Killdeer Distilling

A family-owned distillery high in the Ribbon Ridge AVA, run by Colin Fisher and Kate Coulter, who converted a bull barn into a working distillery and tasting room and have been producing spirits since 2018. Fisher lives and works on the property, which is home to sheep, chickens, cats, and the killdeer — a large plover — that nest there and gave the business its name.

The range covers three whiskeys (a 100% corn whiskey, a bourbon aged in new charred American white oak, and a rye), gin including a barrel-aged version, vodka made from corn and wheat, and an old-world absinthe built on wormwood and roughly two dozen other herbs and botanicals. A vanilla bean and espresso liqueur, slightly sweet and lower proof, has become a favorite — good over ice cream as well as sipped. The Whipper Snapper whiskey ages up to two years in American oak and French wine barrels. Fisher and Coulter experiment continuously, adding rye to the bourbon for spice and adjusting flavors batch to batch.

The tasting room is small and idiosyncratic, decorated with a big-horned sheep skull, a Shriners fez, an antique sewing machine, and a portrait of a horse. There’s a patio out back with cornhole and a pond, and views across Ribbon Ridge. Neighbors include Eminent Domaine, Patricia Green Cellars, Beaux Frères, and Trisaetum. When a food truck visits, the tasting room can legally serve full cocktails rather than just flights — worth timing if you can. A second retail location opened in Newport’s Nye Beach.

Killdeer is part of the Wine Country Whiskey Trail, and the Newberg tasting room issues the Trail Passport.