Gloriana Tatro, an elder in the Stillaguamish Tribe, cuts the ribbon to the new Heritage Distilling Co. tasting room at Angel of the Winds Casino Resort in Arlington last week, while Justin Stiefel, co-founder and CEO of Heritage, kneeling, holds the ribbon. Tribal Chairman Eric White, in the blue shirt next to Stiefel, was among tribal members celebrating the occasion. Behind White is Angel of the Winds CEO Travis O’Neil. The room officially opened to the public last Friday.
A tasting room featuring the whiskeys, vodkas, gins, and rums of Gig Harbor-based Heritage Distilling Co. opened last Friday in the Angel of the Winds Casino Resort in Arlington, marking the first such tasting room within a tribally owned casino in the Northwest, according to Heritage.
The Stillaguamish Tribe owns the Snohomish County casino, which opened in 2004 about three minutes east of Interstate 5.
The grand opening features a limited-edition blend of two 10-year-old bourbons in celebration of Angel of the Winds’ 20th anniversary. The release of 700 bottles of the bourbons will be exclusively available at the tribe’s location for the grand opening, Heritage said. Production for the tasting room is occurring in a tribal building elsewhere on the tribe’s property to avoid using high-value retail space for production or industrial activities.
Heritage Distilling Co.'s new tasting room in the Angel of the Winds Casino Resort in Arlington is the first such tasting room within a tribally owned casino in the Northwest.
Heritage’s partnership with the Stillaguamish Tribe marks the latest in Heritage’s Tribal Beverage Network, or TBN, that it’s rolling out nationally as one of the company’s sales channels. Heritage established the TBN to help tribes economically by licensing them to make and sell Heritage- and tribal-branded spirits in their casino and entertainment venues, thus creating jobs and revenue for the tribes.
“In concert with tribal partners, this sales channel includes Heritage-branded micro production hubs, Heritage-branded stores and tasting rooms, and the sale of our products and new tribally-branded products,” Heritage says in a preliminary prospectus for its proposed initial public offering of Heritage Distilling Holding Co. Inc. common stock this quarter. “In the typical TBN collaboration, the tribes will own these businesses and we will receive a royalty on gross sales through licenses we grant to use our brands, products, recipes, programs, IP, new product development, ongoing compliance support, and the other support we provide. The TBN is expected to form a network of regional production hubs that will support product trials and sampling and will generate sales of finished, intermediate, and bulk spirits depending on location, equipment, and market.”
The impetus for the TBN began in 2020 with the Chehalis Tribe, which makes Heritage spirits at its Talking Cedar restaurant, brewery, and distillery in Grand Mound, south of Olympia. That deal was made possible, in part, by Heritage’s co-founder and CEO, Justin Stiefel, lobbying Congress in 2018 to pass legislation that overturned what was then a 184-year federal law prohibiting spirits production on tribal lands, according to the prospectus. It was the first tribal-owned distillery in the U.S. and the first distillery allowed in Indian country since 1834, according to the company.
The tasting room's grand opening features a limited-edition blend of two 10-year-old bourbons in celebration of Angel of the Winds’ 20th anniversary this year. The bottle to the left is the limited edition 20th Anniversary Edition Whiskey, and the bottle to the right is the Stillaguamish Immortal Reserve Whiskey. The release of 700 bottles of the bourbons will be exclusively available at the tribe’s location and bottles are branded by the Stillaguamish Tribe as part of its agreement with Heritage Distilling in the Tribal Beverage Network.
Talking Cedar is not attached to the tribe’s Lucky Eagle Casino & Hotel, about nine miles away. TBN expansions announced since then for Angel of the Winds, and other tribal projects are for Heritage Distilling branded tasting rooms in or attached to tribal casinos, with those types of operations as the primary focus of TBN expansion plans for now, Heritage said.
Justin and his wife, Jennifer, Heritage co-founder and president, established the TBN partnership with Native American tribes to develop Heritage-branded distilleries, brands, and tasting rooms to serve patrons of tribal casinos and entertainment venues. TBN members can benefit not only from sales margins and tax capture, but they can also generate funds to support social and economic initiatives, increase employment and diversified skills, and create brands that celebrate the unique characteristics of a tribe or region, according to a Heritage news release on the Angel of the Winds project.
This is some of the tasting room seating available upstairs from the room's main retail area and bar area below. The casks on the wall are part of Heritage's Cask Club, a membership program allowing members to create personalized spirits and enjoy special benefits.
“The partnership between the Stillaguamish Tribe and Heritage provides a unique opportunity to share our passion for crafting exceptional spirits with a broader audience while creating a vibrant destination within the Angel of the Winds Casino,” Justin Stiefel said in the release. “Spirits production and sales represent the next major avenue for financial growth among tribes. With tribes already operating more than 500 casinos, entertainment and retail venues across the United States selling adult beverages, distilling is the logical next step in development. For more than 180 years, antiquated legislation excluded tribes from the spirits industry. Now, the Stillaguamish are primed to seize this opportunity.”
Stillaguamish Tribal Council members cut a giant cake celebrating the tasting room's opening. From left, they are Jeremy Smith, Stacy White, Gary Tatro, Kadi Bizyayeva, Josh Wells, and Chairman Eric White.
Stillaguamish Tribal Chairman Eric White praised the partnership, adding in the release, “We look forward to welcoming locals and visitors to experience the exceptional craftsmanship and unforgettable tastes that define this new partnership. Together, we celebrate this new chapter and the opportunities it brings for our Tribe and our community."
Heritage has other TBN deals with the Tonto Apache Tribe in Arizona, which is working to open a tasting room and distillery adjacent to the tribe’s Mazatzal Hotel & Casino in Payson and a storage and bottling facility, and with the Coquille Indian Tribe in Oregon for the first tribal distillery in Oregon. In the Oregon project, Heritage and Coquille-branded spirits will be produced, bottled, and sold at The Mill Casino-Hotel & RV Park in North Bend, Oregon, as well as the casino’s several bars, restaurants and retail outlets.
This rendering shows Heritage's planned Tribal Beverage Network project with the Tonto Apache Tribe in Arizona, which is working to open a tasting room and distillery adjacent to the tribe’s Mazatzal Hotel & Casino in Payson in early 2025 and a storage and bottling facility in 2025. Heritage is working with the Tonto Apache, Stillaguamish, and other tribes to create new economic development opportunities for Native American communities.
Heritage expects the Oregon and Arizona production facilities to be running by spring 2025 and the tasting room build-outs to be completed in late 2025. Fi architecture of Gig Harbor is the lead design architect for all TBN projects.
Heritage also has agreements with several other tribes in Washington, Idaho, and Oklahoma that have not yet been publicly announced by the tribes.
