Jill Kuehler founded Freeland Spirits, Oregon’s first woman-owned distillery, in 2017.

Credit: Jason Hill for better.

Woman-Run Distilleries in Portland

Discover Portland’s best woman-made spirits and bitters, one sip at a time.

Updated Dec. 17, 2024 5 min read

Courtney Tait

Courtney Tait is a writer from Victoria, B.C. who lives in Portland. Read More

Discover Portland’s best woman-made spirits and bitters, one sip at a time.

“Women can be anything they want.” That was the lesson passed down to Freeland Spirits founder Jill Kuehler by her Texan grandmother “Meemaw” Freeland, for whom she named the business. Distilling booze has traditionally been thought of as a craft practiced primarily by men. Portland women distillers are breaking new ground and proving they can be anything they want with creative approaches to flavors, bottles and branding. Meet a few of the city’s favorite woman-run distilleries.

Portland Bitters Project

If you drink your coffee black, you might consider adding a little punch to it with Pitch Dark Cacao Bitters. That’s one of the ways that Portland Bitters Project founder Cindy Capparelli enjoys her small-batch tinctures, which are made with therapeutic-grade botanicals.

After several batches, I found out I have a knack for refining flavors.
Cindy Capparelli, Portland Bitters Project

The former landscape artist didn’t originally set out to build a bitters business, but Capparelli has always enjoyed making things with plants. “I researched how bitters were made and started tinkering with it,” she says. “After several batches, I found out I have a knack for refining flavors.”

Launched in 2013, Portland Bitters Project features six flavors, including Lavender, Super Spice and Woodland (a Douglas fir concoction Capparelli likens to “sipping a hike”).

Fun fact: The bitters come in amber glass bottles to protect from light and make them easier to travel with.

Find at:

The Meadow
Tender Loving Empire
MadeHerePDX

Freeland Spirits

The most beautiful bottle in town happens to be full of gin. Freeland Spirits’ signature bottle is shaped like a teardrop and made of blue Mexican glass. It’s etched with the figure of a woman, her arms raised, head tilted and hands firmly grasping the stem of a single stalk of grain.

Established in 2017 by Kuehler, Freeland Spirits produces two highly sippable spirits that not only look stunning on the shelf but also celebrate the women of the craft. Master Distiller Molly Troupe — who has a Master of Science in distilling from Scotland — combines two distillation techniques to achieve the gin’s complex, layered flavors. (Try it over a single cube of ice to detect hints of honey, mint and cucumber.) Freeland’s whiskey — a blend of 3-year and 12-year — is aged an additional six months in pinot barrels from Elk Cove Vineyards, giving it a unique color and mouthfeel.

woman in front of copper still making spirits — Freeland Spirits founder Molly Troupe peers into a distillation column. Photo by Ashley Anderson.

Freeland offers tours and tastings on select days at their Northwest Portland headquarters, a modern industrial space as thoughtfully designed as their gorgeous bottles. “You can see everything behind the scenes,” says Troupe. “We’ll give you an introduction of processes, you can ask questions, and then have a tasting with a mini cocktail trio.

Fun fact: Save your Freeland Spirits gin bottle after it’s empty; it doubles as a unique vase. Search #freelandflowers for inspiration.

Find at: Freeland Spirits tasting room and select Portland liquor stores.

JAZ Spirits

When Faith Dionne began envisioning JAZ Spirits, the craft distillery she founded in 2016, she knew that spruce tips would feature prominently in her creations. As a young girl growing up in Southeast Alaska, Dionne foraged spruce tips, berries, fiddleheads and mushrooms with her mother, a ritual that instilled a lifelong passion for the forest.

I believe that products shouldn’t come to market unless they are bringing something new to the table.
Faith Dionne, JAZ Spirits

You can taste the woodsy influence in JAZ Spirits’ Cold Tree Gin (with notes of toasted juniper, honey and spruce tips) and Verstovia Spruce Tip Flavored Vodka (smooth, with citrus notes). Dionne, who doubles as a pastry chef, forages the Sitka spruce tips with her family in Pacific Northwest forests, along with the fruit for her newest release, Perpetua Salal Berry Liqueur.

“I believe that products shouldn’t come to market unless they are bringing something new to the table,” says Dionne. “My products each paint a picture, from the warm forest floor in Cold Tree Gin, to the breezy treetops in Verstovia Spruce tip vodka, to the drape of burgundy velvet in Perpetua Salal Liqueur.”

Fun fact: JAZ Spirits vodka makes a killer Moscow mule.

Find at: Select Portland liquor stores.

RAFT Botanicals

Genevieve Brazelton loves an old-fashioned. Back in 2013, she set out to craft the perfect aromatic bitters to doctor her beloved cocktail, using fresh ingredients in her home kitchen. It tasted so good, she and her husband Dan turned it into a business: The Bitter Housewife.

It’s not esoteric or intimidating in any way. It’s for everybody.
Genevieve Brazelton, RAFT Botanicals

Today, the brand — which won a 2018 Good Food Award and a Sofi gold award for its cardamom bitters — caters mostly to restaurants. Fans, however, can turn to RAFT Botanicals, which the Brazeltons took over in 2016. Featuring four different bitters (aromatic, orange, grapefruit and cardamom) and a range of syrups, RAFT uses small-batch, seasonal ingredients to bring depth to cocktails, salad dressings and meat marinades.

“Our goal is to be in everybody’s home bar,” says Brazelton. “We’ve found this middle ground in a cocktail mixer, making something that is craft — made with natural ingredients and a lot of care — but for the mainstream audience. It’s not esoteric or intimidating in any way. It’s for everybody.”

Fun fact: The peel of an entire navel orange goes into every bottle of RAFT Orange Bitters.

Find at: