with almost three-dozen bottles. We cracked up when we claimed our checked boxes at baggage claim in Oakland: Two of our shippers had been resealed with packing tape bearing the Department of Homeland Security seal of the Transportation Security Administration. Inside was a friendly preprinted card from TSA appreciating our “understanding and cooperation” in their physical search of our stuff for prohibited items.

All Vodka and Viognier was present and accounted for. Cheers, federal agents.