Sidetrack Distillery

Occasionally, I miss a place in my backyard, whether due to hours, distribution, product skew, or location. Sidetrack fits 2/4 of those criterium, but I fixed that this last weekend. I was planning on checking out 4 Horseman Brewery, but it was either closed or gone, but I remembered that Sidetrack was near there and should be open. I pulled in to a small farm adjacent to the Green River and immediately remembered my experience at Cockrell Cider in Puyallup, both were farm to glass concepts.

In this case, Sidetrack Distilling is a farm to glass concept and make fruit & nut liqueurs and brandies. They use their apples to make a mild apple brandy base and then add the necessary fruits or nuts from their farm in the distillation process. The blackberry, black currant, blueberry, and raspberry liqueurs were sweet and tasted like fruit jam. The lemon verbena, walnut, shiso, and yuzu liqueurs each were unlike anything I had tasted on the market, which explains why they distribute to high end establishments at Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco. They had one brandy in stock and it was plum, which makes sense given my plum tree is full of fruit. The plum brandy is a very common drink in Europe, but is practically unheard of here. I bought a bottle for my german grandmother to have a taste and see how it compares to her youth.


Evan Turner

Entrepreneur in Residence


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