Heritage Distilling Company, Inc. (HDC) has entered into an agreement with Craft District, LLC to occupy more than 11,000 square feet of production and retail space in the new Craft Brewing and Distilling Center in Tumwater, Washington beginning in 2018. The new Heritage Distilling production facility will feature a custom made twin 2,000 liter pot still system (4,000 liters total) with reflux column, along with multiple gin and micro stills. Capacity will be 150,000 proof gallons per year, the current Washington state maximum for craft licensees.
“We are thrilled to be part of the new Craft Brewing and Distilling Center in Tumwater, and to be an anchor tenant working with South Puget Sound Community College and others. This area will be a center of excellence for the region and the nation for a diverse number of distilling and brewing certificate and degree programs,” said Justin Stiefel, CEO of Heritage Distilling Co. “We thank Craft District, LLC, South Puget Sound Community College, the City of Tumwater, and the Port of Olympia, among many others, who have worked very hard to bring this vision to reality. Tumwater holds a special place in the Northwest for its history of craft beverage production. It is only fitting that a world class craft production and training facility, combining industry with the community college, helps to revitalize this proud tradition in Tumwater. As Washington’s largest independently owned craft distillery we feel it is imperative that we are part of this regionally and nationally focused program,” Stiefel added.
Heritage Distilling’s facility will include a tasting room, retail operations, the distillery’s patented Cask Club and its unique and patent-pending hands on program called My Batch, where customers are involved in the making of their own spirits in the distillery under the guidance of Heritage’s distillers. Production at the distillery will include whiskeys mashed, fermented and distilled on site using majority Washington grown grains. In addition, HDC’s full line up of vodkas, gins and flavored spirits, including Heritage’s very popular Batch No. 12 line of spirits and BSB – Brown Sugar Bourbon, will be made on site. BSB has quickly become the fastest growing craft spirit product in the region. Spirits will be aged on site and at various Heritage Distilling whiskey warehouses in the region currently under design and pre-construction.
The new Heritage Distilling facility will be designed by fi architecture of Gig Harbor, with Darrin Filand, AIA, overseeing all aspects of design and implementation (https://www.fiarchitecture.com/). Site work has already begun and construction on the new facility is scheduled to be completed in fall 2018.
“We also want to thank the City of Gig Harbor and its residents who have supported us since we opened five years ago. Let me be clear: we are not leaving Gig Harbor. In addition to this news about Tumwater we are announcing today that our Gig Harbor waterfront distillery and tasting room will double in size next spring as we expand our current space to include the existing McBeckland’s store. Simultaneously we are consolidating all of our management, distribution and logistics under one new, larger roof in Gig Harbor while also maintaining spirits production there and adding a new large scale bulk whiskey barrel storage warehouse and management service. It will be one of the first craft whiskey barrel storage facilities in the US for aging and storing whiskey from various craft distillers around the country. Our new facility in Gig Harbor will be approximately 40,000 square feet and is targeted to open in late 2018. If anything, our presence and employment in Gig Harbor will increase and all aspects of our current retail sales will remain in Gig Harbor even as we add capacity in Tumwater. Our business and brand need to be involved in special opportunities as they arise, including this new opportunity in Tumwater,” Stiefel noted.
Upon its full buildout the Tumwater Craft Brewing and Distilling Center will feature an outdoor amphitheater with the Deschutes River and the old Olympia Brewery site in the background, multiple distilleries, production brewing operations, small craft food producers, the community college, restaurants, retail shops, tasting rooms and commercial office space.
About Heritage Distilling Company
Heritage Distilling Company, Inc. (HDC) is among the top premier craft distilleries in the United States, making a variety of whiskeys, vodkas and gins from as many local ingredients as possible. HDC is one of the largest craft distilleries on the West Coast and is the largest independently owned craft distillery in Washington. Heritage Distilling is the most awarded craft distillery in North America by the American Distilling Institute for the past four years out of more than 1,500 craft distilleries. HDC is a majority women-owned enterprise.
HDC’s line of spirits include the Elk Rider series, the HDC series featuring more than 20 naturally flavored vodkas, the BATCH NO. 12 line of spirits and HDC’s newest product, BSB-Brown Sugar Bourbon. BSB, along with its higher proof cousin, BSB-103 (bottled at 103 proof), is the fastest growing craft spirits brand in the region. HDC’s products can be found in bars, restaurants and retailers in more than 26 states and selectively in Canada.
HDC currently operates in Washington State, home to more than 110 distilleries – the third most of any state in the nation – and Oregon. HDC owns two production distilleries in Gig Harbor, WA, with tastings, tours and retail sales at both locations. HDC’s newest full-scale production distillery opened in Eugene, Oregon in October 2016 and was immediately one of the largest craft distilleries in Oregon upon its opening.
Heritage is in the finals stages of its Roslyn, WA distillery buildout, a 10,000-square foot distillery complex with six stills, a full Cask Club, two retail tasting rooms, a commercial grade catering and commissary kitchen. The Roslyn location will open in November 2017. Shortly thereafter HDC’s new retail distillery on Capitol Hill (Seattle) will open.
Heritage Distilling is a partner and/or official sponsor of the Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers and is an active member of the community helping to raise money for various charities and non-profit groups across the Pacific Northwest. The company’s philanthropic efforts were rewarded with the Secretary of State’s “Corporations for Community” award for the state of Washington in 2015.
More information about Heritage Distilling can be found at www.HeritageDistilling.com.