It’s been quite a year for Lynnwood’s Temple Distilling. This weekend promises to be a celebration for it.
Temple Distilling, owned by husband-and-wife team AJ and Jamie Temple, will host its third anniversary and aquavit release party on Sunday — a day after pouring spirits at the Washington Distillers Festival at McMenamins Anderson School in Bothell.
Festivities kick off at noon at the distillery, 19231 36th Ave. W., Suite F, Lynnwood.
It will be a busy weekend, capping off a busy year for the gin-focused distillery. Temple widened its distribution network, gaining shelf space in 20 stores in Idaho and sending a shipment to Belgium, increased its bottle sales by 99 percent and had its Woodcut Barrel Rested Gin named to Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Spirits list.
Along with increased sales, Temple also tripled its physical footprint, taking over a neighboring warehouse space. The added space will be used for storage for now, but may later be a spot for an additional still.
With Swedish lineage on his mother’s side, AJ Temple made aquavit, a traditional Scandinavian spirit, for Sunday’s celebration. It was his first batch. He made one distillation with star anise and another with caraway, grains of paradise and bitter orange peel, and then blended the two. It came out at 80 proof.
“It shares the same ancestral lines as gin, and is basically gin with different botanicals,” said AJ Temple, adding that it’s an easy to sipper. “I’ll be having it along with pickled herring and crackers this holiday season.”
In addition to the aquavit, Sunday’s party will also feature a food truck and hand-rolled cigars.
—Aaron Swaney, special to The Herald
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