Woodinville’s J.P. Trodden Distilling won a Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, which bills itself as the largest, most influential international spirits competition in the United States. Bothell resident Mark Nesheim is the owner and distiller. As a Double Gold winner, J.P. Trodden’s Small Batch Bourbon will be featured in an 11-city national showcase tour during September and in Seattle on Oct. 29.
“Score one for true craft distilling in Washington state and the bourbon enthusiasts searching for high quality homegrown products,” Nesheim said. “This award shows that some of the best bourbon in the world can come from right here in Woodinville, Washington.”
Nine judges unanimously selected J.P. Trodden as one of two Double Gold winners in the category of Small Batch Bourbon Aged Less Than Five Years. The World Spirits Competition is judged by a prestigious panel of nationally recognized spirits experts. Always a harbinger of trends in the marketplace, the competition is considered to be the rite of passage for top quality spirits, with 41 of the world’s top professional palates serving as judges. Judging is based on a blind, consensual procedure, ensuring competitive integrity. This year’s event was held from March 19 to March 22.
J.P. Trodden Distilling was previously recognized with a Silver Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2014. The distillery, located at 18646 142nd Avenue Northeast in Woodinville, will celebrate its second anniversary of being open to the public on from 6-9 p.m. tomorrow.
Nesheim founded J.P. Trodden Distilling in 2009 to honor his grandfather’s spirit of passion, ambition, and generosity. J.P. was a mail carrier in the Okanagan region of northcentral Washington during Prohibition in the early 1930’s, a time when he was known to pick up a few bottles of whiskey in Canada, where spirits were legal, to share with his friends.
The spirit of J.P. Trodden lives on today in Nesheim’s small distillery where he alone crafts world-class J.P. Trodden Small Batch Bourbon to a new standard of true craft distilling. Nesheim’s Double Gold Medal-winning bourbon signals that passion is worth the persistence, but he’s not willing to settle for less than he’s capable of.
“Three years of crafting two batches of bourbon a week, against some strong odds, has been a labor of love,” Nesheim said. “Now, with the party lights and the Stacy Jones Band ready to welcome old friends and new for our second anniversary…well, life’s better now, and so’s the bourbon.”
