Soft Tail Spirits Expands With New Tasting Room

Soft Tail Spirits found itself the possessor of a good problem to have last year when its vodka got listed with the state. The designation allowed it to be sold in liquor stores in Washington, and the distillery on Woodinville Drive could hardly keep up.

“Once we got listed, demand in Washington state was at capacity,” said Dennis Robertson, co-owner of Soft Tail Spirits.

Now, the craft distillery has opened a new location on Woodinville Redmond Road, doubling its production capabilities to keep up with the demand and offering another location for patrons to taste the vodka and several varieties of grappa. Converted from a log-cabin-style house, the second location features a 20-foot marble bar, two patios and a patch of grass for lawn games.

“This is definitely an outdoor/indoor establishment,” Robertson said. “We really wanted to make it user-friendly.”

There’s also the bonus of a more visible location in Woodinville’s tourist district, which is a tad more attractive than the industrial surroundings at the original distillery.

“It’s a much better view than looking across the street at another warehouse building,” Robertson said.

When Soft Tail opened in 2008, its focus was on making grappa, a brandy distilled from the fermented residue of pressed grapes. Neighbors DiStefano provided the necessary pomace, Robertson said.

“(It was) one of those sustainable resources,” he said. “You get a second use out of the skins.”

A year later, after numerous requests for such a product, the distillery began producing vodka. Robertson was considering different methods when he saw a TV program about vodka being made from pineapples, he said.

“(I thought), surely we can do it out of Washington state apples,” he said.

The natural sugars from apples are a higher quality ingredient than the more typical starch, and though all the apple flavor is distilled away, the vodka retains a unique, slightly sweet polish, Robertson said.

“(It) has a little character—a little finish that’s proprietary to us,” he said.

With the new location just opened, Robertson is already thinking ahead about potential new products—maybe a gin or an apple-flavored vodka to capitalize on its unique production method. Three years and two locations since its inception, Soft Tail is just getting started.

“It’s just burgeoning,” Robertson said. “We don’t know where this is going to go.”

Soft Tail’s new tasting room is open from noon to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 14356 Woodinville Redmond Road. Its original location is open seven days a week at 12280 N.E. Woodinville Drive Suite C.