b"Howit isAn exciting look back and forward at beer, vodka, gin, whisky and more being made from wheat. By Treena HeinWHEN WE THINKof beer and spirits, wheat isnt likely the first crop that springs to mind. But, just like every other grain crop that humans have ever cultivated, its been used to make spirits and beers both plain and more inventive. Nowadays, with the craft brewery and distillery trend going strong, there are some new wheat genetics developmentsand no shortages of new wheat-based alcoholic drinks to try. The Gin is InAccording to a website called The Gin is In, among the eight crops that gin is mostly produced from, wheat only became a more-common base for gin in the 20th century. Because wheat was (and still is) such a useful grain for baking, there was often very little good-quality grain on the market for distillers. However, advances in crop technology and modern agriculture have reduced wheat scarcity and now distillers can choose a wheat base if their heart-so-desires. Last Mountain Distillery says that wheat gives their whisky a smoother and sweeter taste One of these is Chuckanut Bay Distillerythan rye. in downtown Bellingham, Wash., which uses local white winter wheat in its gin.So, with that, our gin is very gentle100% Wheat WhiskyChuckanut Brand Ambassador Reggieand approachable, he says. We let theWheat whisky in the U.S. (according Gallo says using local grains in their prod- vanilla sweetness of the wheat spirit workto Stephanie Moreno, blogger for the ucts is a priority, and luckily we found ain conjunction with our botanicals to bringDistiller website) must be aged in new, farmer in Whatcom County where we'reout the best in each. Some people maycharred oak containers and can be located who could provide us with corn,say that the base spirit for gin doesn'tsourced from 51% to 100% wheat. As for rye and wheat. We use white winter wheatreally matter that much because youflavor profiles, think of Wheat Thins or mostly because it's what we could find.just cover it up with botanicals, but wewheat bread, she writes. [Wheat whis-When asked why they chose wheat fordon't think that's true. The wheat spirit wekies] are flavorful, yet have a lightness and their gin, Gallo explains that wheat lendsproduce is one we're very proud of andgentle sweetness to them. Depending on the spirit a softness that you don't getwe would say it's a very important part ofthe amount of secondary grains, the spice from say, corn or rye.our gin. factor is generally relatively low.10/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2020"