The trend is to buy local and it’s not a bad bandwagon to be a part of. From the food served at restaurants, the fruit you pick up in the grocery store, to the store you stop by for that perfect Valentine’s Day gift most of us consider local to be better for a variety of reasons. Finding local food is arguably the easiest way to support small businesses and consume local products, especially in this part of the country, but there are plenty of other things that aren’t at the top of the “buy local” list.
There are plenty of things it’s ‘easier’ to just grab and not worry about where it came from (drugstore items, clothes, etc.) but there are plenty of items we can get local and it might just take a slight change of habit to make it happen.
#4 RESOLVE TO BUY LOCAL SPIRITS
Living along the West coast it’s easy to buy wine that’s from right down the road and with the burst of breweries it’s probably harder to find a beer NOT from the area but when it comes to spirits it seems like the fad fizzles. Part of that is because Washington distilling laws only recently changed and I think another reason is just because we’re stuck in our habits. While there are dozens of fantastic distilleries popping up in the region people are still popping into the liquor store and grabbing the same old brand off the shelf without spending much time to look around and see what else is available.
Granted most of us probably don’t shop for spirits as often as beer or wine but this year I challenge you to try something new.
If you tend to pull from the vodka section (which I do), try just standing in front of it and looking for your five favorite labels. Vodka labels are often a little more creative than some of the brown liquors. Once you pick your favorite labels go and take a look at where the booze comes from. I would almost guarantee that something is local. From there you can either take a chance on the taste, see what the label has to say, go by price, ask the employee if they happen to know anything (usually they don’t) or pull out your smartphone and do a quick google search. You can also go in knowing ahead of time that you’re going to leave your standard selection on the shelf and grab something out that you’ve scoped out in advance.
Here are a few options:
Ebb + Flow Vodka: a single malt vodka made from 100% Washington Palouse Malted Barley that has notes of vanilla and just a hint of natural sweetness.
http://www.drinksoundspirits.com/
Elemental Vodka: begins with organic soft-white wheat grown in the Pacific Northwest region. .
http://www.highballdistillery.com/
Charbay Vodka: American Midwest corn & rye for their clear vodka.
http://www.charbay.com/default.aspx
Drinking local will make your next drink that much sweeter.
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