There are whiskeys on the market that cost more than a used car. Some run $10,000 a bottle. Some top $80,000. And then there's a straight bourbon out of Washington State that goes for $39.99 — sitting right alongside them on one of the most prestigious lists in the spirits world.
Image credit: Woodinville Whiskey
Woodinville Whiskey's Straight Bourbon Aged 6 Years just earned a spot on the Robb Report's definitive guide to the 50 Greatest Whiskeys of the 21st Century, a list covering the best bottles produced since the year 2000. The Robb Report, widely regarded as the leading publication on global luxury, pulled from distilleries across the world for the ranking. One entry is priced at $80,000 for a single bottle of Japanese Single Malt. Woodinville's bourbon comes in as the third-lowest price point on the entire list — and it still made the cut.
For a craft distillery out of the Pacific Northwest, that's not just a win. It's a statement.
How Two Best Friends Built Washington's Biggest Craft Distillery
The story of Woodinville Whiskey starts in 2010, when Brett Carlile and Orlin Sorensen — two lifelong friends — decided they were going to make the best craft whiskey in America. Not just good whiskey. The best.
Image credit: Woodinville Whiskey
They grew up in a valley thick with wineries, where wild yeast drifts through the air and the culture of fermentation is baked into the landscape. That environment shaped the way they thought about craft, about patience, and about what's possible when you respect the process.
They didn't go it alone. Carlile and Sorensen brought in David Pickerell, a master distiller widely considered one of the greatest to ever work in American whiskey, to help guide their approach. With Pickerell's expertise in place and a clear vision for quality, Woodinville began building something that most craft operations never quite achieve — consistency at a high level.
The grain comes from a single source: a fourth-generation farm family named the Omlins. Using one farm means one set of variables, one relationship, and one standard. That kind of control over the supply chain is rare in craft spirits and sets Woodinville apart from distilleries that source from multiple suppliers or use commodity grain.
The Aging Process That Makes the Difference
Here's where Woodinville's production gets genuinely interesting. The whiskey is distilled in Woodinville, Washington — but it doesn't stay there to age.
After distillation, the spirit is loaded up and trucked 170 miles east, back over the Cascade Mountains, to the same Omlin family farm in Quincy, Washington where the grain was grown. There, it goes into custom-coopered barrels and settles in for years.
Quincy sits in a semi-arid climate that's nothing like the lush western side of the Cascades. The temperature swings are significant — hot summers and cold winters push and pull the whiskey in and out of the wood repeatedly, accelerating the extraction of flavor compounds and contributing to the depth that makes the bourbon stand out. That climate isn't an accident of geography they're working around. It's a deliberate part of the recipe.
The result is a 6-year-old straight bourbon at 90 proof that holds its own against whiskeys three times its age and ten times its price.
What the Critics Are Saying
The Robb Report recognition is the marquee achievement, but it's not the only one.
Forbes has described Woodinville Whiskey as potentially "the best craft whiskey in America." Newsweek named it one of the "10 Best Bourbons of 2026." Wine Enthusiast included the Straight Bourbon in its "Best Bourbons of 2025" list and recognized it as one of the "Top 100 Spirits of the Year" — a distinction awarded by critic Kara Newman.
That kind of consistent, multi-outlet recognition across different publications and critics is harder to manufacture than a single splashy award. When the same bottle keeps showing up on independent lists across the industry, it tells a clear story about quality.
Co-founder Orlin Sorensen put it plainly: "Our guiding principle since we started Woodinville in 2010 has always been to make the best craft whiskey in America. To be recognized by the Robb Report as one of the '50 Greatest Whiskeys of the 21st Century' is truly monumental and a reflection of the commitment and dedication we have to always put quality first."
A Distillery Still on the Way Up
What makes Woodinville worth paying attention to beyond its current lineup is what's coming.
The distillery has been walking a deliberate path with its aged expressions. An 8-Year Bourbon dropped in 2024. A 9-Year followed in 2025. In 2026, Woodinville is set to release its first-ever 10-Year Bourbon — a milestone for any craft operation and a meaningful moment for a distillery that's been building toward it since the beginning.
Each of those releases represents years of planning, warehousing, and patience that most small distilleries can't sustain. The fact that Woodinville has done it methodically, year by year, says something about how the operation is run.
For those who want to experience the distillery firsthand, the tasting room in Woodinville is open daily and hosts exclusive annual releases like the Harvest Release. Private tours led by distillery staff are available with advance reservations. And now, a newer option has opened up — private tours at the Quincy bottling and aging facility, where the barrels actually rest. For anyone serious about understanding how the whiskey is made, seeing the aging warehouse in that high-desert climate is worth the trip on its own.
A $40 Bottle in a Different League
The broader context of the Robb Report list is worth sitting with for a moment. This is a publication built around the finest things money can buy. Its whiskey coverage tends to skew toward rare Japanese single malts, ultra-aged Scotches, and limited-release American expressions that require either a lottery or a very deep network to obtain.
Image credit: Woodinville Whiskey
Woodinville's Straight Bourbon Aged 6 Years retails for $39.99 and is available at retailers nationally, as well as directly through the distillery's website. It's not allocated. It's not rare. It doesn't require knowing someone or camping outside a store. It's accessible — and that accessibility alongside the recognition is exactly what makes the story compelling.
There are plenty of expensive bottles that belong on lists like this. It takes something genuinely special to land there at $40.
