Welcome to our Happy Hour Question & Answer series, where we ask questions to interesting people in the alcohol world.

This week’s spotlight is on Heritage Distilling & CEO/co-founder Justin Stiefel. Heritage is an independent craft distillery, offering a variety of whiskeys, vodkas, gins, rums, and ready-to-drink cocktails. Recognized as North America’s most awarded craft distillery for ten consecutive years, Heritage also leads in the industry with its innovative Tribal Beverage Network (TBN), a partnership with Native American tribes aimed at developing unique distilleries and brands.

Hops & Spirits: How did Heritage Distilling come to be with the “campfire co-founders”? 
Justin Stiefel: As with lots of good ideas, it starts around a table, or a campfire, or a firepit, and usually with a drink of some kind in your hand. In our case we were seated around the firepit sipping on some whiskeys and scotch, and I made a comment to the folks that I think we could make our own whiskey, but better. They all stopped and looked at me and asked how, and that started the conversation. The next morning, after the night’s liquid had worn off, it still sounded like a good idea, and we set out to start formulating the plan.

HS: Was whiskey the first spirit y’all wanted to make? Or were there others? 
JS: We knew we wanted to make whiskey, but like may early distillers, we produced vodka and gin for cash flow reasons while we worked on the whiskey. We also laid down some brandy and started making flavored vodkas along the want, then flavored whiskies.

HS: How did flavored whiskey come into the picture? 
JS: In 2013 and 2014, flavored whiskeys started to explode in the market, and we kept getting asked by visitors in our tasting room if we had any flavored whiskeys that tasted like what they were seeing in the market. That started our R&D into flavored whiskeys.  

HS: The Cocoa Bomb Chocolate Whiskey recently earned Best Flavored Whiskey in the US by Whisky Magazine, what is it like to receive that honor for this flavor? 
JS: This is the third time we have received this honor from the tasing panel at Whiskey Magazine. There is no higher honor in the whiskey market than to be recognized by Whiskey Magazine as the best in your category. No other distiller has won this award three times, demonstrating that our commitment to bold and authentic flavors is being captured in the bottle.

HS: You’ve had previous success as well with the Brown Sugar Bourbon winning twice, what’s y’alls approach to making flavored whiskey? 
JS: First, we look for authentic flavors that people enjoy in their everyday life. Then we work to find a way to capture that naturally in the bottle. Too many flavored whiskey producers use sub-par whiskey as the base spirits because it is cheap. Then they use cheap flavoring syrups because they think the flavored whiskey category allows you to get away with doing the minimum. We don’t take that approach.

We want consumers of flavored whiskies to be awakened when they smell our brands, and then to be surprised and delighted when they taste it because we capture the true essence of what they expect. Lastly, we work to avoid strange after tastes or lingering sour notes, often coming from artificial sweeteners or cheap whiskey. If you start with the best ingredients, you can make the best finished product.  

HS: Where do you see the flavored whiskey market going? 
JS: All the data says that market continues to grow faster than the regular whiskey market as it draws new entrants into the space. We know that we create converts everyday form people who drink beer or wine but who are looking for permission or the right entry product to dip their toe into the whiskey category. Flavored whiskeys allow for that, and we are glad to be on the forefront.

HS: What’s next for y’all? More varieties of flavored whiskey? 
JS: Yes, we have some more in the works, and we are always ready to surprise people. We are great innovators, especially in the flavored whiskey space.

HS: Where can folks find/purchase Heritage Distilling brands? Or get more information? 
JS: They can visit one of our five tasting rooms in Washington and Oregon, or our partner HDC tasting room at the Angle of the Winds Casino in Arlington, Washington. We also have two new HDC tasting rooms opening in late 2025 in Coos Bay, Oregon, at the Coquille tribal casino and in Payson, Arizona, at the Mazatzal Casino, owned by the Tonto Apache Tribe. You can also shop online at HeritageDistilling.com and order Cocoa Bomb or any of our other greats spirits to be shipped to your home in 47 states.