MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake Distillery has been bottling spirits for sale in the region since 2021, operating out of a shop off of State Route 17, as well as running a small tasting room now located in Downtown Moses Lake. 

Owner Zachary Hughes said the distillery began as a side project. 

“I lived in San Diego for a little while. I had a buddy that had a distillery down there. That's kind of what got me into it. I would just hang out with him, and he (would be) like, ‘Oh, go by the distillery, we'll do some distilling and tasting,’” Hughes said. “So I started off doing that and then helped him for a little while and then I moved up here, my wife (Liz) and I, and then there were no distilleries around, so we figured we would try it out.”

Hughes outlined what the distillery focuses on.

“We do vodka, rum and whiskey. Each one kind of has its own unique thing … So it's been kind of like the art of that, the art of the different ways to do the barrel maturation,” he said. “Like aging it in, say an American Oak Barrel, and then finishing it in either another (barrel) or like a wine barrel or a rum barrel … The crazy thing too is you could do the same process throughout the entire thing and then both of them will taste completely different after they're done aging, so it's pretty cool.”

For the last six months, the distillery’s tasting room has operated out of a new location in Downtown Moses Lake, at the intersection of South Ash Street and West Third Avenue.

“We had our old tasting room that was over in Squirrel Fight Brewery; we did a shared tasting room with them and then once they closed down, we moved in over here,” Hughes said. “We kind of wanted to be downtown, we thought that was more important, to be centrally located. We'll be here a little while longer and then we're going to look for a little bit of a bigger spot. It's kind of a good space in between; we love the area … it's cool and the outside area is cool, we just want something a little bit bigger.”

The tasting room offers a variety of drinks for the public.

“I like to kind of experiment with what you can do,” Hughes said, “And my wife does a really good job in the tasting room. She usually makes all of our cocktails here and she'll pick maybe four or five for the week and then we’ll just signature those cocktails for the week and then next week we'll change them all up. So it’s kind of fun as we progress to do that, and as she does the cocktail side, I can try and make a spirit that’s going to go really well with that cocktail.”

The tasting room is only made possible through Washington state law, Hughes said.

“In Washington, you can go directly from the manufacturer (to the) consumer, which is really nice so that we can have people come directly in here and get bottles from us,” he said. “The tasting room is kind of nice because that's what we kind of focus on, is just bottles, and then if someone wants to stop by, have a cocktail or two while they're here, then that’s awesome.”

Hughes explained his experience with Moses Lake in the two years the distillery has been in operation.

“The community that we have here, it's different than anywhere that I've lived before; being towards the east coast in Ohio and in Hawaii and San Diego,” he said. “I love the community here and that's kind of what got me hooked from the very beginning when we moved here, was it's a close community. Everyone kind of knows everyone, which is really cool, checking out a lot of the other local small businesses and meeting them and seeing what they're doing, and working with a lot of them too.”

Hughes said the distillery has grown in the last two years as well.

“Over the past couple of years, we've been getting out into more places, selling a lot more bottles, a little bit busier in the tasting room,” he said. “Our newest thing is we just signed a partnership with the Moses Lake Roundup, so we're going to be producing a whiskey that's going to be approved by the Roundup and we're going to have it at the rodeo.”

According to a statement from the distillery, limited releases of this whiskey will occur leading up to the Roundup & Demo Derby in August, and large-scale distribution will follow after the roundup.

Moses Lake Distillery has found success not just in sales but in awards as well. The statement said this month the distillery was awarded the 2024 American Spirits Council of Tasters Double Platinum Award, which means it won top marks in the competition, according to a May 21 press release from the distillery.

Overall, Hughes said one of his favorite things about running the distillery is being able to talk to customers.

“The people that come in here, they're awesome, so just chatting with them, kind of seeing what their background is and getting their feedback on whatever products that we have,” Hughes said.

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. 

Moses Lake Distillery
121 West Third Ave.
Moses Lake, WA 98837
509-824-6183
mldistillery.com
Sun-Wed: Closed
Thu-Sat: 1-5 p.m.

    Moses Lake Distillery owner Zachary Hughes pours his wheated bourbon at Midway Pub in Moses Lake back in 2021.
  

    Moses Lake Distillery focuses its spirit production on vodka, rum and whiskey, according to owner Zachary Hughes. Pictured are two Moses Lake Distillery products, rye and wheated bourbons.