Rogue Spirits

Last Wednesday, I was lucky enough to take a trip to our Tygh Valley Micro Barley Farm to see this year's winter barley being harvested that we use in our Oregon Single Malt Whiskey and our Chatoe Rogue Series Ales, Porters, Stouts and Lagers.

 

I took a bottle of Oregon Single Malt Whiskey, which is made from the exact barley we were standing in as a gift for the crew. It was incredible to watch the harvest of the single malt that will become next year’s whiskey.  

Our barley farm is managed by Doc McCallister, and the barley was harvested this year by the Ashbrook family, Stan and his two daughters Deanna and Andrea. The other two men in this picture were the truck drivers who wait while Deanna and Andrea fill up the trucks, and then they drive the barley to the west side of the mountains where it is malted. It was my first time on a barley farm, and they let me ride in the combine Andrea was driving.

 

 Doc McCallister told me a bit about the differences between growing malting barley for whiskey and beer and the other less finicky types, and Stan showed me how they test the barley for quality.

In addition to tagging along for the barley harvest, Doc McCallister showed me the rest to the Rogue ranch including our floor malting facility, and the spring barley.