Page 24
Minority & Small Business Week
October 4, 2017
Ethnic Roots Flavor Craft Brewing Scene
Family-owned
Vinn Distillery
makes popular
Chinese spirit
by Z aChary s enn
t he p ortlanD o bserver
Vinn Distillery is bringing
a unique and delicious prod-
uct line to Portland’s vibrant
craft distilling scene. The fam-
ily-owned business is the only
U.S.-based distiller of baijiu,
a popular Chinese grain spirit.
The Ly family has been making
the liquor for more than seven
generations.
Vinn Distillery serves up
tasting flights and Asian-in-
spired cocktails at their tasting
room in the Central Eastside,
and at several area restaurants.
Their flagship baijiu product is
sold at liquor stores through-
out Oregon, as well as in select
parts of Washington and Cali-
fornia.
The Ly family, who formerly
owned the Wok Inn Restaurant
in Wilsonville, first became in-
terested in bringing their dis-
tilling traditions to the U.S.
when Michelle Ly’s father
couldn’t find baijiu to use for
cocktails in their restaurant.
Many years later, the fam-
ily sold the restaurant and be-
gan the process of establishing
their Portland distillery.
Michelle Ly says that they
set up manufacturing in the
back of her mother’s house
after four years of preparation
and filing paperwork through
state and federal liquor control
commissions.
“It’s rent-free, which is fan-
tastic,” Ly told the Portland
Observer.
Michelle, four of her siblings
and her mother are all actively
involved in the business’ daily
operations.
Baijiu also played a role in
the family coming to the Unit-
ed States 37 years ago. Ly says
that she and her siblings were
born in a village in North Viet-
nam, where they were forci-
bly relocated by that country’s
communist regime.
“Because of our Chinese
heritage, we were kicked out
photo by Z aChary s enn /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Michelle Ly and her family-owned Vinn Distillery bring a unique and
delicious product line to Portland’s vibrant craft distilling scene.
The Vinn Distillery Tasting Room is operated on weekends, located
in the central industrial eastside at 222 S.E. Eighth Ave.
of the country. They put us in a
village in southern China,” Ly
said.
Her father’s sun-darkened
skin attracted attention in the
village, however, where the
locals learned that he had pre-
viously worked as a fisherman
off Vietnam’s coast.
“It’s very rare to find some-
body who knows how to navi-
gate the seas,” said Ly. “They
invited him over to dinner, got
him drunk on baijiu, and talked
him into escaping.”
The family fled China by
boat with the rest of the vil-
lage’s escaping residents, Ly
says.
“We escaped, 70 people
piled into this fishing boat that
the whole village bought,” she
said. “Our ticket on the boat
was our dad’s ability to sail the
ship.”
The family eventually land-
ed in Wilsonville, where they
were sponsored by a local
church. Ly says that they have
felt incredibly welcome in Or-
egon, and have spent the past
three and a half decades estab-
lishing their family in the state.
Since selling their first bottle
seven years ago, the family has
been working hard to increase
the liquor’s name recognition.
Despite its lack of rapport in
the United States, baijiu is
actually the most widely con-
sumed spirit in the world, with
more than 5 billion liters sold
worldwide in 2016.
“When we first started back
in 2010, if you said the word
baijiou, 98 percent of people
were unfamiliar with it,” Ly
said. “It was really challeng-
ing.”
She says that the alcohol,
which is traditionally con-
sumed at room temperature
with food, makes for great
cocktails and possesses a flavor
that blends with the more com-
mon consumed liquors.
“The flavor profile is really
different,” said Ly. “It’s a mar-
riage between sake, tequila,
white whiskey, a little bit of
vodka, a little bit of gin and a
little bit of rum.”
Vinn Distillery operates a
tasting room at 222 S.E. Eighth
Ave. Hours are Fridays, 1 p.m.
to 4 p.m.; Saturdays, 12 p.m. to
5 p.m.; and Sundays, 1 p.m. to 5
p.m. Private group tastings are
available with advance notice.
For more information, you
can call the business at 503-
807-3826.