WEEKEND EDITION
THE WEEK
IN PHOTOS
ECHO’S EMILY RAY RANKED EOU GOES ‘TEST-BLIND’
5TH IN OREGON GIRLS CLUB TO BENEFIT INCOMING
TRAPSHOOTING STUDENTS
LOCAL, A7
SPORTS, B1
NORTHWEST, A2
DECEMBER 5-6, 2020
145th Year, No. 22
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
New whiskey celebrates repeal of Prohibition
Pendleton distillery
launches Cabbage Hill,
company’s fi rst aged
wheat whiskey
By BEN LONERGAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — After more
than two years aging in the Ore-
gon Grain Growers Brand Dis-
tillery basement, the fi rst three
barrels of the distillery’s new Cab-
bage Hill aged whiskey emerged
from the cellar for bottling earlier
this week — just in time for the
87th anniversary of the repeal of
Prohibition.
“It’s a lot of science and a lot of
fi ngers crossed,” said Kelli Bul-
lington, co-owner of the distillery.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Staff bottle the inaugural run of Cabbage Hill aged wheat whiskey at the
Oregon Grain Growers Brand Distillery in Pendleton on Thursday, Dec. 3,
2020.
Thursday, Dec. 3, marked the
culmination of fi nger crossing
and science as the fi rst bottles of
whiskey began to fi ll and a team
of staff went about the process of
corking, labeling and sealing the
roughly 800-bottle inaugural run.
Cabbage Hill marks the dis-
tillery’s fi rst aged wheat whiskey,
a product that has been a dream
of owners Kelli and Rodney Bul-
lington since they fi rst opened the
Pendleton micro-distillery in 2016.
In the true spirit of their past
projects, which have focused on
local ingredients and production,
the wheat whiskey features wheat
from local farmers milled and dis-
tilled in Pendleton, according to
Bullington.
After a multi-month distill-
ing process in 2018, the 120-proof
spirit was poured into wine bar-
rels and left to age in the distill-
ery’s basement, said Bullington.
From there, Bullington, her hus-
band, and the rest of the Oregon
Grain Growers Brand Distillery
staff did the best they could to for-
get about it, periodically checking
the color and fl avor, and waiting
for the American oak barrels to
work their magic.
“The whiskey pulls from that
color and that fl avor and the char
that’s been in there and everything
else that’s been in there,” said Bul-
lington of the barrels.
Wes Murack, who helped
with the distilling, barreling and
bottling process, and has been
involved in brewing and distilling
See Whiskey, Page A9
‘Visionary
force’ behind
Threemile
Canyon
Farms dies
Marty Myers passes
away at his home
of natural causes
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
BOARDMAN
—
Marty
Myers, general manager of
Threemile Canyon Farms and a
member of the Oregon Board of
Agriculture, has died. He was 68.
A
spokes-
woman for R.D.
Offutt Co., which
owns Threemile
Canyon
Farms,
said Myers died
Tuesday, Dec. 1, at
his home of natu-
Myers
ral causes.
In a company
statement, Offutt CEO Tim Curoe
said Myers was the “visionary
force” behind Threemile Canyon
Farms, which includes Oregon’s
largest dairy operation.
“(Myers) had a vision for the
farm to be a sustainable opera-
tion, which was well ahead of the
times,” Curoe said. “He brought
that idea into reality by creating a
See Myers, Page A9
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A sign along Southwest 18th Street in Pendleton advertises the future site of the Blue Mountain Community College Agricultural Complex and
Arena on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020.
Back on — for now
FARM II, Umatilla
County Jail upgrades
make governor’s
preliminary budget
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — Funding for two
regional projects are back in Gov.
Kate Brown’s budget proposal, but
success is still far from certain.
In 2018, both Blue Mountain
Community College’s FARM II facility and a
Umatilla County Jail renovation project were
proposed by the governor and approved by the
Bailey-Fougnier
Hansell
Levy
Oregon Legislature. But both projects had their
funding tied to Oregon Lottery revenues, and
with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing many
video poker machines to go dark, the states
told local governments over the summer that
the money wasn’t available.
Despite the setback, local legislators and
political leaders continued to lobby the gover-
nor’s offi ce on funding the projects in the 2021
legislative session, a tactic that paid off when
she included $13.7 million for FARM II and
Murdock
Smith
$1.8 million for the jail renovation in her Tues-
day, Dec. 1, budget announcement.
“It has been a long haul full of hopes and
frustrations, and while being in the initial
budget proposal isn’t a sure thing, in the long
run, it is certainly an important milestone,”
a Wednesday, Dec. 2, city of Pendleton press
release states.
The three legislators that will represent
See Budget, Page A9
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