Woodinville Whiskey Co.
Woodinville mills two and a half tons of Quincy corn and rye a day, ferments it at 20 percent sugar, and runs it through hand-hammered German copper.
Why go
Woodinville buys its grain from the Omlin Family Farm in Quincy, out in the high desert of eastern Washington, and mills every kernel to flour at the distillery.1 The mash runs at 20 percent sugar, which is high for the industry and gives the yeast a lot to work with.1 Eight 9,000-gallon fermenters, a four-day rest, and a controlled temperature held inside two degrees.1 The stills are 1,320-gallon copper columns hammered by third-generation smiths just outside the Black Forest, running eight refining trays, and the distillery keeps only the hearts.1 Then the whiskey goes back east. Barrels sit at Quincy for at least five years, where hot summers and cold winters drive the spirit into and out of the wood.1 Brett, the head distiller, is one of the co-founders.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 6 Years, $39.99 on the distillery's own shop list and the standard bottling of everything described above.3
- Avoid: looking for barrels on site. The barrels sit east of the Cascades at Quincy. In the Woodinville building the crew mills the grain and runs the stills.1
What locals & experts say
- The record is thin here. Everything above is the distillery's own account of its process, and I have no outside tasting note to set beside it.
Good to know
- Two sites, one whiskey. Milling, fermenting and distilling happen in Woodinville; the barrel houses are in Quincy.1
- Getting in: the Woodinville tasting room is open daily 11am to 6pm and takes no reservation for a tasting. Full distillery tours need one.2
- The Quincy site now takes visitors too, by reservation only, at 8368 Road S NW. The distillery bills it as new for 2026.2
- The best-craft-distillery line is the distillery's own. Its site quotes Forbes calling it
Quite Possibly the Best Craft Distillery in the US
and gives no date or author, so this entry does not carry it as an accolade.1 - Hygiene: King County inspected on 26 June 2025 and marked it Satisfactory at 0 violation points, rolling grade Excellent.4
Verdict
could-visit — The distillery's account of its own process is unusually specific, down to a named farm, a mash percentage and a still volume, and that is legitimate evidence for how a thing is made. It says nothing about how the whiskey tastes. Nobody independent has been quoted on a single bottle here, which is the gap that keeps a producer off the upper rungs. Breaking Bourbon and Drinkhacker both carry Woodinville reviews, and one of them would close it.