Dry Fly ups production, adds restaurant in new location
By Colin Anderson
Being the first post-prohibition craft distillery in Washington gave Dry Fly Distilling owner’s Don Poffenroth and Terry Nichols a head start on what is now a booming industry. Still, both knew they had to create a superior product in order to keep customers coming back and to continue to expand. As evidenced by its new home, Dry Fly is atop the minds of spirit drinkers—not just in the Northwest, but across the entire country. After adding New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maine to their goal of eventually distributing to all 50 states, the fly fishing buddies are now more excited than ever to open the doors to a new experience for their customers.
“The new facility brings together so many things that we need: increased capacity, the ability to lay down more whiskey, as well as offering Spokane a really cool gathering place downtown. I think I am most excited to see the looks on people’s faces when they see the place for the first time,” says Terry.
The new 24,000-square-foot facility, located in the Spokesman-Review’s previous printing operations building, will increase the production capacity from 20,000-proof gallons to 75,000, with the ability to expand even further in the future. The distillery will start with four 650-gallon fermenters but can house as many as 10, along with an additional column still. The bigger space will allow the bottling line to be optimized at 1,000 bottles per hour and increase the canning capacity of the very popular On the Fly cocktails from 40 cans a minute to 100. Once the new distillery is fully operational, Dry Fly will go from 16 to 35 employees.
The new 70-seat restaurant will pay homage to Spokane’s history and include imagery of the distillery’s namesake. There will also be a separate tasting room and gift shop, as well as an event space, and the state-of-the-art kitchen will allow chefs to exercise their creativity.
“There will be a focus on developing a variety of tasty small plates to complement happy hour, as well as some handhelds and entrees. We will incorporate some of our spirits and the gin botanicals into unique dishes as well,” explains Terry.
Dry Fly is also seeing its On the Fly canned craft cocktails continue to gain in popularity. While there are plenty of mild or nearly flavorless hard seltzers on the market, Dry Fly’s line is not to be confused as a seltzer but a true craft cocktail you can take “on the fly.”
“Premium Dry Fly spirits, fresh juices and cocktail syrups, all-natural ingredients that actually taste good, and we focused on flavor first,” says Terry. “I mean, we use real 100 percent Idaho huckleberry syrup in our Huckleberry Lemonade. Who does that? Nobody, because it is too expensive, but you taste that drink and you are glad we did!”
Be on the lookout for a new gin-based Greyhound in stores this summer. Dry Fly will also be releasing a Huckleberry Vodka, and a few more special bottles to commemorate its new home. Stop by the new location and prepare to be wowed!
Dry Fly Distilling
Distillery & Tasting Room
1021 W. Riverside Ave.
Spokane, WA 99201
509.489.2112
