Giving Compass' Take:

· Stephen Mathis at The New Food Economy discusses how a Seattle distillery is taking a unique approach to conservation by using oak aging barrels to address the declining population of the Garry oak tree. 

· How does using oak aging barrels for whiskey help preserve the Garry oak tree? How is this distillery raising awareness for conservation efforts?

· Read more about preservation efforts in rapidly growing Seattle. 

Matt Hofmann strides through the knee-high grass in heavy-soled boots and a blue flannel shirt. With his burly frame and bushy red beard, he looks every bit the part of a lumberjack. We’re headed toward a pair of trees with sprawling branches that are dominating the middle of a small savanna. In his role as master distiller at Westland Distillery in Seattle, Washington, Hofmann is constantly on the lookout for wood of the sort this tree could provide. But today, we’re visiting a nature preserve near Tacoma to view Garry oak, also known as Oregon white oak or Quercus garryana, in its most endangered habitat. Hofmann and his team have helped the local land trust Forterra plant 600 Garry oak saplings here over the last two years.

The first thing you notice about Garry oaks is how twisted they are: their branches and even their trunks tend to bend and turn at odd angles. In the wintertime, their silhouettes form wild vein patterns against the pale sky. Here, in mid-May, they’re lush but not exactly full, with thick moss adorning many of the branches.

Hofmann points to one tree with a particularly straight trunk. “That’s a six-barrel tree right there,” he jokes.

Two years ago, like a lot of Americans, I had never heard of Garry oak. But then I tasted a whiskey that Hofmann had matured in barrels made from this wood native to the Pacific Northwest. Consider that over the more than 800 years humans have been making whiskey, producers have matured their spirits almost exclusively in just three types of oak. Garry oak hasn’t been one of them. While producers have experimented with other types of oak, none have yielded reliably good whiskey—and many have yielded reliably awful whiskey. I say this from experience. As a whiskey writer, I’ve tried a great many of them. But Westland’s Garryana whiskey is different. Aside from the fact that it offers a complex and unique flavor profile, it’s also just really good.

Read more about the preservation of Garry oaks by Stephen Mathis at The New Food Economy.