San Juan Island Distillery

They have incredible gin here. I will even go far as to say it was the best gin I have ever had. I am kicking myself that I didn’t buy a large bottle to bring back with me. I came away with a small bottle, and when I had it at home I was blown away all over again. I felt like I was doing the gin a disservice by putting it in a cocktail. Gin that you can, and want, to drink straight is damn fine gin. Don’t make my mistake. Go there, and buy a large bottle. Or two. I live in California and to my knowledge there is no way I can get a hold of it here. :(

So great! We raced up there after our whale watching trip because we knew they closed at 4 and didn’t want to keep them. Luckily it’s a pretty small operation. The staff is SO friendly and welcoming, and they made sure that we tasted everything we wanted to taste and answered all of our questions!
We are ex-​food service industry folks, so we were very interested in the distilling process and all of the different versions of the gin and how they would work in cocktails.
Ciders were soooo good. It was difficult to decide what to take home, but we eventually settled on the signature gin. I absolutely love the label and while we will be savoring the gin as long as we can, I will definitely be keeping the bottle FOREVER!
What a great experience. We highly recommend it!

While staying on San Juan Island our group took in a tasting on their ciders and distillery goods. Everyone was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. We brought back quite a collection of their ciders, gin and liquors. An easy recommendation and must-​do while on the Island.

Absolutely worth it! The people here are so passionate about what they do and everything we tasted was absolutely fantastic. Some of the things for sale are very expensive, but the cider is not, and when you consider the time spent distilling some of these things (5 years for their first batch of apple brandy) the cost is understandable.
If you are staying in San Juan, this is a must see.

My family spent Thanksgiving week on San Juan Island. When researching things to do I doscovered San Juan island Distillery. We walked in and the tasting room was full, but everyone gave us a strange look. We quickly discovered that they weren’t really open and the room was full of family picking up items for the holiday. The owners told us to come on in and was tasted all three of their hard ciders. Then they took us outside to taste the gin and all of the spirits. We loved everything so much that they shipped us a case of hard cider, some gin and several of their liqueurs. We have an annual Merry martini party and I designed all of the martinis based upon San Juan’s spirits. Ever single cocktail was a hit. The men at the party especially liked the Christmas Pig that I paired with some homemade candied bacon. We will definitely be back the next time we visit the island.

If I could give 4.5 stars, I would. Because the owner was so kind and knowledgeable, I rounded up! Tasting was free, and the cider was good and reasonably priced. The gin was probably the best I’ve ever had. To top it all off, everything had a really cool local vibe, and the owners were unbelievably friendly.
My two negatives are there were not a lot of cider options to try, and the gin was pretty expensive. Hence the 4.5 stars. Still, if you’ve got an hour or so to kill, I would definitely recommend this place.

This was awesome! Loved the cider tasting! The owners were really knowledgeable and friendly. It was fun and interesting!
I was on vacation with my mom, and neither of us are big fans of gin, but what the heck! We tried the gin too. Not for us, but it was fun to try.
I highly recommend stopping to check it out!

I’d say more, but there’s no more to be said. This place is awesome. A local treasure. Great people, great cider, amazing gin. The location couldn’t be better. Suzy and Hawk and the gang do wonderful things in a wonderful place. We ended up getting as much gin as we could carry back in our luggage. Totally worth a stop.

Super fun tasting, starting with ciders and concluding with the stronger stuff. The place is relatively small, but that’s fine by me. They take groups into the cider area first then do the gin outside. We were a little confused how to do a tasting at first but just asked the cashier who said to wait until the last group was done with the cider then take their place. They’re excellent tasting guides and we enjoyed our visit. Purchased a gin infused with nettles, so delicious with tonic. They have an impressive assortment of booze, and a gift shop with a cool nautical flask!

Uh, it’s AMAZING! YOU HAVE TO GO HERE!
If you like cider and spirits, local and better than you’ve ever tasted them, this is the place for you. Nicest folks to boot.
I’m not a gin drinker, until now. Spy Hop gin is out of this world, make of apple spirits (from the backyard orchard) instead of grain. A few local flavor give it an out-​of-​this-​world kick, lightly floral, light on the juniper, and a little mild spice. Awesome.
Cider is better than you knew it could be. We happened to have another brand sitting at the campsite, and it literally was a COMPLETELY different beverage. Like night and day. PBR vs. Fin du Monde.
The tasting was one of the best parts of the short vacation, apple spirits, people! Get with it! Try the Pommeau. Try the Pommeau. Buy the Pommeau!
GO HERE GO HERE GO HERE! Island experience, in a bottle!
Thanks for listening!

Dropped in for a tasting (available Fridays and Saturdays) since I was in the area for a wedding. Here’s my analysis:
Cider: five stars
Gin: five stars
Service: five stars
I’m no expert at math but I think that’s a five star average.
Bonus tip: they fire a mini canon when you buy a bottle of the signature gin.