This weekend I took a little trip to Pendleton, Oregon with my parents as well as my bother N. and his wife K. Pendleton is about an hour drive from Walla Walla along country roads. It's an even longer drive if you get behind a big semi truck that can get up to speed on the hills and then sit on the highway due to road construction/maintenance.

No matter. We were driving to Pendleton for a whiskey tasting and release party. Pretty cool, Pendleton. Pretty cool.

Hamley's has just made and released their own whiskey but what makes this whiskey different is that it is made from wheat rather then rye. Why wheat? Well, farmers around Pendleton (and between Pendleton and Walla Walla) grow wheat. Wheat is our grain. Thus whiskey from wheat. Here's a really brief piece from <a href="http://union-bulletin.com/news/2012/aug/20/hamley-reveals-regions-wheat-new-bottling/#" target="_blank">the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin newspaper on the whiskey</a>.

In my mind, Pendleton is the land of cowboys. There's a huge (and very old) rodeo each fall in Pendleton called the <a href="http://pendletonroundup.com/" target="_blank">Pendleton Round Up</a>. The city is crawling with people decked out in the following "uniform:" cowboy boots, big belt buckles, plaid shirts and cowboy hats. Streets are closed, country bands set-up outside, bars open their doors (although you're not allowed to drink outside on streets) and everyone has a hell of a time dancing and drinking. Oh and actual rodeo tickets are pretty hard to come by--just in case you are wondering you can buy season tickets to the rodeo just like any other sport in America.

And if Pendleton is home of the cowboy then Hamely's clothes, outfits and feeds cowboys and has in some way, shape or fashion since 1883.<a href="http://www.hamleyco.com/aboutHistory.htm" target="_blank"> Check out this crazy-great timeline</a>. Hamely's is a Pendleton institution. The current owners have worked to rebuild the cache of the name and the brand.

Hamely's Whiskey is clearly their newest addition.

The party was held in the garden space in front of their Steakhouse. There was a band, there were drinks and there was bbq.  The night was warm but not too hot.

We had a great time--then again we seem to always have a great time no matter what we're doing.

Anyhow, there were free samples of the new whiskey and there were cocktails made with the whiskey. Obviously with wheat flavoring the whiskey rather than the traditional rye, the taste was different and I think that the color was a little lighter. In terms of taste, the whiskey was lighter in flavor and very smooth. The basic idea and essence of whiskey was there but this Hamely's whiskey didn't seem to linger on the tongue as long as some of the other whiskeys I've tried. All in all, I liked it.

I think lots of people turn to whiskey in the fall and winter as it's a drink that warms you up and after the whiskey has aged in oak barrels, it's smokey and seems like the perfect drink to enjoy in front of a fire curled up under a blanket. This said, thhe Hamely's whisk