Leavenworth's Blue Spirit Distillery Tasting Room

If you are a quirky Bavarian village fan, I think you will like Leavenworth, Washington. 

Hey, I need to tell you the state, because, of course, the other famous Leavenworth is in Kansas and houses a US federal government penitentiary.

Our Leavenworth is situated in the Cascade mountains, and resemble a bit of the Bavarian Alps, maybe a wee bit smaller... okay?  Beautifully quaint German architecture, darling hotels with great amenities, Oompa bands, beer gardens and fun.  Fun.

Leavenworth has always been my happy place.  But, lately, it has become more so... better shops, better restaurants, wine tasting rooms from great wineries and now.... (drum roll) a local distillery tasting room!

$10 tasting fee for your choice of three items, about 1/2 oz of each.  $5 is refunded towards a purchase. I choose Cherry whisky, Espresso vodka and the rum.

My first sip?  OMG.... it was Cherry whisky. 
First thing I said after OMG... "I'm buying that".
I said it two more times and bought all three of the items I tasted.

Someone else (my significant other) choose one 1 1/2 oz single taste of their expensive whisky.  He said yum and plonked down the cash for a very expensive, very small bottle. That said volumes to me.

Later, your "tasting" server brings you teeny, tiny little glasses of mixers to try with your booze sampling.  It was SO good "neat" that I really hesitated to mix them...
I tried a Cherry Whisky Sour (YUM!)
Espresso vodka with a squeeze of orange (So happening again...)
Rum with hot buttered rum mix (good, but I will stick with my own mix and a cheaper rum). This Blue Spirit Rum is TOO GOOD to mix in my humble opinion.

The cold distilling machines.  A very cool (hahaha...) method of extracting the flavors without boiling the flavors out of it.  These babies cost a lot, and only three distilleries in the nation are currently using this process.

Racks of newly bottled spirits in crazy good flavors.  Cucumber vodka, grapefruit vodka, "Ghost" gin and too many others to count.

Jeff, the owner, and the mad scientist inspiration.  He used to be an architect in Bellevue, but now is a passionate distiller, who was so engaging and interested in telling us all about how he got started and the challenges of Federal regulations, coupled with our own Washington state laws.  Impressive knowledge that he was so willing to share.

Distilling machines.  Working twelve hours a day.

This was the grapefruit vodka going when we were there.  Lots of orange pulpy mixture below, coming out very clear flavored vodka above.  The smell was heavenly.  I need to try this one next.

Setting the ambiance in the showroom, beautiful shiny copper old still, but not used for distilling.

Fall displays within the tasting room.

Do you want to go?  Check it out here.

Leavenworth's Blue Spirit Distillery Tasting Room.

Check out the gift sets and buy something cool and local for a Christmas present.

Spinach Chickpea Soup

We absolutely adored this soup- bright and interesting flavors, easy to make and very satisfying for a meatless dinner.  Flavors are kind of Spanish, maybe North African.  Just yummy to us. 

However, maybe this one isn't for everyone, in reading the online reviews I was shocked to see that not everyone did.  People said rude things, but I just cannot relate.  Haters of spinach?  Not sure what their problem was.
I mean... ask yourself the following:
- Do you like spinach?
- Do you like chickpeas (or garbanzos, ceci beans)?
- Do you like curry?
If you answered yes, then try this soup.

My recommendation is to make the curry, lime and oil "drizzle" to serve on the top of the soup. We thought it was really the thing to do.  I may use this drizzle stuff for other things, it was that good.

This recipe hails from Sunset Feb 2015. I will make it again and again.

Serves about 4

Ingredients

3 Tbsp olive oil

3/4 cup diced onion, or shallots

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 tsp curry powder

2 cans (15 oz. each) chickpeas (garbanzos), drained and rinsed

5 cups vegetable broth (or chicken)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

6 cups packed spinach leaves, stems removed

Curry Drizzle

1 1/4 teaspoons curry powder

1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice

1 Tbsp Olive oil

Heat 3 tbsp. oil in a medium pot over medium heat and add shallots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, curry powder and ginger and cook until aromatic, about 1 minute more.

Add chickpeas, broth, and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until flavors are well blended and chickpeas are very soft, about 10-15 minutes. Add spinach and cook just until softened and bright green, about 2 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes.

Whirl half of soup at a time in a blender, starting on low speed, until very smooth. Ladle into bowls. Just before serving, stir lime juice, curry powder and olive oil together and drizzle over soup.