Patricia Green Cellars is one of Oregon’s leading wine producers and now it’s getting into … whiskey! Why not, right?

You have never encountered whiskey like these, in large part because none of them are whiskey the way you probably think about them. All of them are made at least in part with brandy distilled from Patricia Green’s grapes, a project that started in 2020 when wildfires tainted much of the area’s fruit, leaving unusable for winemaking. The wines were distilled and blended with various whiskeys to create a total of five products (so far) all released under the more casually named Patty Green Whiskey Distillers brand.

We received three of the outfit’s products for review — a 100% brandy plus two of the blended whiskey-brandy products — and we’ve got plenty to say about all of them. Ready or not, here we go.

Patty Green Whiskey Distillers Brandy of Pinot Noir – 100% straight brandy distilled from smoke-tainted 2020 pinot noir grapes, though the brandy carries no vintage designation. While aged in barrels (type unstated, presumably for 3 or so years) this remains very young, aggressive stuff. The nose is redolent of an unaged, high-proof eau de vie like you’d find in Cognac, the floral notes from the distillate carrying the day — lightly camphorous with notes of fresh sheets drying on the clothesline. The palate is equally aggressive but more nuanced, the initial notes of flowers and camphor pushed aside by gentle notes driven by the barrel, including a dosing of sesame and notes of crushed almonds. The floral quality returns big time on the finish, with a potpourri character than ultimately feels rather astringent and drying. Young brandies can be instructive as a starting point, but I’d much rather see what this has to offer after 10-plus years of aging. 100 proof. C / $75 (375ml)

Patty Green Whiskey Distillers Multifarious – A blend of 80% whiskey and 20% brandy (the same reviewed above). The whiskey is all malt barley, made from a blend of three grains — Lightning Malt barley, Purple Karma barley, and Full Pint barley. Five barrels made, two new oak charred to #2 and #3 levels, three re-used STR pinot noir barrels with #3 char. Aged two-plus years. The nose is curious and hard to pin down. Lots of youth, the unmistakable camphor quality of the brandy, and a long walk through the lumberyard. There’s a heavily toasted cereal character underneath all that, a bit ashy. Sipping Multifarious brought me back to the good old days of craft distilling — lots of wood, not a lot of maturity. This is a brash and in-your-face whiskey that demands to be paid attention to, offering an intensely earthy character alongside a bold note of tar and leather. Some cherry fruit percolates up with time in glass, but the wood and, later, those roasted granary notes all work to tamp it down. They do so with ease, and the finish is toasty, woody, and chewy all at once. A hint of dark chocolate on the fade-out provides a bit of respite and suggests something might be in the offing should this spend another half-decade in the barrel. 98 proof. B- / $80

Patty Green Whiskey Distillers Purple Karma Pinnacle – “This is a statement bottling,” says the brand. Like Multifarious it’s an 80/20 whiskey/brandy blend, but the whiskey is made from exclusively Purple Karma barley (“an ancient Himalayan landrace variety” that is actually purple), aged two-plus years in STR wine barrels, #3 char. The nose diverges from Multifarious as the brandy is more evident here, lending a slight sweetness and some florals to the aroma. The change is welcome and much more engaging; while this is very young craft distillate, there’s a better sense of balance in the product — and a more enticing entree overall. Some of this flows to the palate, though the experience isn’t quite as on point as the nose. Here a very strong lumberyard quality quickly takes hold, and a heavy wood element dominates the attack. Well-toasted grains and a layer of green herbs add to the experience, giving it a hearty, roasted, earthy experience that lingers on the tongue for an age. The finish is actually rather pleasant, with a layer of raisin countered by plenty of wood — though the lumberyard flavors eventually fade to let vanilla and chocolate notes come into focus, lingering for quite a time. If this was a “statement bottling” I’m not sure what the statement was, but it is the best of the three spirits I sampled from Patty Green — and the one which indicates this might be an operation worth keeping an eye on, particularly if more well-aged stock is in the works. 112 proof. B / $200

patriciagreencellars.com

Patty Green Whiskey Distillers Multifarious

$80

7

Rating

7.0/10

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