By ALEX SILVERMAN
@AlexSilverman
KIRO Radio

There's plenty of local beer to go around in Seattle, and the wine industry does pretty well too around these parts. But there's one kind of booze the Emerald City's been missing for far too long.

Three years ago, Steven Stone decided to do something no one in Seattle's done in nearly a century. "I contacted the state, and found out that since prohibition, there had never been a distillery in Seattle."

Stone got the idea from friends in Portland, where he says craft spirits are an up and coming industry. "Having been down there a few times I said to myself, that has to happen here in Seattle." And now it has.

Sound Spirits started making vodka, branded Ebb and Flow, from local barley last month in Seattle's Interbay neighborhood. The use of barley, rather than the usual wheat or potatoes, gives the vodka a sweeter, smoother flavor, Stone said. Gin is next on his to-do list.

Stone, a Boeing engineer, is still on the job full time, spending his evenings at the distillery. "I'm not getting a whole lot of sleep right now. I'm putting in 14-15 hour days every day."

But with orders pouring in from state liquor stores and several local bars, Stone sees things calming down in due time. "I plan to expand and hire people to do all the work," Stone said.

And it looks like Stone's a trendsetter. "I'm the first," he said. "But there's at least a half dozen right behind me." In fact, another distillery in Fremont actually got its license before Sound Spirits, but Stone beat them to production.

"It's been a wild ride and a whole lot of work, but a whole lot of fun too," Stone said.

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