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.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7865632764/" title="Hamely's Wheat Whiskey by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8283/7865632764_5d231171ab_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Hamely's Wheat Whiskey"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7858076078/" title="Me at Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7858076078_da94d5981f_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Me at Hamley's whisky release"></a>
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>.

It seemed interesting and new and just intreage  enough to drive to Pendleton for on a Friday night.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7865642260/" title="Drinking Hamely's Wheat Whiskey neat by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7111/7865642260_12de779d45_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Drinking Hamely's Wheat Whiskey neat"></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.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7865675974/" title="Me and my brother at Hamely's by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8429/7865675974_ca555b714b_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Me and my brother at Hamely's"></a>
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, the Hamely's whiskey is smokey and warming but not as heavy as other whiskeys. I was happy to sip this whiskey straight as well as to drink it in a cocktail.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7865654074/" title="The tall dark and Hamely by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7865654074_8bcbb47691_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="The tall dark and Hamely"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7865661658/" title="Drinking a whiskey cocktail (the tall dark and Hamely) at the Whiskey Release Party by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8440/7865661658_891ee94403_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Drinking a whiskey cocktail (the tall dark and Hamely) at the Whiskey Release Party"></a>
The cocktail that I tried was: the tall, dark and Hamley. 
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7858061558/" title="Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8290/7858061558_9d27de214e_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Hamley's whisky release"></a>
The bbq was top notch. At the event you could choose from beef, pork, chicken, lamb and turkey. I went with the lamb. I might not have chosen the lamb but my dAd asked if he could have a taste of the lamb before picking and the sample of lamb was all that I needed to know that the lamb was the way to go. I thought it was done perfectly--it was cooked well and not at all dry. That seems to be a hard balance to find for lamb. The chili wasn't bad either it was just that the lamb was so much better.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7858048598/" title="Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/7858048598_aee2356b27_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Hamley's whisky release"></a>
The night ended with all of us sitting around, talking and occasionally singing along to popular country songs.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7857971704/" title="K and T at Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7266/7857971704_a7131e5c0e_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="K and T at Hamley's whisky release"></a>
I apparently surprised my dAd by knowing all of the worlds to "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks because he then started taking tons of pictures of my brother and me singing and I heard him say: she knows all the words. 
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7857989280/" title="My brother and me Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8433/7857989280_559583ba1d_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="My brother and me Hamley's whisky release"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7857983170/" title="My brother and me Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8439/7857983170_a2b577ef93_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="My brother and me Hamley's whisky release"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7857977168/" title="My brother and me Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8285/7857977168_dbe4728a8f_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="My brother and me Hamley's whisky release"></a>
Really, dAd, what kind of girl would I be if I didn't know the words. This is a country classic. Sure I live in the city but I grew up in the country.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7858040432/" title="Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7126/7858040432_9a0daf8915_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Hamley's whisky release"></a>
Then we took some family pictures. My dAd, who is among the silliest, goofiest people I know, wanted me to let everyone know that he was our D.D. (you know, designated driver) and that over the course of the whole night he had one sip of whiskey and a single beer with dinner but that he's still game for the ZZ Top baseball hat and sun glasses look. Yep, my dAd doesn't need to drink a thing to have fun.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7858006184/" title="dAd and me at Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7113/7858006184_9a068c0ef5_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="dAd and me at Hamley's whisky release"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7858022468/" title="Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7253/7858022468_ca8cde320c_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Hamley's whisky release"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7858011644/" title="Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8432/7858011644_1145da5fe4_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Hamley's whisky release"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7857931180/" title="Hamley's whisky release by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8443/7857931180_32bca4b513_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Hamley's whisky release"></a>
Thanks for driving us to Pendleton! And three cheers of Hamely's whiskey. Oh and there are some outtakes of our night on flickr if you didn't get enough in this post like this one of me kissing the red cow that comes along with the tall, dark and Hamely. 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7865699168/" title="The tall dark and Hamely drink comes with a red cow by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8300/7865699168_1267f0f262_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="The tall dark and Hamely drink comes with a red cow"></a>