Jim and his crew were kind enough to deliver a bottle of Multifarious to me in Cannon Beach, as I was too lazy to drive to WV after driving down from Seattle. This stuff is really good! Comes out at ‘bottled in bond’ strength (98 proof) with that added mouth feel and palate weight. Some honey, and high end caramel, with a late definite coffee note. A slight reductive quality common in a lot of cask strength spirits. Hard to place as scotch-like or bourbon/rye like. The 20% brandy component gives it almost a sazerac made from high end components feel. Really top-notch stuff. Makes me want to taste the rest of the line-up, but I guess I’ll need to drive back down to do that… (Don’t worry, Jim–I’ll pay for the bottle when I get back to a secure internet connection).
Appreciate the note. I think the important thing about all of these bottlings is actually LESS about the inclusion of brandy (from the distilled 2020 Pinot) and more about they’re being truly grain-based items. So much of American whiskey is mostly corn (and therefore quite sweet) that the concept of what whiskey is has been defined by that. There’s no corn in these and the level of brandy inclusion is substantially lower than the corn part of whiskeys or bourbons. On the other hand the brandy brings a textural component that is palpable which gives greater dimension, mouthfeel and length to these whiskeys. In my opinion. The Multifarious is probably the most savory of the four we have bottled (well, by Friday the 8th we will have bottled four) and if you’re looking for something less savory the Francin Barley we’re bottling tastes, I swear to god, like a liquified, alcoholic snickerdoodle.
Good times. Also, the delivery to Cannon Beach is a personal favor to John but also because I live out on the coast as well. Don’t y’all be getting ideas of me driving around passing out hooch all over the place!
you know, it just occurred to me. I’m driving down to the Bay Area next week, if anyone wants some of these I’d be happy to mule it down for you, just let me know ASAP. You’d need to place the order directly noting pick up by me, and you would need to meet me in Dublin/Pleasanton for pick up.
edit to add - not really next week, I drive down on the 17th and will be there all week.
edit again to add: and I’ll also be In Sacramento (Antelope, actually) visiting my grandson on the following Saturday, the 23rd.
That’s the Berserker way for sure! I don’t think a lot of people visit this forum unfortunately. Stuff is not only awesome it is also the sort of whiskey wine drinkers who enjoy whiskey would really be attracted to. There’s a large contingent of people on this board would dig this stuff for sure.
Two new ones bottled. The proofed one tastes like a delicious snickerdoodle magically turned to whiskey. The cask strength throws some cinnamon red hots on top. Either way, both are insane.
when do these go on up for purchase Jim?
Oh, they’re for sale. Pretty sure it’s on our website.
Also, we can now ship to Kentucky (and Oregon)!
only seeing the Multifarious, Purple Karma, and Brandy up on the site so far, not the new ones.
This could be because I’m in Boston right now and they’re waiting for me to produce tech sheets and notes for these. I can probably do that this evening and get it going. Will post when that happens.
Amazing stuff.
My wife and I detoured from our trip from Portland to Yakima to visit Patricia Green Winery last Friday. I had discovered the winery many years ago but had never visited. I’ve bought a few bottles of wine here or there, mostly from Full Pull, and most recently on Berserker Day bought a 6 pack of the Corrine Vineyard mixed Pinot Noir wine. That was the purpose of the visit, to pick up those bottles of wine and do a wine tasting.
I had vaguely heard of the brandy project in 2020/21, had never seen this thread, and by sheer luck while we were tasting wine, there was a small group tasting some tall skinny bottles at the coffee table area of the tasting room. As they were leaving, I chatted with Frank from Sammamish(?) and we talked Kentucky/Tennessee whisky a bit, and I asked Carolyn to leave the whisky out so we could taste as well. Frank and a colleague had recommended the Cask Strength PG whisky.
Barbilocks and I thoroughly enjoyed the wines we tasted. We added several bottles to our BD pick-up, Chardonnay, and Freedom Hill Dijon 115. The 2021 Pinot line-up was pretty stunning. Then we tasted the whisky.
First up was the “raw” brandy. 2020 Pinot Noir recovered soon after the wine was in barrel because they knew it was not good as wine. What a wise decision. Copper/caramel in color, the brandy had only a hint of sweetness, but rolled smoothly across the tongue.
Next was a lineup of 4 whiskeys. The first I failed to record name, but more of the same as the brandy, with more alcohol, and a smooth caramel finish. I thought immediately of Scotch. I am more of the Bourbon drinker, but this will change your mind.
Next was the Purple Karma Pinnacle. The name alone was worth savoring, and the whisky was delicious. Higher priced than the first, and I could not recognize much difference, but very delicious.
Last were the two new bottlings, that @Jim_Anderson shows above. These were my favorite of the day. The “standard” Francin has excellent polish, lift, smoothness, character. Unbelievable these had only aged a year or so in barrel. Tastes like a 20 Year whisky. If I didn’t know the story of how these came to be, I would not have asked to confirm their age.
The Cask strength was another level of whisky. Very close to the jarred stuff from Appylachee where I grew up. Smooth, smooth molasses, followed by a swift mule kick to the head. This stuff is dangerous. Give me another shot…
We came home with the “regular” Francin. I will hide this from all but my closest friends, and likely will sneak back to Newberg next time I’m in the area. Extremely well done Jim and team. WOW!!!
Hey. Thanks for the nice notes.
The first whiskey is called Multifarious which riffs off the winery’s history of -ious suffixed wine names and describes the contents (“made of many things”) as this is a blend of three barleys.
All the whiskeys are between 2-3 years in barrel with the Francins being closer to three. I think the use of upper level grains and a distiller who is insanely talented allow for the whiskeys to show richness and depth beyond their years.
We’re still working out shipping! We’re now good on:
Oregon
DC
Kentucky
Tennessee (I think)
There will also be distribution in Tennessee, Rhode Island and hopefully California and New York!
Thanks for this reminder! Yes! we had a conversation about Nefarious (the one on Lake Chelan) which apparently you are familiar with. 
Shipping back east is a great strategy, I live in Yakima, working remotely from Portland, so can hop over, but a Washington distribution would be a good fit too, imo.
Thanks for the clarification on barrel aging. Still hard to believe only 3 years.
Great project with fantastic results!
Like Chris, we booked a tasting/pick up appt to fetch the Corrine offerings on BD and had a wonderful tasting earlier this month (Abi was a great host). At the end of our tasting (which for us, too, prompted further purchases) we were lucky to get to taste the Multifarious and it was a no-brainer purchase. Being used to/favoring 12-year Irish and Scottish, this was surprisingly smooth (given its young age and relatively higher ABV). Highly recommend!
Once you get California, I am 100% in!
PS… sent you a DM, Jim
Like in Instagram? Hmm. I’m likely terrible at knowing whether I have one or not. Here? That’s a PM and I don’t have any. You can just email me. I don’t even have an AOL account even though non old enough too. But that’s also what I get. If there’s a DM I’m more likely to thinking means Dungeon Master than some form of communication I need to go hunt down.
Illinois, too
Ha! DnD always comes to my mind when I hear DM. Sent ya an email (to the right address I hope!)
picked up the Francin Barley Whiskey yesterday, and didn’t waste any time gettin’ to it last night 
delish, really tasty stuff! The Blueberry Eau de Vie is legit too!
That’s prettt sweet.
Best of luck. Sounds super fun!