RAISING A GLASS TO AMERICAN SINGLE MALT WHISKEY

In recent years, events like Cider Summit, Chocofest, Cultivation Classic, Feast Portland, the Oregon Brewers Festival, Seattle Beer Week, Taste Washington, and Oregon Distilled have attracted international visitors wishing to savor the Pacific Northwest’s food and drink offerings. Instead of trying to mass-market products that have a uniform, consistent taste, the majority of PNW growers and producers create wares that speak to the particular place where they were grown or made.

While most of the media buzz tends to focus on the region’s beer and wine culture (and rightly so), according to Jason Parker, cofounder of Seattle-based Copperworks Distilling Company, the most compelling whiskey-related reason to visit the PNW is to witness the birth of American single malt whiskey. “It’s not often in one’s