Nathan Kaiser
Nathan C. Kaiser was born June 11, 1975 and spent his early childhood in Austin, Texas, where he eventually got his first job delivering newspapers as a boy. When he was in ninth grade, his family moved to Washington State, and Kaiser finished Redmond High School there in 1994. Kaiser eventually studied at the University of Washington. He earned a degree in microbiology, but his early professional life unfolded primarily in technology. He is the former C.O.O. at Blue Box Group, and spent years working with startup companies, gaining experience with the testing, measurement, adaptation, and controlled growth that characterize young technology businesses. Kaiser valued the people around him in that industry, but the products and services themselves did not give him the lasting sense of purpose he wanted from his work.
Meanwhile, the 2BAR Ranch had been in the Kaiser family for five generations of Texans. It had carried a cattle brand associated with quality, independence, and hard work for more than a century. Stories passed through the family connected earlier generations on the ranch with Prohibition-era moonshining, although no recipe or documentary record of that whiskey-making tradition survived. By the late 2000s, Kaiser’s discontent with his lucrative but dissatisfying chosen field was at an all-time high. But whiskey offered a different kind of occupation. Kaiser had long enjoyed it, and distilling promised the chance to work with his hands, purchase grain directly from farmers, and manufacture a physical product from its beginning. By 2010, he was actively developing the business that became 2BAR Spirits. He named it for the family ranch, carrying a South Texas identity into Seattle, a city better known for coffee, beer, and wine than locally distilled bourbon.
Kaiser officially founded 2BAR Spirits in 2010 and spent the next two years preparing it for operation. The distillery officially opened in October 2012 in the city’s SoDo neighborhood. It became the first distillery in Seattle to produce bourbon and established itself as a true grain-to-glass operation: grain entered the building, and finished bottles left it. Milling, mashing, fermentation, distillation, maturation, and bottling all took place on the premises. The business also joined two different family histories. Kaiser’s wife Marissa (née Ng) is a Seattle native whose family has lived in the area for generations. Together, the couple’s two backgrounds gave the distillery both its Western identity and its permanent connection to Seattle.
Kaiser initially made moonshine and vodka but bourbon became the defining purpose of 2BAR. Its moonshine preserved the most direct link to the stories surrounding the Texas ranch: an unaged corn whiskey made from Northwest grain. However, bourbon required patience and capital because freshly distilled spirit had to remain in charred-oak barrels before it could generate revenue. Kaiser nevertheless kept the company’s focus narrow, building 2BAR as a bourbon distillery rather than allowing a broad range of spirits to obscure its central product.
Finally, the first 2BAR bourbon was released. It immediately demonstrated both the possibilities and constraints facing a small distillery. A 2014 release was slightly more than nine months old and matured in 15-gallon barrels with a No. 3 char. Its grain came almost entirely from Washington, with a small portion supplied from Oregon, and its mash contained considerably more malted grain and less wheat than a conventional wheated-bourbon recipe. The spirit entered the barrel at approximately 113 to 116 proof, lower than the entry proof commonly used by many producers, yet it was bottled at 100 proof. By 2019, 2BAR was making its bourbon entirely on-site from Washington-grown grain. That control allowed the distillery to trace each bottle through every stage of production rather than purchasing mature whiskey made elsewhere. Nevertheless, Kaiser has spoken very candidly about bootstrapping a whiskey distillery with very little money and somehow managing to survive while numerous other craft operations disappeared.
Still, 2BAR’s bourbon evolved beyond the youthful small-barrel batches of the company’s opening years. The central 2BAR Straight Bourbon Whiskey became an 80-proof expression aged for at least three years in new charred-oak barrels. A Bottled-in-Bond Straight Bourbon followed at 100 proof and at least four years of age. Wine-barrel-finished and amaretto-barrel-finished bourbons, both bottled at 90 proof after a minimum of three years in new oak, expanded the range without abandoning the company’s core whiskey. Those expressions begin with the same six-grain bourbon recipe: corn, wheat, and four types of malted barley. The substantial malt component distinguishes 2BAR from many American bourbons and gives the distillery a consistent foundation for different proofs and finishes. Every variation remains connected to Kaiser’s original production model—local grain, in-house processing, new-oak maturation, and direct supervision over the whiskey from milling through bottling.
Kaiser has never wavered in the value he places in family. He has stated that his favorite way to spend his small amount of free time is with his wife, Marissa, and his boys fishing, sailing, swimming, hiking, and camping. Despite his success in two very different careers, Kaiser lists his biggest accomplishment as being a father to his three amazing boys who love the outdoors and enjoy helping out at the distillery. As if those were not enough roles to play, Kaiser is also the current vice president of the Washington Distillers Guild.
2BAR Distillery has now passed its first decade in operation and remained centered on the same product that drew Kaiser out of technology. The result is a Seattle bourbon with Washington grain, a Texas cattle brand, and a production history directed by one continuous objective: making the best whiskey possible entirely under 2BAR’s very own roof and serving it to loyal and thirsty Seattleites.
Sources:
2BAR Spirits official website, 2barspirits.com
Cupcake Royale, “Our Love Affair with 2BAR Spirits Whiskey”, Nicki Kerbs, January 22, 2016, cupcakeroyale.com
GeekWire, “Commentary: A Lean Startup Approach to Making Booze”, Nathan Kaiser, November 16, 2013, geekwire.com
Drinkhacker, “Review: 2bar Spirits Bourbon”, Christopher Null, May 12, 2014, drinkhacker.com
Seattle Refined, “Local Whiskey, Moonshine, and a Dog Named Galt”, Susan George, September 8, 2019, seattlerefined.com
Sip Magazine, “4 Questions with Nathan Kaiser of 2bar Spirits”, Molly Allen, September 9, 2019, sipmagazine.com
Fabulous Washington, “Fabulous People: Nathan Kaiser”, Kenzie Barrena, October 29, 2024, fabulouswashington.com
Craft Spirits Magazine, “2BAR Spirits Releases Oldest Bourbon to Date”, October 29, 2024, craftspiritsmag.com
Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee
