Portland’s Freeland Spirits named top distillery to see in 2024
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A Portland distillery received high marks from Forbes after the magazine named the business the top distillery to visit in 2024.
Forbes writer Ronnie Koenig said Freeland Spirits is “one of the most exciting brands in the U.S.” and is behind some of the most “appealing” cocktails, including the Pistachio Sour, Fig & Juniper, and a savory drink called Strange Magic — featuring gin, miso paste and mushroom simple syrup.
Freeland Spirits opened in 2017 on Northwest Vaughn Street — blending inspiration from Texas, Guatemala, and Oregon.
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The story behind Freeland Spirits begins with founder Jill Kuehler’s Texas roots, where she grew up in her Memaw’s (grandmother’s) garden.
“Even though she never touched a drop of booze in her life, she now has a distillery named after her,” Kuehler previously told KOIN 6 News. “I really fell in love with food and agriculture and her garden.”
Jill Kuehler founded Freeland Spirits in Portland (Courtesy photo)
Taking her passion for gardening, Kuehler later spent two years planting community gardens in Guatemala before moving to Oregon where she ran a nonprofit farm.
“While I was there, I got to know my good friend Cory Carmen. She raises grass-fed beef out in Eastern Oregon and we became whiskey drinking buddies. And it was a fateful whiskey drinking night, drinking delicious bourbon. And Cory said, ‘I’ll grow it if you make it.’ And that was the birth of Freeland.”
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With a distillery and a tasting room, Kuehler crafts bourbon, rye whiskey, and gin. The bottles are also a nod to life in the Pacific Northwest.
“The shape is like the rain of the Pacific Northwest, what makes our farms and our forests so verdant and also a nod to the Teardrop Lounge in Portland, one of the original cocktail bars that really put cocktails on the map in Portland,” she said. “And the owner was super supportive as I was getting started. So a little bit of a nod to the Teardrop Lounge. And then I like to think of the woman on the front. She’s holding up her stock of grain. I like to think of, like, if Memaw could have been anything she wanted in the world, a fully empowered woman. Really, it’s really for any woman who’s just really going for her dreams.”
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