Keith Barnes Master Distiller talks Organic World Class Whiskey and More all from Bainbridge Island

Keith Barnes Founder and Master Distiller of Bainbridge Organic Distillers joins us for this episode.

Opening in 2009 with a focus of only producing only organic products.  Bainbridge was the first distiller in Washington State to be USDA Certified.  They are the only distillery in Washington State to be 100% Organic.

Keith is also collector of old alcohol with a collection several hundred bottles of whiskeys dating back as far as the 1870’s. The inspiration he draws from tasting the vintage whiskey helps create the current products that Bainbridge is selling.  Currently Keith is documenting his year of Whiskeys on his Instagram account names myyearofwhiskies.

We talk about Japanese whiskey and Keith provides a ton of information. Keith explains about Mizunara wood and how it is crucial to his Bainbridge Yama Mizunara Cask Single Grain Whiskey.  The village of Yama on Bainbridge Island was the inspiration for creating this Whiskey which has won multiple awards including Worlds Best. The story of how the Whiskey was created and how it helped fund the archaeology project at the Yama Village on Bainbridge.

It is obvious that Keith is passionate about Whiskey and spirits in general. He is also a proud resident of Bainbridge Island.  Lots of stories and great conversation during this episode.  If you’re a fan of craft spirits you need to try Bainbridge Organic Distillers products.

Bainbridge Island Organic Distillery Keith Barnes Episode Transcript

Keith Barnes [00:00:00]:

But what there was was a vacuum for, for anything on the alcohol side that was organic.

Scott Cowan [00:00:24]:

Welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. Here’s your host, Scott Cowan. Alright. So my my guest today is Keith Barnes. He is the founder of Bainbridge Organic Distillers, strangely enough, located in Bainbridge Island. Keith, welcome. Thanks for being here today.

Keith Barnes [00:00:43]:

Glad to be here.

Scott Cowan [00:00:45]:

So I’m I’m a lifelong resident of of Washington, and I just remember being younger, and distilleries were a no no and all of that. And so it looks like back in 02/2008, the state changed. Yeah. And then shortly after that, you opened up Bainbridge Organic Distillers. Why how did that process get started? And then then we’ll talk about you, but I just wanna get that question out there. It’s like, what was the inspiration and motivation to to start a distillery?

Keith Barnes [00:01:21]:

I think that the the the main thing is that it’s not like I thought that the world needed another distillery. There’s there’s tons of distilleries out there. And even at that time, the the huge distilleries for the most part, a lot of them were making unbelievably delicious products.

So it’s not like there was there was a a vacuum for great whiskey, but what there was was a vacuum for, for anything on the alcohol side that was organic other than maybe a few brands and some organic beer that was out there. And I started to experiment with different mashes and with different techniques in about 02/2005 to see if it was possible to use organic technology and organic ingredients, which are which are sometimes ridiculously old school to make a whiskey and have it turn out that that might be good enough that people would actually buy it.

I think it’s important to to note that that at that time, buying an organic product, you weren’t necessarily guaranteed to be getting a product that was better. In fact, at that time, a lot of people shied away from organic production because they thought that it wasn’t gonna taste as good as the stuff that that they had all of their, you know, that they had that that has all this all the stuff in it that you might not want in there. And our tests were were were really successful, and then the state changed the laws to allow for distilling on a small scale with a tasting room that was that could sell product out the front door, which was critical for us because because, you know, it’s hard to compete if you can’t get your product sampled.

Keith Barnes [00:03:11]:

And, so when they changed that law, I just put up the kit and filled out the applications and, and went for it. And I’ve I’ve been at that point, I’ve been in the spirits industry for about twenty five years and working for all of the majors, in in marketing. And so it was really it was really kind of a natural extension of what I’d already been doing. The only thing I really hadn’t done at scale was actually make a whiskey and market my own whiskey.

Scott Cowan [00:03:44]:

So were you living on Bainbridge Island at this time? Are you

Keith Barnes [00:03:47]:

I was.

Scott Cowan [00:03:47]:

Is that where okay.

Keith Barnes [00:03:49]:

And I’m actually I’m a Washington, a Washington resident lifelong as well. I have lived a couple other places, but always ended up back here just because I like it here.

Scott Cowan [00:04:00]:

So what is it about Bainbridge that calls you home? I mean, what what is it you know? Sell Bainbridge Island to us. How’s that?

Keith Barnes [00:04:08]:

Well, I’d say it’s really it’s really that it’s it’s a it’s a perfect combination of of a lot of different factors and a way of life and and a certain kind of atmosphere. The island, is is heavily forested from one end to the other. Most of the new development that goes on here, if it’s not in core, is at five acres or above. So we don’t have tons and tons of housing going in.

We don’t have terrible traffic here because there’s not that many people that live over here. It’s still just a half hour away from Seattle, and you don’t even have to have a car to come over. And it’s twenty five minutes or twenty minutes depending on the traffic to the airport. So I fly out every once in a while.

Keith Barnes [00:04:55]:

Was traveling a lot more when I first moved here, but it was it it’s got kind of the the best of everything that I was after. A great environment, good lifestyle, low crime, good schools, the whole thing.

Scott Cowan [00:05:09]:

I’m moving to no. I’m kidding. I’ve we moved we moved from the Saddle Tacoma area over to Wenatchee, and I kind of the same reasons, you know. But for me, it’s the I I appreciate the warmer weather and the the real winters. I mean, it’s kinda weird. I like it. I like four seasons versus to me, the Tacoma area where where I grew up was kind of always it’s just seemed like it was always October.

Keith Barnes [00:05:33]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:05:33]:

So you started this, and and when we talked the other day, you know, you you mentioned that, you know, being an all organic product has not been the simplest or the easiest thing, and that your you source a lot of your stuff, you know, your your wheat is coming from Washington state for and things like that. You haven’t deviated, though. You’ve stayed organic the entire time. Correct?

Keith Barnes [00:06:05]:

That’s correct.

Scott Cowan [00:06:06]:

That’s your thing. And now how does it feel that your your products are winning all these awards? You you’re you’re held in very high regard as a as a distillery. Has it been worth it?

Keith Barnes [00:06:18]:

I I think so. I I think that that the the the truth of it was that as I as I said at the beginning, I’m a big believer in the whiskey category and, in in spirits in general. There’s there’s tons of of absolutely top top notch spirits that are out there. And if I if I couldn’t find a way to make one on the organic set, which I think really is a unique feature and something that not everybody is doing because it’s more difficult to do and it’s more expensive to do, I think if I couldn’t have pulled that off, I just wouldn’t have done it. I mean I mean, I was I started most of my experiments when I first started were were with single balls. And you’re looking at, does she call them the competition when you’re when you’re making it in such a small scale, but you’re looking at it and going, okay. Am I gonna make a am I gonna make a single malt that’s better than Macallan or better than Bowmore or better than whoever. That’s it.

Keith Barnes [00:07:18]:

That’s that that’s a that’s a daunting challenge. And could be able to make it organically if you could do it. It seemed like it seemed like that’s what that was really a way to differentiate myself in the market, and it was a way to be more true to what my beliefs are, which are just to try to have as small of a footprint as you as you can. And and, critically, I’m I’m a collector of old alcohol as well. So I’ve got a I’ve got a collection of several hundred bottles of whiskey dating all the way back to I think my oldest bottle was from the eighteen seventies. And then Wow. The way up through the twentieth century to modern, I kinda collect I in the whiskey sets, I collect pretty much everything. My sweet spot is between the twenties and the fifties.

Keith Barnes [00:08:10]:

And when you taste that old liquor, you it you’re, like, ruined for you’re ruined for that category for the rest of your life. You taste you taste a a good bourbon from the thirties or the forties, and you pick up your bottle of bourbon that you spent a hundred dollars for at the store, and you pour them side by side. It’s just not even a contest. It’s not even it’s like that other bottle. That new bottle shouldn’t even be on the table. It might, like, it might, like, infect the old bottle because the old stuff is so marvelous. It’s just it’s unbelievable. And one of the other reasons to go organic was as I’m doing the processing and and we’re wrestling with formulas and we’re wrestling with how do you actually bring this stuff off without modern enzymes, without without modern, yeast nutrients and and and salts and all the rest of it.

Keith Barnes [00:09:08]:

How do you turn the clock back and actually do it? One of the goals was maybe by simplifying it and by using ingredients that weren’t genetically modified and weren’t the product of of of big lab. If you’re forced to make it the way that they used to make it, and at the time, most organic grain that you could get was all throwback grain. It was grain that had been developed, early on, you know, maybe in the sixties, maybe in the fifties. It was it was the product of of selective breeding. They’re trying to put traits into the grain that make it resistant to some of the pathogens that were impacting grain at the time, funguses and molds and stuff like that. They weren’t doing it for high yield, and they weren’t doing it for homogenous flavor. They they were doing it because well, this makes you taste these old you taste these old grains, and they all taste different. You could have six different kinds of wheat sitting in front of you, and none of them taste the same, and all of them taste great.

Keith Barnes [00:10:09]:

And you do a combination between a modern commodity soft white wheat and this old school organic soft white wheat. It’s not even a question. So you think about when if you’ve ever tasted distillate right off the still, wheat distillate or rye distillate or even a brandy, and then you’re difference between an apple brandy and a grape brand brandy, You can’t deny that that base flavor that’s in that ingredient, the rye or the wheat or the apple, especially with fruit, it’s a lot more pronounced. Corn is always a little bit musty. That flavor is in there from that from from that natural ingredient. Even when you run it through several passes through the still, it’s still in there. And if you start with a grain that’s clean and you start with a grain that has a better flavor, you it’s just it just goes you you got the proof right there that says that that flavor transits the process. So you end up with you just end up with a better flavor.

Keith Barnes [00:11:06]:

And, and for me, still, even if I think that there there’s a lot of forces that are going against organic production right now. You have people in the, people that sit on, on on on boards and in in groups that work for the government that are writing the rules for organic production and adding this. Now this has to be, you know, this has to be special, and this has to be special. And these people all work for companies like, you know, AgriTech and and, and and Monsanto and everything. A lot of times, you have these these, these panels that are that are writing the rules, and most of them are from the a competitive industry. So when we get to the point where where they say that to make an organic whiskey, you have to have an organic or oak barrel. So when we get to that point, then it’s all over with because there’s no such thing as as as, you know, organic oak forests, and nobody’s making organic oak barrels. And at that point, that that would be the I’m certain that somebody’s working towards that because there’s a lot of money involved in in controlling the food chain.

Keith Barnes [00:12:25]:

So

Scott Cowan [00:12:25]:

Right. I’d like to go back to something you said about your whiskey collection.

Keith Barnes [00:12:32]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:12:35]:

You mentioned you had a bottle from back 1870?

Keith Barnes [00:12:39]:

Eighteen ’70 ‘6.

Scott Cowan [00:12:43]:

Have you and I and I apologize if this is a silly question. Have you actually tasted that whiskey?

Keith Barnes [00:12:52]:

So so my rule is, my rule is that that when when I get a bottle, unless I’ve got a duplicate of it, if I get an if I get a bottle, the first thing that I do is I open it up and I taste it. It doesn’t matter how it was made. It doesn’t matter. It does doesn’t matter. Because to me, the only value that that an antique whiskey has, it’s the same value that any whiskey has. I’m not a I’m not a collector, and I’m not an investor because I’m sitting there and I’m hoarding my bottles and keeping them safe, and then I’m gonna spin them off on the on the on the black side of the market and make a gigantic profit at it. No. That’s that’s really to me, it’s about it’s about sharing it, and it’s about using it as a way to educate myself and educate other people that, that these that these products were out there, and they’re fantastic.

Keith Barnes [00:13:47]:

And it’s a way to draw a line between what they used to make and what we make today and to say, we can find a way to make product this good. We just have to figure it out. Before there was high speed gas chromatography, and there was before there was electron microscopes, and before we had computer algorithms that were running our cuts on the still, and before we were using refractive technology to determine what was in the disc all this other stuff. Before any of that, you had guys that were making this stuff wasn’t by the seat of their pants. They understood to the degree of of science available what was going on, but they had to figure out, well, how do we get in the middle of that process to make to make a really good product, and then how do we make it consistent? And whether they understood completely what was going on, doesn’t really matter. You you don’t I mean, you know, I mean, if if you were if you were gonna talk to to Michelangelo and ask him if he understood the chemistry of paint and exactly how it was gonna dry and all of the rest of these technical things, it’s like, okay. Well, well, let’s look at the work. What really matters? Is it the understanding of how it got there, or is it understanding what happens when you’re doing it and just using that as a base for what you have to do and then just striving to make it excellent? I think it’s really the latter.

Keith Barnes [00:15:15]:

The former does the former doesn’t matter. It’s an it’s nice to have now to be able to to to run samples through gas chromatography and to be able to to, analyze what what you have. It’s it’s great to have that, And it informs you of where you are in your process and what you might have done wrong if you’re trying to remedy something. But it’s not a it’s not a set of, of thresholds in a computer that once you reach a place, okay, all of a sudden, everything changes now. It’s like, you know, it’s you you have to you know? Yeah. You you can do it that way, but doing it by hand, I think. You’re making a product that people are gonna are gonna consume. People’s, array of of what they can smell and what they can taste is is is incredibly sensitive.

Keith Barnes [00:16:09]:

People can taste things down to three, four parts per million, and it’s like, okay. Well, yeah, the computer can tell you what’s in there, but you probably if you if you study it, you can find a way to tell yourself as well.

Scott Cowan [00:16:24]:

Okay. So out of your collection, can we narrow it down to one? Is there one that has risen above all? Like, you’re like, this is amazing?

Keith Barnes [00:16:37]:

Oh, there’s there’s so many of them that are amazing, but, there’s a lot there’s a lot of these whiskeys that are that are very surprising. And and it’s it’s hard to, you you taste them, and it’s it’s hard to get your head wrapped around the the the you know, how how massively good they are. But Mhmm. There’s a there was a distillery in Maryland called Orient, and there was a there was a a whiskey collector who was actually related to the owner and the master distiller of this product. And the distillery went out of business during prohibition, but prior to that, this gentleman had collected a lot of barrels of whiskey and then had them bottled. And he passed away early nineteen hundreds. His wife who who took his who had his estate passed away in 1943, and then all of these bottles went up on the auction market. They actually, auctioned them off.

Keith Barnes [00:17:45]:

They held an auction at the Ritz Carlton in, I think it was in November of nineteen forty three. And the majority of these bottles were purchased by big fancy restaurants that were saving that were using the bottles to pour for their for their their best and and most wealthy customers. And so this stuff got bought, and then they just poured it out, and people loved it. And that’s what you should do with it. You should you should you should drink it. But I have a bottle of nine of of 1890 orient rye, Maryland rye whiskey, which is different than Pennsylvania rye and Kentucky rye and Indiana rye. They were all different back then.

Scott Cowan [00:18:22]:

Okay.

Keith Barnes [00:18:23]:

And and it is probably one of the most unreal spirits that that I have in my collection. There’s a lot of them, but it is one that kinda stands out. It’s it’s like nothing that I’ve ever tasted before, and, and it just and it’s a favorite. I don’t have much of it left. In fact, I I I decanted it in, in a little 200 ml bottle just so it wasn’t exposed to so much air. But I’m doing a I had a I challenged myself at the beginning of this year because I I never I always wanted to do it write a journal or write a book or something, and I never fig I never knew, do I have the do I have the discipline to make myself do it every day? Can I actually sit down and do this every day? So I decided to combine my collection with my challenge, and I started a a, an Instagram post called, my year of whiskeys. And so each day, I I take a photo, and I profile one of the bottles of whiskeys from my collection. Some of them are new that are some are outstanding new whiskeys, and a lot of them are are unbelievable old whiskeys.

Keith Barnes [00:19:37]:

And so I give a little bit of history. I do a comprehensive set of tasting notes as comprehensive as you can do on Instagram. They’re not very generous. For somebody long winded like me, you can really pick your words to, so that you don’t run over the limit. But, so I’ve I’ve been revisiting this whole year since the January 1. I’ve been revisiting all these old bottles in my collection, and I’m still staggered by the quality of some of them that they’re just that they’re so good. Even even things that you would think you you would consider to just be be a run of the mill, like a like a forties bottle of old granddad, which right which now is on the bottom shelf.

Scott Cowan [00:20:22]:

Right.

Keith Barnes [00:20:22]:

A forties bottle of of old crow. It’s it’s probably those two. Those are probably those those whiskeys are probably some of the best old whiskeys that you can find. That product is so good, and people people just don’t have a clue. The company that Jim Beam purchased, purchased, Old Overholt and Old Granddad and, a couple of other and Old Crow and a couple of other products in the eighties from a company called National Distillers. And National Distillers was the company that made all this great product right through the eighties, and then it went into the into Beam’s portfolio, and some of it went into a couple other portfolios. But Beam has done a great job of building up the portfolio of brands that it bought that it made that it created itself. All their their their small batch set is, is fantastic.

Keith Barnes [00:21:22]:

Basil Hayden and Booker’s and all and those, they spent a lot of time polishing those up and making them really phenomenal. Tends to be that the brands that they purchase, like these older brands, they really haven’t done a whole lot with them. They’ve changed the they’ve changed the recipes so that they’re easier to make, and they’re not as dynamic. And, they’re still pretty good, but they’re but they’re not they’re not what they used to be. Old Granddad might be a little bit of an exception. Old Granddad hundred proof is, is a pretty solid product for for less than $20 a bottle. It’s probably one of the best $20 whiskeys out there. So

Scott Cowan [00:22:00]:

Okay. I I I’m struggling to wrap my brain around the idea of actually trying, you know, eighteen nineties whiskey. Just

Keith Barnes [00:22:16]:

It’s weird.

Scott Cowan [00:22:16]:

I I totally get why you should, but I’m struggling. Like, I I think if I were to own that, if I would I would be brave enough for myself to try it. So I I think it’s fascinating. I’m gonna go it. Yeah. I’m gonna I I didn’t know you were doing this Instagram thing. I’m gonna have to check that, and and and I’ll put it in the notes because that sounds fascinating that you’re you’re doing that every day.

Keith Barnes [00:22:38]:

You should take So I mean, even even whiskeys even older whiskeys that are just run of the mill, early times. I mean, now, which is just which is not as, there’s some products that are really good. But for the most part, a lot of these old methods and a lot of this really expressive grain and all of the natural yeasts and a lot of the either natural enzymes or barley malt that they were using really just did a good job at what it was doing. And and back then, you could make what you could make, and you could get a certain yield out of a batch of mash, and you were striving to get more. You were striving to meet what was what this is about what we’re gonna get, about 8% alcohol by volume. Doesn’t seem like it’s a whole lot. But now you now with with, with with genetically modified enzymes and other things, you can you can maybe increase your yield up to ten, eleven, 12 percent for a for a whiskey type product, maybe even more for a clear spirit like like a base for a gin or a vodka. But to do that, you’re really using technology to turn something into a carbohydrate that wasn’t really intended to be a carbohydrate.

Keith Barnes [00:23:57]:

You’re getting a little more alcohol out of it because the yeast eats carbohydrate, eats sugar, and then it it then it then it, then it then it produces alcohol. I don’t know I don’t necessarily know that that’s that’s the best thing, that you’re that you’re you’re you’re getting a higher yield of alcohol, but it’s really, you know, is it the alcohol that you want? For me, I’m Right. Resigned to I’m resigned to living in in the caveman days and doing it old school with all of these old inputs that we have here and just trying to trying to perfect it as much as we could perfect it. And then to continue to work on recipes and to to continue to work on, on aging programs and just to to to just whittle it as much as you can to make that stick as sharp as you can make it. So it’s as as good as it can be right now and then always focusing on trying to make it better.

Scott Cowan [00:24:56]:

Well, it’s obvious because you’re you’ve won numerous awards for for multiple multiple products here.

Keith Barnes [00:25:05]:

If you can pop me over with a feather on some of that stuff. I’m I I just I wanted to make good stuff. I never Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:25:12]:

Think

Keith Barnes [00:25:12]:

we would win, world’s best vodka and world’s best wheat whiskey six times now. It it’s to me, it’s it’s, it’s it’s it’s it’s awesome, but it’s, you know, it certainly wasn’t expected at the beginning.

Scott Cowan [00:25:30]:

So I’m gonna ask you to educate me on something here, and I’m gonna probably mispronounce. Mizunara?

Keith Barnes [00:25:39]:

Mizunara.

Scott Cowan [00:25:40]:

Mizunara.

Keith Barnes [00:25:41]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:25:42]:

Okay. I’m I’m aware that Japanese whiskeys have some there’s some really great Japanese whiskeys out there. There are. And so first off, so this is I I jokingly say this is my show. I get to ask the question, so I get to learn. What how would you define a Japanese whiskey? What makes it different than, say, an American whiskey? And that might be a really naive question, but first off, can we can you just explain that to me what the inherent difference is?

Keith Barnes [00:26:16]:

Well, I think the origins of Japanese whiskey are pretty are pretty young. They didn’t really make whiskey in Japan until the twenties. And and and pretty much up until up until really modern times, the majority of the Japanese whiskey that was being made was made on the Scotch model. So so the the barley was coming from Scotland, and they were using yeasts from Scotland, and they were using stills that were patterned after Scottish stills if they hadn’t been made in Scotland. The guy who first made whiskey in in, in, Japan learned how to distill in Scotland, and his wife was Scottish. And she was the daughter of of of a of a big of a big distiller. So so Okay. That’s how it started.

Keith Barnes [00:27:08]:

But I think that they I think that the distillers in that country have they have they have a a different they have a different perspective. And I think that they’re looking for they’re looking for excellence, and they’re looking for they’re looking for inspiration, and they’re looking for nuance, and they’re looking for new avenues to travel. But but always really well thought out and always with a plan in place and always with with with an eye to making it as as good as it can be. They they make Suntory has Suntory white label, which is which is just their version of of, of a light whiskey that, kinda like a lighter flavored Scotch, but something that you use to make highballs with or something we would use to mix Coca Cola or ginger ale with beer. But there’s but the the serious whiskeys are are kind of kind of made along the Scotch model, but they’re now they’ve they’ve been branching out quite a bit into doing other things with different grains and with different kinds of yeast, different woods. Is back on the map now. It it was it it’s become a it’s become a a cult wood to age whiskey in. It’s really difficult to get, but if you if you can find a supplier, then then it does some really marvelous things.

Keith Barnes [00:28:42]:

There’s no other there’s no other wood like it. There’s seriously nothing else that that makes a whiskey taste like a Bisonar whiskey. So and the reasons that there’s not very much of it out there are just that the barrels are are the barrels and the wood, are are it’s really hard to get, and it’s the barrels are and the wood are very expensive, and and it just it’s a it’s always it’s always gonna be a a a fringe thing just because there’s not enough wood out there to to really make barrels to do gigantic type production work.

Scott Cowan [00:29:22]:

Okay. And so your yours just, you know, won double gold for the best single grain whiskey recently?

Keith Barnes [00:29:30]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:29:32]:

Congratulations. Thank you. The the bottle that it is in is, in my opinion, beautiful. It’s a piece of art.

Keith Barnes [00:29:40]:

Thank you.

Scott Cowan [00:29:43]:

What inspired you to try that, to go that direction?

Keith Barnes [00:29:47]:

Well, actually, it was so my philosophy is really to not try to do something that is copying something that that that another distillery is doing. If somebody’s doing a great job of doing something, and I don’t think that I can find a better way to do it, then usually not gonna go that way because it’s hard enough to come up with a unique thing and then to have a bunch of people jump on top than to try to and try to copy it. So that’s that’s just that’s that’s bull. So we we, there was a village on Bainbridge Island in the eighteen eighties, and it was there till through the middle middle twenties, and it was called Yama. And in Japan, in the in the eighteen eighties, there was a lot of upheaval due to the government and the, and the society westernizing, and different classes of people were kind of either thrown off their land or thrown off their role as being samurai or there was just a lot of upheaval there, and there was a lot of immigration out of Japan at that time. And a lot of it came here. And we had a village that that was set up here called Yama, out by Blakely Harbor where there was a big lumber mill. And the people that came over here, first off, came over, were just men, and a lot of them were working at the mill.

Keith Barnes [00:31:17]:

And then they sent for their families, and then they created this village that was up on the hillside. And it stood until, the timber industry collapsed, and the mill shut down. And then a lot of people moved to other places on the island and took up different different tasks, and some people moved off the island altogether. And this village, by the middle twenties, burned to the ground. The fire started there, and then it burned down. And it just stood. It’s on a really terrible piece of land that is hard to build on. It was covered over with IV for decades, and, the parts department here was looking at doing some, some work on the site to maybe open it up so that people could they could have some trails through there and maybe some bike trails, and maybe I had even heard some some motorbike trails.

Keith Barnes [00:32:11]:

Oh my god. Mhmm. And people and there’s and and there’s relatives of the people that lived in Yamah that would still live here on Waveridge Island. And it’s a lot of people that really have an appreciation of history and of his of of, of historical preservation. And there was a cry that went out that said, no. We can’t destroy this site. And some research was done on it, and it was determined that it was one of the last, first generation Japanese immigrant village sites that was still in existence that hadn’t been developed over. There wasn’t a parking lot on top of it or an apartment building or a housing development.

Keith Barnes [00:32:51]:

It was still pretty much the way that it was when it burned down and the people just left. And so we decided and there and there was there was a lot of talk about putting together a foundation and starting to collect money and doing some examination of the site. An archeological dig was in was in was in the conversation. They wanted to catalog everything and really gain an understanding of what that eighteen eighties immigrant experience was like, and then to expose that and use it as a educational tool, and, and and to really just preserve everything, preserve what we could know of it before all of that was gone. And so I decided, well, I’ve always thought, hey. We should be supporting all these local things more than supporting things that are in these far flung places. We can have a bigger impact at home, and we could throw some money at it, but we also could maybe make a product. And we could sell the product, and we could throw that money at it, but we also could gain a lot of notoriety and a lot of exposure for the for the the issue, which at this point was preserving this Yama site.

Keith Barnes [00:34:07]:

And we could get people involved in it in a way that wasn’t just, hey. We’re throwing money at it. We can get them involved in this this visceral way where they were looking at the whiskey and they were understanding what had gone on, and they were valuing the whole thing. And to me, that that’s that’s the money shot. When you can do something like that, then you’re then people are remembering it, and they’re really understanding what you’re doing. And and you don’t have to go out and sell all that stuff. They take it in when they when you when you approach them through an avenue like whiskey that they might might already be interested in. And so for the first two years that we had this product, we worked on this product for quite a while, and it was very, very difficult to pull off with sourcing the oak and everything else.

Keith Barnes [00:34:51]:

Took us three years just to source the oak for the first Oh, wow. Building barrels, in in in Arkansas with this wood, which is really difficult to work with. And, and we launched it for just under $500 a bottle. We sold it for $4.99. And then for the first two years, you got a certificate. You got a tax certificate. So we sell it for for, $4.99, and then, $3.99 was, was a donation to, the Bainbridge History Museum and the group that they had put together that was working on the archaeological dig and curating the elements and, the artifacts. And so all that money was donated to, to the YAMA project.

Keith Barnes [00:35:41]:

And, and we kept a hundred bucks a bottle, but with what it cost to make it, it was, it was, it wasn’t, it was that that project was, was not in, that project was in the red until, until until recently. So we still make the patience on the sale of that product, just not to the just to the not to the, the extreme amount. The YAMA project is over, and they’ve already done all the work there. So and that’s something that we’ll probably do again. We’ll probably create a whiskey that has something to do with the history of the island and use it to, to to to pull in funds to to to try to solidify something that might be slipping away.

Scott Cowan [00:36:25]:

Oh, that’s that’s that’s outstanding. I’m I’m a whiskey fan. Not I’m not an educated whiskey fan. I’m just a whiskey fan. So I’m not I I don’t I mean, I just asked you a very naive question. Right? So I am not a vodka or gin aficionado, but you guys also are doing vodka and gin. Yep. What was the inspiration for those products?

Keith Barnes [00:36:51]:

I think the real inspiration I had an appreciation for whiskey opening this company up. I didn’t really have an appreciation for for the other spirits. We were you’re looking for a way to when you when you do whiskey, you’re gonna be tempted to release it before it’s really ready if you’re trying

Scott Cowan [00:37:13]:

to

Keith Barnes [00:37:13]:

drive revenue with it. And so a lot of distillers start out making they make whiskey and they put it in barrels, and then they make vodka and they make gin, and they sell the vodka and gin for cash flow while the whiskey is aging. And so I don’t think that we’re any different in that other than that we were looking for a unique way to do it. And, and I think that we did. We we make a a vodka with soft white wheat, % soft white wheat, and we use a yeast that really concentrates floral and vanilla flavors in it. The yeast isn’t really intended to be used on grain. It’s used it’s intended to be used on sugarcane. But, out of the trials that we did, it really had it really gave a a earthy, pleasant, character to the vodka, and so we went with that.

Keith Barnes [00:38:07]:

And then we developed a gin which utilizes, 10 different botanicals, including, organic Doug fir frogs. So we’re kind of adding some more dimension to the evergreen component that you normally would only get from Juniper, which can be kinda arch. But, and and so you kinda dimensionalize that evergreen component so it’s a lot fresher. Our our production technique on that also, allows us to get more of a fresher, less stringent product. And those those are both those are both done really well. I love both of them. We’ve actually done some some, some arrow, some barrel aged gins also, to add a little bit of a of a woody flavor to it. So those they’re they’re great products.

Keith Barnes [00:39:00]:

I think that they’re they’re not our focus. Our focus is really is really whiskey. I think if you look at our portfolio, we have we have one vodka. We have, we have two standard gins and one limited edition gin where, where the gin is aged in Islay whiskey casks. So, smokey whiskey casks, which is really interesting. And it’s definitely not for everybody, but bartenders love it. It really makes a unique gin cocktail, especially when you’re adding other things to it, adding bitters or adding other biqueurs to it makes it really interesting. But on our whiskeys, we have, we’ve got, we’ve got five whiskeys that are in actually, six whiskeys that are in continuous production.

Keith Barnes [00:39:53]:

So we have our Battle Point, which is our standard wheat whiskey. We’ve got, two islands series of whiskeys that start as Battle Point. So when we have barrels of Battle Point that are that are done, we are emptying them into casks that held products from other islands around the world. So we have an Islay Whiskey cask, Battle Point. We have a Barbados cask, and we have a Hokkaido misenara cask. And then we have, Ariama Whiskey, and then we have our Whiskey 40 Saloon Bourbon, which will probably be released in the next, I don’t know, the next couple weeks. We’d wanna try to get it out for for Father’s Day. And then that’s when that one takes a a historical bend too.

Keith Barnes [00:40:44]:

On the north end of this island back in the eighteen hundreds, we had two lumber mills here. We had we had Blakely the Port Blakely Mill, and we all and we had the Port Madison Mill at the other end. And, the Blakely Mill was like was like a regular mill. The Port Madison Mill had a mill town, and the owner was a teetotaler. His wife was was a temperance activist. And so they had a mill town, but it was dry. And Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:41:20]:

They

Keith Barnes [00:41:20]:

had a hotel, hotel, in the mill town, but they only served, like, 2% beer. That was as much as you could get. And if you worked at the mill, I don’t think you could get it. I think you had to be a guest of the hotel. So the people find a way, and there was a little distilling going on. And there’s even somebody that was in a that had a boat. They had a dis this little distillery on a boat, and he’d they would pull up, and people would go down and and get blue shine from this guy in a boat. But Oh.

Keith Barnes [00:41:47]:

But not too far over the property line from the mill town, a guy named Bob Impet and another guy named Harry Winchester, they opened up a saloon within a stone’s throw of the mill town, and it was called the Whiskey Forty Salon. And, if you read old newspaper clippings from the island, there’s some of them left. Anything that was anything that was out of control or or was unseemly or whatever, that’s where it was app It was happening at the Whiskey forty. They had a still in the back. They had a card room for that members could join. You could be a member of the card room, and then they had the saloon upfront. And it was it was a rough place. It was a log building and with little slitted windows and, but the sheriff was up there all the time, and they’re always trying to always trying to stop something from happening.

Keith Barnes [00:42:41]:

But it’s a gets a little it’s a colorful it’s a little colorful aspect to living on on on Bainbridge Island. So we thought that that was that was a good name for it. And it’s a cool name. It’s a fun name. So it’s an

Scott Cowan [00:42:55]:

old I I

Keith Barnes [00:42:56]:

It’s the oldest style of bourbon. It’s, and it’s it’s bottled at, it’s bottled in bond. It’s hundred proof. So it’s a it’s it’s a it’s a legit nice strong ruling.

Scott Cowan [00:43:06]:

I like the fact that you you you make historical references to things, that you’re you’re going back and paying homage to to things that are that happen on the island where your where your business is. I think that’s I think that’s I think that’s amazing.

Keith Barnes [00:43:20]:

I think one of the things that we didn’t talk about was the founding tenant here was to make sure that we’re making product that that that tastes like it came from here. We want our products to taste like they came from a place, not

Scott Cowan [00:43:34]:

Okay.

Keith Barnes [00:43:35]:

Not just, hey. We have we have whiskey. We’re here we’re here on the island. We could have set this up anywhere. We if we were smart, we probably would have set it up out in Walla Walla County, close to where we get our grain so that we weren’t transporting stuff all over the place. But I knew that if we if we set up the distillery on Bainbridge Island, you know, we’re in the middle of a middle of a maritime environment here. We’ve got water that’s coming by on both sides. We’ve got, you know, wind that’s shooting down from the Straits Of Juan De Fuca.

Keith Barnes [00:44:06]:

We really have this maritime character here. And one of the things that that is sure to impart character to, barrel aged product is maritime air. And that’s a that’s a that’s a big part of of of what we’re doing. And, and even to the point that, you know, when when these organic farmers are growing grain that they’re gonna that’s gonna be used for for alcohol, they’re they’re growing grain that was designed by the ag college that was close to them that did a really good job of growing in their microclimate. So somebody that’s in Central Oregon might be growing soft white wheat, but the guys that are growing it in Walla Walla County, they’re they’re they’re growing something that was different. And so the ag school at, at in Oregon probably developed a number of strains of of of grain. They’re still developing strains of grain for local use, and they’re using them in Oregon. The grains that our guys use were developed in in Pullman in the sixties, and and they’re using about here because they were designed to work in this environment.

Keith Barnes [00:45:13]:

And so you’re using grain that’s really expressive. You’re using grain that was designed to be grown here. And so you’re making sure that whatever you’re making, you’re making sure that it’s influenced by by the ground. You’re making sure it’s influenced by this place that we’re in. And and that way, it’s that’s that way, it’s it’s unique to hear. It I hesitate to be highfalutin and call it terroir or anything. But in in in some ways, it’s you you drink you you drink ten year old Laphroaig, fresh Laphroaig when you’re at the distillery, Islay, and there’s seaweed and kelp wrapped around the the, the the the pillar or the the pilings underneath the warehouse. And sometimes of the year, you have, you know, decomposing kelp and all kinds of stuff.

Keith Barnes [00:46:08]:

It’s all over the place. I mean, you cannot the iodine that comes out of that kelp that’s in the ambient air that gets through the barrel. You have it gives as in all, it evaporates, and then the ambient air soaks in and takes its place. You can’t say that it’s not there because it is there. There’s there’s no no fooling. There’s no other way for an eye for, an essence of iodine to get into a whiskey barrel that’s sealed up unless you’re pouring it in, which they’re not. It’s just coming in. It’s coming in through the air.

Keith Barnes [00:46:40]:

That’s and that’s, you know, that’s that’s a fingerprint that says we’re we’re here. We’re legit. We’re from here. We’re not from someplace else. Place the place of where you are makes a difference. I wouldn’t have a distillery in Downtown Seattle. It’s like, okay. What if it smells like smog or whatever else is going on in Seattle? I don’t know.

Keith Barnes [00:47:00]:

It’s it’s like, you know, we wanna have some character to it that’s, that’s, you know, that’s identifiable.

Scott Cowan [00:47:08]:

What what’s next? Do you have aspirations of more varieties? You are you playing around with anything that you would share? I mean, you know, what’s what’s next, if anything? More more of the same?

Keith Barnes [00:47:29]:

Well, we’ve we’ve done some work with with rye. Okay. On the organic side, it’s a little hard it’s a little harder to work with. As much as as much as we don’t use any, any GMO enzymes or processing aids here, they do a bang up job of what they do. So in grain in difficult to handle grains like rye, those GMO enzymes do a great job. It makes it so that you can really get a decent enough yield out of it to, to make it worthwhile. So we may or may not unlock the key to organic rye whiskey. I’m not sure.

Keith Barnes [00:48:13]:

Well, we’re doing some work starting up with with, malted grains. So, we do we do a lot of work with barley right now, but it’s unmalted. We’re probably gonna do some work with, with with malted barley, maybe even with malted rye. Those are those would be those will be years off. I don’t think there’s there’s none of the whiskeys that we have now that are in a barrel for any less than five years. So it still takes a while to figure it out, to architect the product, and then and then run your trials, see how they measure up to what it is that you were going for, and then and then and then start putting together a production plan so that it, you can consistently pull it off.

Scott Cowan [00:48:59]:

So when you’re not running a distillery, when you’re not sampling your your antique collection,

Keith Barnes [00:49:06]:

what do you what do

Scott Cowan [00:49:07]:

you like to do for fun and, relaxation around Bainbridge Island or anywhere for that matter?

Keith Barnes [00:49:14]:

Well, I’d I’d say that, not a not a tremendous amount of time for relaxation. So, I own another company called Motive Marketing Group. And my business partner and I, we’ve been working together for almost thirty years now. And and and when we when we started this company in in February, we decided that out of all the things that we had both done in our in our previous roles in working at another marketing company, that the category that we really loved to service was the was the out beverage alcohol category. So we’re specifically involved in marketing of beverage alcohol. The vast vast majority of it is spirits, and, the rest of it would be champagne and then wine, which is probably maybe 10 of it. And, and we do work for we do work for the, for the the biggest distilling conglomerates in the world. So we do work with Beam Suntory and with William Grant and Sons.

Keith Barnes [00:50:31]:

They’re the owners of, of Linfiddick and Balvenie and Sailor Jerry and Hendricks Gin.

Scott Cowan [00:50:38]:

Oh, okay.

Keith Barnes [00:50:39]:

For Noricard, we do work with Absolute, and and we all pretty much pretty much everybody. So we’re specialized very specialized in, in working with the spirits industry, and and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We both used to work on other accounts that were really just painful to work on. They just weren’t fun. The spirits industry has got is really populated by people that are really fun to be around. Every once in a while, you get somebody who’s not fun to be around. But for the most part, the people people are always in good humor. The margins in the beverage industry are pretty good, so people aren’t looking always necessarily looking for a way to do it cheaper.

Keith Barnes [00:51:23]:

They’re looking for a way to do it right. And and and it’s a and it it’s a good place to be. And we’ve been doing it for a long time, and I think that both of us have, we both serve as different different parts of our clients, but it’s within thirty years, it gives you a lot of experience on knowing what it is that you need to do to get something done without having to execute a research project or do a focus group or bring just, you know, there’s experience matters when you’ve been in the trench for a long time, and there’s really no replacement for it. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun. So I have two jobs. One of them is a booze job, and then the other one’s a booze job. And then on part of my office, I have a booze posting that I do.

Keith Barnes [00:52:15]:

So

Scott Cowan [00:52:18]:

I’m I’m catching a thread as some as there’s vague similarity.

Keith Barnes [00:52:22]:

We we, you know, when when we’re not locked down in COVID, we we like to travel to different countries. And and we have horses, and and we have, you know, we’ve got a piece of property out here, and we’ve got chickens. And and, you know, it’s a it’s it’s it’s it’s a it’s a nice place to be. It’s a it’s a really nice place to be.

Scott Cowan [00:52:46]:

So if people wanna find out more about you and you’re in that, where can they where can we where can we direct them?

Keith Barnes [00:52:52]:

Well, I think I think that, I think that, the distillery website is probably the best place. So, Motivemktg.com. But I don’t know. That’s the Motive website. That one is like that one’s like all business. All business Okay. Play. The the the Bainbridge Distillers BainbridgeDistillers.com website, if people have questions or or people, wanna make contact, there’s a little bit of a bio up there, but we don’t spend a lot of time on that.

Keith Barnes [00:53:25]:

But, certainly, anybody that wants to know something or anyone that wants to have a chat, they can come in or they can call or and, we’ll try to we’ll try to talk through whatever is it they’re interested in talking about. This is this this is a this is a this business is a is a it’s a privilege to be in this business, and it’s a privilege to to to, to talk with people that are enthusiastic about it. It’s a privilege to make products that get to sit on the table when people are having good times and when people are having serious times and people are celebrating milestones. You know, we’ve got we’ve got a group of guys that it’s a it’s a multigenerational thing now. So this group of guys that, their family, all the all the guys, and now some of the women in the family go up to Alaska on a fishing trip every year. The first year that they went up was the, I think, the second or third year that we have whiskey. And they brought some whiskey up there. And ever since, it’s then everybody goes, you’re bringing that Bainbridge whiskey.

Keith Barnes [00:54:27]:

Right? You’re bringing the Bainbridge whiskey. So now that’s that’s what they that’s what they bring up there. They have more to choose from now, but but, you know, it’s a generational thing now. Everybody’s involved in it. And to be to be able to to be able to just to have, you know, a little a little place at that table through your product being there and knowing that everybody is enjoying it and everybody’s looking forward to it, and it’s and it’s become part of of a tradition and importantly, a a family tradition, that’s there’s there’s nothing there’s really nothing better than that. That’s that’s that’s that’s as good as it gets.

Scott Cowan [00:55:07]:

One thing we didn’t touch on, and I’d be remiss if we didn’t touch on it, so we’ll close with this. Your tasting room, what what can besides tasting, what what else is going on at your tasting room, and when is that available to the public to to go to?

Keith Barnes [00:55:22]:

For now, the tasting room is open, four days a week. It’s open from Wednesday through Sunday. We’re open noon to five, and you can do tasting flights of of anything we have. So there’s tasting flights for the, for any four of our standard products. There’s a separate, fee for tasting Yama, which at least lets people know before they spend a lot of money on a product if they’re gonna like it. And Mhmm. We’re just now within within the guidelines that are available to us. We are starting to give tours again.

Keith Barnes [00:56:03]:

We might be working on a virtual tour program. But

Scott Cowan [00:56:07]:

Okay.

Keith Barnes [00:56:08]:

We love give we love giving tours and showing people what it is that we do and and how things work and how the stills work and, to make it as educational. If you have a fifth if you have fifteen minutes, we can give you the CliffsNotes. And if you have an hour and a half, then then they’ll probably come and get me, and then I’ll then I’ll I’ll talk about it as long as somebody wants to talk about it.

Scott Cowan [00:56:34]:

Well, I I’m looking forward to taking a tour. I I’m I’m looking forward to coming over and, taking a look at this because it’s fascinating. And I I really think the intention to detail that you’re you’re putting in and and and I like the fact that you’re you’re you’re positioning yourself if if in other words, you’re you’re acknowledging that there are good products out there, great products out there, and you wanna bring your own variety to that and not you know, and find a place that like you said just a second ago, finding a place at the table. I I just think it’s it’s very intriguing to me, and I, I tip my cap, and I I really look forward to, like I said, coming over and taking doing some tastings, but also getting a tour one of these days.

Keith Barnes [00:57:19]:

That’ll be fun.

Scott Cowan [00:57:20]:

I will coordinate that with you.

Keith Barnes [00:57:21]:

Yeah. Please do.

Scott Cowan [00:57:23]:

Okay. Well, thank you for being here today.

Keith Barnes [00:57:25]:

And thank you for having me. It’s been, it’s been great.

Scott Cowan [00:57:38]:

Join us next time for another episode of the Exploring Washington State podcast.