Golden Distillery

I’m sorry to say, this distillery was sold in April and now operates from Baltimore, Maryland.

We rented a vacation cottage on Samish Island for a week and saw a sign advertising the tasting room for Golden Distillery on the way to our destination – it was affixed to the side of an old barn, in the middle of the lovely, pastoral scenery of Washington State. If you know me at all, you know I had to make a stop there. HAD to.
This is a small, artisan distillery. Don’t expect the Jack Daniel’s operation. We were greeted by a friendly woofing dog named Dexter when we stepped out of our car. The owner also greeted us in the little tasting room and offered a quick tour of the tidy, efficient distillery. Two copper stills were set up and one was busy delivering it’s 150 proof baby into a carboy. Cool. There were 150 oak barrels stacked up in racks, aging the stuff to perfection. The proprietor was more than willing to talk about his craft and I was more than happy to listen. He’s clearly quite proud of his wares and he should be.
I bought a bottle of the gold medal winning Samish Island Single Malt Whiskey. That is some good sipping whiskey, I’ll tell you what. I’m warming my belly with a nice nightcap of the stuff right now. I really should have gotten two bottles…
In any case, if you ever find yourself on Samish Island, you should make Golden Distillery one of your key stops.