Distilled in Oregon: A History & Guide with Cocktail Recipes

Early Oregon fur traders concocted a type of distilled beverage known as Blue Ruin, used in commerce with local Native Americans. Drawn by the abundant summer harvests of the Willamette Valley, distillers put down roots in the nineteenth century. Because of Oregon's early sunset on legal liquor production in 1916—four years before national Prohibition—hundreds of illicit stills popped up across the state. Residents of Portland remained well supplied, thanks to the infamous efforts of Mayor ...