Local Distillery Named One of Best in Inland Northwest

For the fifth year in a row, Inlander magazine named a small Loon Lake business as one of the best distilleries in the Inland Northwest. 

Despite its size, 2 Loons Distillery ranked as the third best local distillery in the Inlander’s Best of 2026 edition, following Dry Fly Distilling and Browne Family Spirits. 

“We’re very happy about that. It makes us feel like we can compete,” said Greg Schwartz, who co-owns the distillery with his wife, Trish Schwartz. 

The recognition marks five years in a row that the distillery has been recognized by the Inlander and its readers.

Building relationships with their customers and a sense of pride in their products are some of the reasons that people enjoy 2 Loons Distillery’s offerings, said Trish Schwartz.

“I think it’s because we meet most of our customers,” she said.

Established in 2014, 2 Loons Distillery operates at 3950 3^rd Ave., in Loon Lake, producing 1,000 gallons of spirits annually in a modest 1,600-square-foot space. That’s a minor fraction of what other distilleries produce, the Schwartzes said. 

“We pack a lot into a small space,” said Schwartz. 

Raised in Loon Lake, Schwartz said she and Greg moved back to the area in 2002. They purchased a car sales business from her father. The distillery came about when the couple were searching for something creative to do, said Schwartz.

“We had actually attended a bottling party in another distillery and thought, ‘We could do this,’ so we self-taught ourselves,” she stated. “We went to a couple of classes on distilling, then started visiting other distilleries.” 

The couple began practicing with an 8-gallon still, learning how yeast reacts in different situations. 

“Our first production still was a 30-gallon still. Then, we went to 100, and then 260, plus the extra 100,” she said. 

For a while, the Schwartzes balanced both the distillery and the car business.

“As we grew the distillery, we were able to slow down on the car lot stuff,” said Schwartz. The car lot business closed in 2021 during COVID-19, she said.

2 Loons Distillery offers roughly 15 different products, including whiskeys, vodkas, and gins. 

“I keep saying that we would be bigger if we would just slow down and focus on a few things, but we really enjoy what we do and the creativity part of it,” said Schwartz.

By far, their bestseller is its huckleberry-infused whiskey.

“One of the things about our flavored vodkas that I think sets us apart from the majority out there is we do real fruit and low sugar,” said Schwartz. “Our huckleberry batches have anywhere between 30 and 50 gallons of pressed huckleberries.”

The distillery’s huckleberry vodka is only 2.5% sugar, which offers consumers the option to better manage their sugar intake, she said. 

Schwartz said the company has a strong local focus. Huckleberries are picked locally and purchased in bulk. Mint for mint-flavored spirits is grown at the distillery, and the coffee it uses comes from a roast house in Spokane. 

Pride in their small business is one of the best aspects of running the distillery, said Schwartz.

“(A) highlight would be the pride in making a product that is very local and small business, as small as we get,” she said. 

Another highlight has been the people Schwartz has been able to meet. Summertime at the distillery is quite busy, she said, and 2 Loons Distillery has developed a following with people who visit the nearby lakes.

“People that come here during the summer make a special trip to come to the distillery, and we get to see the same people,” said Schwartz.

Going forward, Schwartz looks to maintain 2 Loons Distillery’s production level.

“I feel like we’re at the top of our growth cycle (that) my husband and I want to be,” said Schwartz, who said the two are in the process of considering retirement. 

“We’ve worked really hard for a couple of years to store up products,” she said. The business now has enough whiskey in barrels to last another five years, and they have produced enough vodka to keep up with demand without selling out.

For first-timers, Greg Schwartz recommended their huckleberry-flavored vodka, the gins, or a whiskey.

He said, “We encourage people to always call us, even outside hours because we live really close,” he said. “If we’re just sitting at home reading or whatever, I’d rather come here and help people out.”

For more information, call 2 Loons Distillery at 509-998-0440.