PENDLETON – Tim Hawkins, sponsor director for the Pendleton Round-Up, set a few bottles of Pendleton Whisky on the table.

“If I’d known there would be so many people here, I would have brought more,” he joked.

Hawkins was at the Blue Mountain Community College campus for the recent Columbia Basin Cereal Seminar. He spoke at the value-added products panel about marketing the Pendleton Round-Up name and image.

The idea of Pendleton Whisky took shape in 2001, when a sales manager at Hood River Distillery suggested the company begin producing a blended Canadian whisky as a way of entering the market for premium spirits. Hood River Distillery organized focus groups and discovered the buyers of blended Canadian whisky identified with the outdoors, cowboys and the western lifestyle. The distillery already knew it wanted to be involved with an Oregon event, so a match with the prestigious Pendleton Round-Up seemed a natural.

Representatives from Hood River Distillery met with the Round-Up board and a deal was struck. The company would produce a blended Canadian whisky, age it for 10 years, and market it with the Pendleton Round-Up logo. In exchange, the Round-Up would get a royalty on every bottle sold.

“The board though it would be good for the Round-Up, and good for Hood River Distillery, too,” Hawkins said.

With the concept in place, Hood River Distillery started work on the product. And in the years that followed, Pendleton Whisky has become the fastest growing premium spirit in the Northwest, Hawkins said.

Before launching the product, the company held taste tests with the Round-Up Board of Directors. Two names were considered: Let ‘er Buck Whisky and Pendleton Whisky. The latter was chosen, with the Let ‘er Buck cowboy and the 10-year-old designation on the label and a neck tag promoting the Round-Up.

“Product recognition is very important,” Hawkins said. “You can recognize this bottle up on a shelf.”

The first bottles of the new whisky went on sale during the 2003 Round-Up. The product proved very popular, hitting Hood River Distillery’s first-year sales projections within the first few months.

Demand soon ran ahead of supply. The distillery found it more and more difficult to get 10-year-old whisky from Canada. Because the youngest whisky gives a blend its age designation, the distillery talked to the board about removing the age from the label. The board agreed, younger whiskies were added to the blend, and sales increased 65 percent in 2006, to 40,000 nine-liter cases.

Hawkins expects sales in 2007 to go up another 50 percent, to 60,000 cases. Pendleton Whisky is available in 40 states. Hood River Distillery plans to hire a regional sales manager to focus on the Southwest, where people have been inquiring about the brand.

“They’re taking it slow because they don’t want to get caught in the supply and demand crunch again,” Hawkins said.

In 2005, the distillery produced a 20-year-old directors’ blend limited issue that sold very well, especially to collectors. There is talk of another special issue for the Round-Up’s 100-year anniversary in 2010.

Royalties from the whisky are used for facility renovations and purse money for cowboys who compete in the rodeo.

“Our facility needs some upgrading,” Hawkins said. “That’s one reason we’re thankful to be involved in Pendleton Whisky.”

One of the pluses for the Pendleton Round-Up is the advertising, which also benefits Pendleton and the state.

“Pendleton Whisky and the Pendleton Round-Up have formed a good partnership,” Hawkins said. “We’re making money on it.”