A Toast to Waitsburg

We can't resist this play on words once more: the "spirit" of Waitsburg is in a bottle and it's reaching shores in some very distant lands, not to mention our own.

Thanks to two entrepreneurs, Kirby Kallas Lewis and Paul Gregutt, who branded their tasty and tastefully labeled vin- tages after our town, the Waitsburg name is getting out there and raising some worldwide interest.

Waitsburg Bourbon, now in its eighth batch since its launch only a few years ago, can be found in stores, bars and restaurants in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Illinois, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, D.C., and Florida.

In another month and a half, it will be available in Michi- gan and Tennessee, the home of Jack Daniels. But even before that, in two weeks, it will start selling in Australia and New Zealand.

Oola Distillery, Kallas Lewis' company on Capitol Hill in Seattle, has 400 accounts in Washington State and 160 elsewhere this year. That compares to only a few dozen a year ago.

The boutique distillery produces 6,000 bottles a month, three times the volume of a year ago and even though only its whiskey is named after Waitsburg, that label represents a third of its sales, sales manager Jeana Harrington said.

"We've had pretty good luck with distribution," she said.

On a local note, the Bourbon caught the attention of a restaurant owner in Arizona whose father and brother (both deceased) had once lived in Waitsburg.

On a not-so-local note, the Bourbon won Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition this spring and that "helps distributors notice us," Harrington said.

Other than the company's own sales effort and competi- tive achievement, it also helps to be featured as a prominent cask-drawn spirit at the Canon Whiskey & Bitters Emporium on Capitol Hill, which consistently floats to the top of many lists as one of the best bars in the country and draws aficio- nados from all over.

The distribution of Waitsburg Cellars' first five wines is much more local - Waitsburg, Dayton, Walla Walla and Seattle - but their reputation is ramping up quickly through reviews in major wine publications.

Those publications, the Wine Advocate and Wine Specta- tor, which score Gregutt's wines in the lower 90s (excellent marks for their affordable price point), are considered two of the country's most influential industry magazines and read in other parts of the world.

In addition, Waitsburg Cellars was featured in Sunset magazine, another feather in Gregutt's cap and that of his home and favorite small town.

We should be quick to point that, being a well-known wine reviewer/critic himself, Gregutt is essentially being scruti- nized and praised by his competitors. To the extent those are inclined to heap accolades on a small start-up label, their stellar reviews speak highly of the wines.

"It's been a busy summer," Gregutt said in a telephone interview earlier this week.

He wanted to make sure several Waitsburg businesses received his gratitude for embracing his label and selling it locally: Waitsburg Grocery owners Danny & Trina Cole, Coppei Coffee operator Allison Bond and the Whoop Em Up Hollow Café - all of whom either carry one or all of the wines.

"They jumped on the bandwagon early and placed it front and center," he said.

The Coles also did so for Kallas Lewis, whose Oola prod- ucts can also be found in their store's new liquor section.

And all that is reason for us to propose a toast to the entrepreneurs who are helping put the Waitsburg name and "brand" on the map. Cheers and thank you!