Port Chilkoot Distillery.

• Author: Gallion, Mari
• Position: INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS

The first bottles of Southeast Alaska-made spirits have hit store shelves and drinking establishments now that production at the Port Chilkoot Distillery in Haines has begun.

Port Chilkoot Distillery recently started production with small batches of bourbon whiskey made from a fermented mash of Washington-grown corn, wheat, and malted barley. The whiskey will stay on-site for maturation in charred oak barrels. "Icy Strait Vodka," also made from grain, will be the first product to be released.

Owners Heather Shade and Sean Copeland built the distillery in one of the original buildings of the historic Fort Seward in Haines. Built in 1904, the building that once housed the Army Fort bakery is now filled with a Kentucky-made, 125-gallon...