Spirit of the rodeo
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 2 months AGO
Moses Lake Roundup Rodeo Board President Chris Starzman, left, and Moses Lake Distillers Owner Zach Hughes show off a bottle of the rodeo’s new signature whiskey, Spurstride.
COURTESY PHOTO/MOSES LAKE DISTILLERY
Moses Lake Distillery and the Moses Lake Roundup Rodeo are preparing to unveil Spurstride, a wheated bourbon whiskey made specifically for the rodeo.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | August 5, 2024 3:15 AM
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Roundup Rodeo and Moses Lake Distillery will debut Spurstride, the rodeo’s official signature whiskey, tomorrow at Business After Hours at the Grant County Fairgrounds.
“That’ll be the initial unveiling, and then the first place that’s going to carry it that you can get it in bottles is going to be the Moses Lake taproom,” said Moses Lake Distillery Owner Zach Hughes. “And then after that we’ll spread it out widely.”
Spurstride will also be served at the Moses Lake Roundup’s Loading Chute during this year’s rodeo, which is Aug. 15-17.
The Moses Lake Roundup isn’t the first rodeo to partner with a distiller for a custom spirit, explained Joe Ketterer, the member of the rodeo committee who spearheaded the partnership. He took inspiration from the Pendleton Roundup, which partnered with Hood River Distillers in 2003 to make Pendleton Whisky. (The spelling is different because Canadian whiskies like Pendleton, as well as Scotch and Japanese whiskies, are traditionally spelled without an “E” whereas most others are spelled with one.)
“When you look at the scale of something like Pendleton Roundup, and their partnership with Hood River distillery … you look at that monumental project and what that's done for the brand, for the rodeo community, for Pendleton Roundup in general, it's incredible how that passive revenue has supported the growth of them and put them on the map,” Ketterer said. Pendleton Roundup General Manager Erika Patton helped Ketterer navigate the legal and marketing labyrinth involved in partnering with the distillery, he added.
Spurstride is a wheated bourbon, Hughes said, similar to Moses Lake Distillery’s flagship wheated bourbon for which the distillery won the prestigious Double Platinum award from the American Spirits Council of Tasters this year. It’s not quite the same, though, Hughes said.
“It’s a little bit lower proof; it’s an 80-proof instead of a 90,” he said. “So that’s going to allow it to appeal to the majority of whiskey drinkers. It’s a really well-rounded wheated bourbon; it’s nice and sweet and has a little bit of caramel notes as well.”
The wheat level is also different, Hughes said. Moses Lake Distillery’s standard wheated bourbon is 45% wheat, whereas Spurstride is a blend of two bourbons, one 45% wheat and the other 21%. Because Moses Lake Distillery doesn’t have the infrastructure to produce it in sufficient quantity, Spurstride will be made in Indiana and Texas to Hughes’ recipe and specifications.
The deal is a win-win for both the distillery and the rodeo, Ketterer said. Moses Lake Distillery gains marketing opportunities for Spurstride, which Hughes said will be the distillery’s core product, and the rodeo collects a royalty from any product, be it T-shirt, coffee mug or whiskey bottle, that bears its logo.
“Obviously, the biggest selling point for us is that Zach Hughes and the Hughes family, they are local, he is a veteran,” Ketterer said. “His major product focus is on Spurstride, which benefits him as a small business owner. He's a good guy who makes a heck of a good product.”
Moses Lake Distillery and the Moses Lake Roundup Rodeo are preparing to unveil Spurstride, a wheated bourbon whiskey made specifically for the rodeo.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”