Jesse Parker goes out and finds interesting casks to finish whiskey in. He thinks about the wood. He thinks about what was made in that barrel—wine, sherry, cognac. Then Parker dreams up a mash bill that will make for a lasting marriage and either commissions or hunts down a whiskey with that mash and, ten years later, a beautiful and extraordinary Doc Swinson’s whiskey is born.
Distiller: JESSE PARKER Founder and Master Blender at Doc Swinson’s in Swisher, Washington.
What whiskey first made you say fuck yeah?
Redbreast 10. It was the first whiskey I really couldn’t put the glass down. It was chewy and just made me go after it.
If you weren’t making whiskey, you’d probably be . . .
Sailing. Or I’d be like all the other millennials out there and not have a job.
What’s a fucked up way you drink whiskey you probably wouldn’t tell anyone if you weren’t filling out this questionnaire?
I really like whiskey in fresh-pressed cider. I sometimes like my whiskey warm. Not heated up, but like if you leave your whisky in the sun. Rye whiskey gets really unique flavor when heated up. It accentuates the lactone—the coconut flavors.
What’s a fucked up way someone you know drinks whiskey that makes you want to throw them off a cliff and seriously, Jesus Hashtag Christ, why, Darryll? Why?
When people take a nice whiskey and put it with a cheap mixer. Like, putting an Eagle Rare in a coke.
What song will get you onto the floor no matter what?
I do have this one song, and it’s a joke around my friends. It’s “Love on the Brain”. But it’s the cover done by the Cold War Kids. It’s phenomenal. I’ll drop that song in sneak it into a mix, and I’ll belt it out no matter what.
Give a quote from a movie you obsess over:
“If anything’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen out there.” — Captain Ron, 1992.
I’m kind of a go-getter and if I’m planning something people are skeptical I’ll just break that out.
Besides making whiskey, what do you do right?
Curating a group of people. I’m good at getting groups of people together to go do things.
Sum up the essence of great whiskey with a single word.
Chewy.
Whiskey with an e or whiskey without an e?
That depends on where it’s from.
What moment during distillation strikes you as perfect?
In distillation, it’s when the heads turn into the hearts. But for my process [in blending], it’s when the moment I pick a blend. Like if I have 20 varieties to blend in front of me: in my gut, I know exactly what I’m looking for but getting it right, it’s like the moment when you perfect your grandma’s cookie recipe. How do I put this in words? I’m no different than a chef. I’m looking for the best ingredients I can find I believe will go together to create something incredibly enjoyable. They often remind some of a good feeling or emotion.
The Doc Swinfons Alter Ego Triple Cask Bourbon, when I started aging and testing through all those barrels. I had a gut feeling of what I wanted in the first place, but one of them stuck out. It gave me a feeling of joy. I just started laughing.
List three whiskies you love that aren’t yours.
- Eagle Rare, back in the day.
- Redbreast
- Old Carter
- I really appreciate what other great blenders are going, like several of the things Barrel does.
Name the single most underrated or overlooked distillery in your state.
You’re tugging on the heartstrings here. In Washington State, I’d like to say it’s us because nobody knows who we’re here. Another one is Westland. They’re everywhere but no one talks about them. They’re the ones who sort of coined American Malt.
Name a whiskey you think our readers never heard of.
It’s been years. There’s this bourbon, well not really a bourbon, but it’s made in France: Bastille 1789. Is it the best I ever had? No, but it stuck in my head.
What was your most embarrassing mistake as a new distiller?
We were just starting out and we had maybe 20 barrels of whiskey. It was the first release of our sherry cask finished 12-year-old. We didn’t have a way to dump the barrels. I had to use a forklift, turning them upside down with the bung facing the floor. While I’m doing this, I get a call and walked maybe ten feet away and the next thing I know brown liquid starts hitting my feet. The first thing I thought was I have to get this back into the barrel. I grabbed some shop rags and sopped it all up and got it back into the barrel. I tasted it and it tasted like floor varnish. I still have that barrel, marked with a big X. It’s there to remind us all to pay attention.
What’s a moment in your life that made you realize life is goddam beautiful?
It’s those moments when you stop and you see everybody else around you is experiencing pure and genuine laughter; pure happiness. Everyone is having a good time. And you can stop and actually recognize that happening. It’s pretty genuine.
Who would you like to see answer these questions?
Jason Parker Copperworks Distilling. I always joke I was his lost child.
