NEWS
Wallowa County Chieftain
A18
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Award-winning distillery to double production
Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Stein Distillery, Wallowa
County’s only distiller, has
some good news: They’re
doubling production thanks
to the addition of two new
mash kettles to the produc-
tion process. Stein, located
at 604 W. Main St. in Joseph,
is in its 10th year of produc-
ing fine spirits.
Demand necessitated the
expansion, which includes
the installation of the new
mash kettles. The mash ket-
tles are used in the mash-
ing process to convert the
starches in crushed grain
into sugars suitable for
fermentation.
“It won’t take me too
long,” Dan Stein, share-
holder, distiller and facility
manager said of increasing
production with the new ket-
tles. The distillery is owned
by Stein’s son, Austin Stein,
and his wife, Heather.
Not every product will
double in output. Stein said
that increased production
will go toward the whiskeys,
particularly bourbon and rye
along with some five-year
wheat whiskey. The five-
year versions of the wheat,
rye and bourbon whiskeys
are the company’s best sell-
ers with bourbon being
slightly more popular than
the other two.
The distillery is the recip-
ient of a number of gold
medals for its hand-crafted
whiskeys and produces 17
different spirits ranging
from whiskey, rum, vod-
kas, “Steinshine” and cor-
dials. True to the word hand-
crafted, Stein grows its own
wheat, barley and rye. Water
comes from an on-site well.
The brown western-look-
ing building, complete with
veranda, lies at the north end
of Joseph. Its “false front”
proclaims the content with
the company’s Wallowa
Lake moniker proudly dis-
played. Inside, both the cus-
tomer area and the distillery
itself are relatively spotless.
Steve Tool/Chieftain
NEW ADDITIONS TO THE FAMILY — Dan Stein, facility manager, shareholder and distiller at Stein Distillery in Joseph, stands
by two new mash kettles the company bought to essentially double production. The distillery is owned by Stein’s son and
daughter-in-law, Austin and Heather.
Of all the products, Dan
Stein prefers the whiskey.
“I like all the products we
have on the shelf,” he said.
“If I didn’t like them they
wouldn’t be on the shelf, but
the rye whiskey is my favor-
ite; I like the extra spice in
the rye.”
The distillery’s growth far
surpassed the family’s expec-
tations. Though Stein said
it’s natural to wonder about
the viability of a new busi-
ness, he thought that a good
product would sell itself.
Stein attributes some of
the distillery’s surging popu-
larity to its Beaverton tasting
room, which opened three
years ago.
“It allows a larger popu-
lation to try our products,”
he said. “It’s really increased
our state liquor store sales
in the Portland area.” The
distillery also offers on-site
tasting.
One of the benefits of
the added production is
new product development.
Once the revamped sys-
tem is online and running
smoothly, Stein said he’d
most likely begin working
on distilling gin, something
he’s been telling friends that
he’d like to do.
“I’ve been playing with a
recipe for it,” he said. Stein
added that smoked barley
or “Irish” whiskey is a pos-
sible future product as well
as a bourbon cream liqueur.
Stein and local caterer
Randy Garnett also experi-
ment with creating a whis-
key-tinged barbecue sauce.
Although he enjoys play-
ing the wizard in the distill-
ery, Stein enjoys farming the
whiskey ingredients on a
small farm a few miles from
Joseph.
“It’s my part-time job
where I hop on a tractor or
combine, get out there and
relax,” he said with a smile.
“I’ve always enjoyed the
farming.” In fact, the farm-
ing led to the distillery as the
family originally farmed and
sold its grain traditionally.
The company is recy-
cle conscious. For exam-
ple, during the distillation
process, a certain amount
of methanol (wood alco-
hol) and acetone are pro-
duced. This is removed,
obviously, and Stein uses it
to melt ice on the sidewalks
in the winter and since ace-
tone is a solvent, it can be
used to remove labels from
bottles as well. Also, the
spent mash is recycled after
use. Stein hauls it out to the
ranch where it is placed on
a compost pile and used for
fertilizer in the spring on the
grain crops used to make the
whiskey.
“I’m about to wean
myself from chemical fertil-
izer; that’s what my goal is,”
Stein said.
Not surprisingly, Stein
did most of the installation
work on the new kettles
although the electrical and
plumbing work was done by
professionals. A new auger
will swing between the mash
kettles to deliver the grain.
“I’ve been carrying it
up the ladder in five-gallon
buckets for 10 years, 250
pounds of grain a day,” Stein
said. “With this new system
I’ll be using 500 pounds of
grain a day, and that’s a lot
more buckets to carry, so I
decided to get a little more
automated.” Even with the
automation, Stein said it’s
possible he’ll have to hire on
another employee.
Stein said that the dis-
tillery is proof that you can
make it in Wallowa County
in a big way without moving
to the city.
“If you have the right idea
and the talent to do it, I think
there’s all kinds of things
that are going to be coming
up, new products and things
people are making — new
possibilities,” he said.
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