Burnside Barrel Aged 4 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Oregon, USA

In Southeast Portland, a handful of distilleries are leading the craft spirits revolution, making handcrafted, locally distilled spirits for the first time since Prohibition. This inconspicuous neighborhood — which was previously home to warehouses and light industrial buildings — has been dubbed “Distillery Row”, and Eastside Distilling has been at the forefront of this movement since opening on Distillery Row in 2008. Eastside Distilling’s master distiller, Melissa Heim, is the only female master distiller based west of the Mississippi. A Portland native, Heim started as a brewer before becoming Rogue Distillery’s master distiller and ultimately, master distiller at Eastside Distilling in 2012. “Luckily for me, a big part of making spirits is the art — and I understood that,” says Heim. “I get flavors and I knew what I wanted to make, and it was just a matter of how to get there.” Eastside Distilling’s Burnside Four Year Straight Bourbon Whiskey is made from a mash of 79 percent corn and 21 percent rye and malted barley before being aged in brand-new, American oak barrels for a minimum of four years. Once each individual barrel has been aged and approved by Heim, she vats similar barrels together to find the perfect mixture of heat and sweet, and bottles everything at 96 proof. Burnside Four Year Straight Bourbon Whiskey has a slightly fruity aroma, with notes of candied apples, cinnamon, citrus and vanilla leading to an interesting palate filled with tropical mango, raisins, dark chocolate and granola. Rye grains and breakfast cereal stand out on the finish, which is long and dry. Burnside Four Year Straight Bourbon Whiskey earned a Gold Medal from the Beverage Testing Institute — pickup a bottle today!