Camp 1805 continuing on its spirited adventure

“Our joke is that if we had been there when they got here, we would have been able to keep them going,” said Camp 1805 cofounder Chris Taylor, of the thirsty expedition.

Like the Corps of Discovery, Taylor and fellow distillery founder and friend Roy Slayton have a bit of the pioneering spirit. The two White Salmon residents decided back in 2011 that they wanted to open a distillery in the Gorge, because they “always wanted to make something here in the community we live in.” However, neither Taylor, who works as a rep for a company that manufactures geomembranes, nor Slayton, who works for Farmers Conservation Alliance, had much experience when it came to making spirits.

Undaunted, Taylor says the two conducted “thousands of hours of research” reading up on the art of distilling, as well as taking the opportunity to apprentice at a distillery in Colorado and another in Seattle, where they honed their craft.

While they worked on studying up on their spirits, Taylor and Slayton saved up money to open the business, which was also partially funded via a Mid-Columbia Economic Development loan. They also had to find a spot for their business, which Taylor recalls was “probably the most difficult” aspect of setting up the distillery. After unsuccessful attempts at finding an available building that would suit their needs, the fledgling distillery was able to secure a spot in the 501 Building on Portway Avenue, which broke ground in summer 2012.

Taylor recalls they were thankful to find such a “beautiful” spot for the distillery.

“We loved the fact that we were right down on the water,” he says.

After getting occupancy, their next hurdle came when they tried to find equipment for the distillery and discovered that tanks everywhere were on back order — a situation which Taylor attributed to the country’s continually burgeoning craft brewing industry.

The equipment finally came, though, along with the distillery’s gorgeous copper still that came all the way from Spain, and Camp 1805 opened up this year on — you guessed it — July 4.

The distillery started out by serving 3-ounce cocktails made from their three brands: Mt. Hood Vodka, Backbone Rum, and Endurance Whiskey, all clear liquors, all unaged. Taylor says the distillery prides itself in that their rum is made with Maui cane sugar and is not back-sweetened like other rums. He adds that their spirits don’t contain any colorings or glycerin, which he explains is sometimes added for mouthfeel.

And of course, the water is important too.

“The water is so good here,” Taylor notes. “You can’t beat the water.”

Taylor says he and Slayton had “so much fun introducing the liquor to everyone” over the summer, and hired general manager Eric Bottero to expand their cocktail offerings. Bottero, who has started up bars in Southern California as well as the Bazi Bierbrasserie in Portland, says he decided to come work at Camp 1805 because he respected the distillery’s ethos of keeping things classic and keeping things simple with their spirits.

“My ideas were the same: Let’s do things simple, let’s do things fresh, let’s do things right,” Bottero explains.

For the distillery’s seemingly ever-expanding list of cocktails, Bottero makes sure all the juices are fresh-squeezed and all the syrups are made in-house. Camp 1805 does have a full bar, serving beer, wine, and even other liquor brands, but Bottero notes that “most of our cocktails are made with our liquors — I’d say about 80 percent.”

Many of the cocktails on Camp 1805’s menu are classics: Old Fashions, Martinis, Manhattans, and Moscow Mules — or in this case, a “Mosier Mule,” which is served the correct way in a copper mug — but Bottero hints there will be some drinks coming that will “push the envelope.” The Mosier Mule mugs are lined up on the distillery’s long, rustic wood bar that faces a large case shelved with bottles of Camp 1805 liquor that can be purchased to go. Most seats in the house have a view of the waterfront, or the distillery’s copper still, which can be seen through a glass door behind the bar.

The distillery recently started serving food last month with a menu primarily consisting of sandwiches and appetizers and also started a happy hour featuring reduced prices on cocktails and food. Bottero notes the food offerings are planned to expand more next summer as local produce comes into season, but adds the food will always take a backseat to the liquor.

“First and foremost, we’re a distillery,” Bottero says.

Camp 1805 is also expanding their spirit offerings. After shipping off their products to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission warehouse earlier this month for wider distribution (you can now find Camp 1805 spirits in the Hood River liquor store), the distillery will be releasing this weekend its young aged whiskey and aged rum, which Camp 1805 claims is the “first legal aged rum made in Hood River since before Prohibition.”

And as their liquor has gained exposure, it has also garnered awards. The distillery already has four medals under its belt from distilling competitions: a silver for its vodka and a bronze for its unaged rum at the San Diego International Spirits Festival, and another silver for its vodka and a bronze for its aged rum at the Great American Distillers Festival in Portland.

Taylor attributes the success in part due to the fact that they distill in small batches, which forces the quality to be “spot-on every time,” but notes that he and Slayton aren’t exactly experts at distilling and are still learning, still experimenting.

“We’re not masters by any means; we just kind of forge our own path back here,” Taylor says, looking at the still.