History of Dolmen Distillery | Oregon small batch micro-distilleries

Dolmen Distillery draws its name from the giant megaliths constructed at the end of the stone age. These massive rock formations served as ancient time pieces, a guide to the heavens and burial chamber for kings and shamans alike. Today these rock edifices remain scattered from Scandanavia to the British Isles to France.

Distiller Anders Johansen is a bit on the stoic side with a dry wit and a dark humor befitting these ancient tombs.

Honey was one of the early fermentable sugars. Fermented honey is called Mead. In ancient Nordic and Celtic lands this mead was the most available and reliable source of alcohol. It was too cold to grow grapes up north and the wine made on the European continent at that time was a sour mess. Bless the Arabs for discovering the secrets of distillation in an effort to make sweet-scented water from roses and orange flowers.

Today, Dolmen Distillery crafts a rare elixer out of fermented honey. Dolmen started producing our first honey based distillate, Worker Bee in early 2005. If you are lucky, you'll find it here and there at Oregon liquor stores.