Serious gin drinkers know that most gins begin with a neutral spirit of more than 180 proof. Working on the theory that neutral spirits are tasteless, most gins are also distilled from grains, such as corn or barely. Usually, a fixed recipe of botanicals — made up primarily of juniper — is either macerated in the neutral spirits, or placed into a basket in the vapor path of a still as the spirit is redistilled. Individual recipes are generally secret, and big distilleries take pride in the unchanging, consistent nature of their products.
But, that’s not how gin is made at the San Juan Island Distillery. For a start, San Juan Island Distillery distills fermented apples — not grain — to use as the base of their gin. The result is a wonderfully smooth, slightly floral spirit reminiscent of the spring apple blossoms in the orchard across the road from us.
Luckily for gin drinkers, two retired educators, Hawkins (known as Hawk) and Suzy Pingree — who became very innovative gin distillers — happened upon a favorite walk, taking them by a cidery and its apple orchards near their home.
Surrounded by the spectacular natural beauty of Washington’s San Juan Islands, the cidery sits on a rural country road running through agricultural and forestlands. Although just a short distance from Roche Harbor (one of the islands’ most popular summer destinations), the cidery seemed almost deserted.
“We never saw the cidery open, but we knew it was active since we could find the cider in local stores,” said Hawk. During their regular walks, Hawk and Suzy began to speculate on buying the cidery. Because of a long association with agriculture and food products through their work at the University of Wisconsin, both were interested in finding a food-related business they could operate together. The cidery intrigued them.
As luck would have it, Hawk sits on the San Juan County Agricultural Resources Committee, where he happened to strike up a conversation with the owner of Westcott Bay Cider, which owned the cidery and was interested in bringing in partners. The Pingrees bought a half interest in the cidery. Recent changes in Washington State laws favoring craft distillers, combined with their own interest in distilled spirits, led Hawk and Suzy to create San Juan Island Distillery as a separate company housed in the same building.
“Having the ciderworks and distillery together provides great opportunities,” said Hawk. “We’ve got the vertical integration from cider through brandy, and the chance to make a really unusual and compelling product in our apple-based gins.”
Hawk further explained that the combination of the cidery and distillery gives visitors a real opportunity to follow and taste the development of their products. He said, “I groused at first when the state required two separate tasting rooms, but it’s it’s actually much better. Cider and spirits are two different stories that sequence perfectly.”
Although the visitor experience is important, with the apple orchard and production equipment, the cidery also offers a steady supply of apples and the ability to process and ferment them.
When asked why make gin? Hawk replied, “When you think of distilling apples, you naturally think of apple brandy. But, we were looking for something else we could do. Gin has been Suzy’s spirit of preference for more than a decade, so we decided to try a gin.”
“We’ve made a gin with the identical recipe of botanicals in a neutral grain spirit. It is amazing, but the spirit profile is completely different,” Hawk said. He added that the apples offer a smoothness to the gin that cannot be duplicated
with grain.
The distillery’s gin is unlike any other you may have tasted, and not just because of the apples. The gin’s uniqueness doesn’t arise solely from the base spirit. In addition to the required juniper, the Pingrees forage the forests of the island in search of botanicals to give their gins subtle flavors only available in the Pacific Northwest. As the forest and botanicals change with the season, so do the gins of the distillery. Whether from nettles, salal or salmon berries, each season presents its own unique flavor and signature gin.
Creativity is not limited to the gins at San Juan Island Distillery. Suzy spends much of her time developing new recipes, and they offer an ever-changing line of unique liqueurs like Island Summer, Winterberry Brandy, Madrone Brandy, Tangerine Brandy, and Red Sky at Night. And yes, they even have a prize-winning apple brandy.
Word of the distillery has spread, and every month more visitors make the pilgrimage up the two-lane country road. As Hawk points out, given the growing number of visitors, a former career as an educator and lecturer comes in handy when it’s time to give a distillery tour to a room full of craft-distilling enthusiasts.
