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   Washington craft distillery claims gold medal and ‘best spirit’ trophy 

Hood River, OR –- The Ellensburg Distillery in Ellensburg, Washington won a gold medal for its El Chalán brand of Peruvian-style brandy at the NorthWest Wine & Spirits Summit.  A pisco reposado brandy, El Chalán took further honors when it was awarded the ‘Best Spirit’ trophy by the eleven judges present at the three-day competition.

El Chalán pisco reposado is a natural cask-strength brandy bottled at 105.4° proof.  It was double-distilled, and the spirit was aged in new American oak barrels for eight months.  The product will be released on 1 September and will be priced at $60.00 per 750-milliliter bottle. It will be made available at selected State of Washington wine and spirits stores, at certain cocktail lounges, and  at the distillery, where it can be sampled and sold in limited quantities. 

The 2009 NorthWest Wine & Spirits Summit, in its fourteenth year, was held at the historic Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood on May 4th through 6th.  The NorthWest Wine & Spirits Summit is one of America’s leading wine and spirits judging events and is the largest wine and spirits competition held in the Pacific Northwest. 

The Ellensburg Distillery, Washington’s first craft distillery to make both brandy and whiskey, was the state’s second distillery to become licensed under the new craft distillery law.  It also produces Gold Buckle Club malt whisky.