Black Butte Malt Whiskey

A Beer and Whiskey supergroup.

When two Oregon legends band together, you know it’s time for some serious Rock’n’Roll. As some of the best things in the world, the idea of this Whiskey-Beer venture bubbled to the surface over beer. Thanks to the liquid inspiration, Jim Bendis, founder of Bendistillery, and Gary Fish, founder of Deschutes Brewery, agreed on a business plan: Deschutes makes a Whiskey wash, and then sends it over to Bendistillery’s Crater Lake to distill and age in new #4 char American oak barrels for three years. With both businesses having a relatively long and respectable track record—Deschutes has been around since 1988, and Crater Lake’s been kicking since 1996—the resulting liquid quickly gained a firm fanbase.

First released in 2016 as a limited run, Black Butte Whiskey is an American Malt Whiskey created from the wash (essentially wort without any hops) of Deschutes Brewery’s flagship beer, Black Butte Porter. The resulting Spirit is a balanced, yet complex Whiskey that retains the malty, chocolaty notes of the Porter, and finishes with the soft, nearly sweet, character. This 2019 edition, won Best of Show and Double Gold at the 2019 Sunset Magazine International Spirits Competition.