Page 42 - Beverage MasterFebMarch 2021_Update

Craft Distillery

encentric focus. In 2019, Lee Hedgmon came on For whiskey connoisseurs, Freeland Spirits
board. Hedgmon is a native Oregonian and woman launched a private barrel program where someone
of color who began brewing in 2004 with a focus on can pay for a barrel, and when it’s is ready, they get
fermented beverages such as beer, mead, wine and the first 24 bottles that come off that barrel. Other
cider. She also founded The Barreled Bee, a fer- offerings have included whiskey making and cock-
mented honey, which is sold in the Freeland Spirits tail classes.
bottle shop.
While the physical distillery remains closed to
The distillery also launched Freeland Free Spirits, the public due to the global pandemic, Freeland
a celebration of female-identified Oregonians who Spirits continues to offer curbside pickup of spir-
are breaking the glass ceiling. Each month, they its and cocktail kits in Portland, along with ship-
choose a person who works with Freeland’s tast- ping throughout Oregon. Freeland Spirits can also
ing room manager to design a specialty cocktail be found in select stores in Washington State,
for that month. All proceeds from the cock-tail go California, New York and Illinois.
towards the person’s charity of choice. Currently,
portions of this program have been put on hold due For more information, go to their website...
to Covid-19. https://www.freelandspirits.com/

Another women-centric collaboration is the
bestselling cocktail kit Queen RBG (rose, berga-
mot, ginger), a tribute to the late U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which benefits
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon. Other
local collaborations include partnerships with Kate’s
Ice Cream, Portland Bloody Mary, Portland Soda
Works and Pie Spot.

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