Hard Times Distillery Tasting Room

This place had a tasting in Oakridge on 12−19−15. Walked in to see what they had and try some different spirits. We felt unwelcome. As if we weren’t part of the hipster tasting crowd, pretty much felt like an inconvenience. Stuck around for about 5 minutes as the man pouring looked at us and never said a word. This tasting had a pretentious atmosphere that I would not have expected.

This is a fun little place to start your drunken stumble across the Whiteaker or have a drink while you wait for a table at any of the nearby restaurants. (I’ve stopped in before when Papa’s had a 45 minute wait and had more than enough time to enjoy my cocktail and wander back.) Small setup, where one can get a cocktail or tasting flights and have the option to buy a bottle if you really like something. The bartender is friendly and can tell you all about the products, the couch is cozy, and there’s usually some fun kitschy music playing in the background.
Locally made with Oregon-​sourced ingredients, the products are pretty good with a set of flavor profiles. As James said, the wasabi vodka is made from real wasabi, not the stuff you get in the average sushi restaurant. I happen to love it and think it’s fantastic in their «Kyoto Kickstand» cocktail, a play on the Moscow Mule.

We have a lot of booze in the Whiteaker — a tavern, couple of bars, breweries, wineries and now this: a tasting room for a local liquor distillery.
This is a tasting room and *not* a bar, so the options are extremely limited. There’s the $ 4 tasting flight of ½ oz each of three liquors or a $ 3 kombucha.
Blue Collar Vodka — a decent vodka at $ 14, which seems to be a decent price for a locally-​crafted vodka.
Green Geisha Wasabi Vodka — a sublime flavor from infusion of a mild (and real!) wasabi. The subtlety of this would be lost in a Bloody Mary, but would sing in a martini with muddled cucumber and lime with club soda. $ 20.
Appleshine — a good-​tasting apple pie moonshine with a lower alcohol content, this would be best enjoyed on its own. But at $ 27, I prefer the one at the liquor store that comes in a mason jar and is stiff enough to mix drinks.