General Info:
Port Steilacoom Distillery is a micro distillery started by spirits enthusiasts who will keep their day jobs working in health care. They operate their tasting room in downtown Steilacoom on Wednesdays through Sundays.
Port Steilacoom will produce small batches of vodka and gin, with plans for a specialty spirit the distillers describe as being in the same flavor palate as rum, only made with honey, not cane sugar.
Reflux is visible in a "sight glass" in the distillation column in Port Steilacoom Distillery. Peter Haley/Staff photographer
Honey also will be an ingredient in Port Steilacoom s gin and vodka. Creator Kevin Laughlin Stewart, who operates the distillery with his wife, Jennifer, said the honey gives his spirits an interesting taste a light sweetness and smooth finish.
Using honey was one solution he found to a challenge created by the rules that guide Washington state craft distilleries: Spirits distilled here by craft distilleries must contain 51 percent Washington-grown ingredients. For Stewart, the Washington ingredients he turned to were blackberry and buckwheat honey. For many craft distilleries, it's Washington-grown grains.
Stewart said the grown-in-Washington requirement for craft distillers was one reason his dreams of making classic rum were blown. Rum is distilled from cane sugar and there's a problem with that here: Cane sugar doesn't grow so well in Washington. Enter honey. Laughlin Stewart said he didn't want to give up on his rum dream since a bottle of rum he infused with his own blend of spices is what sparked his interest in starting a distillery.
The specialty spirit he'll produce soon is made with buckwheat honey and has spicing something like what you'll find in spiced rum. Said Laughlin Stewart, It will be a lower proof. I want some of the character of the honey to come through. It's going to be spiced with my secret blend of spices.
Laughlin Stewart believes his craft distillery might be the tiniest in the state, or close to it. They operate out of a 600-square-foot space near Bair Drug. The space has potential to grow, but for now, the distillery is small and will stay that way as they build a following, Laughlin Stewart said.
He's a hobbyist with a background in home beer brewing. He does have a bit of distilling experience, although it was, well, come by illegally. My original inspiration, without incriminating anyone: One of my close family relatives made moonshine in Texas, said Laughlin Stewart. He was 13 at the time, the moonshiner is now 100 years old. In Washington State, home distilling of spirits is illegal, although home brewing of wine and beer for personal consumption is perfectly legal.
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