Bull Run Distilling Co.

One of the trickiest parts when opening a distillery is the lag time between production and sale.

Aged spirits such as whiskey and rum can put a serious damper on the first year of business–and leave the throats of would-be drinkers dry.

Rather than risk it, the new Bull Run Distilling Co. took a different tack.

The Oregon operation is the latest brainchild of Lee Medoff (pictured), who made impressions on our bottle collection with his previous work at House Spirits Distillery, including Aviation Gin, Krogstad Aquavit and numerous limited releases.

Medoff filled us in on some of the barreled projects currently aging at Bull Run, and they're worth the wait. They include a whiskey and a rum that both express the terroir of the Pacific. The former will be 100 percent malted local barley, aged for two years in new oak. The latter will use a majority of Hawaiian cane sugar, rather than the standard Caribbean type.

But in the meantime, Medoff has undertaken a treasure hunt, buying small allocations of high-quality spirits and distributing them as part of the Bull Run line. The first is a Kentucky bourbon, which just hit the market under the name Temperance Trader. The high rye content and five years of age make it a remarkably clean spirit, ideal for those who don't care for residual sugar.

After all, nobody likes to wait.