An Alcohol-Free Adventure in the Pacific Northwest
After a long day exploring the Pacific Northwest, a cold beer might be your idea of a perfect post-hike reward. Or maybe you want to visit a winery to wind down your weekend glamping trip. No matter your drink of choice, imbibing and adventuring often goes together. That’s why, when I was recently invited to visit a non-alcoholic distillery in Oregon, I jumped at the chance to discover how a region famous for alcohol and outdoor culture was adapting to the societal shift towards sobriety—and how booze-free experiences might redefine enjoyment in the Great Outdoors.
After flying from my home base of Denver to Portland, my trip began with a scenic drive through the Columbia River Gorge, whose waters hold the invisible demarcation between Oregon and Washington. Reaching my destination, Skamania Lodge, required crossing the Columbia River via the Bridge of the Gods, a massive steel crossing iconized for many adventurers by Cheryl Strayed’s book, Wild, and its movie adaptation. At the lodge, the beauty of the Pacific Northwest was on full display: every window I peered from offered a panoramic vista of shimmering waters and majestic cliffs.
I spent that evening with other journalists, enjoying s’mores around the property’s fire pits while the cool night settled over us. Many people would find this moment enhanced by a bottle of whiskey to pass around, or at least a few beers to cheers.
I left drinking culture behind in my mid-twenties because I hated waking up hungover on weekends, unable to get outside and enjoy my beautiful state of Colorado. When I did get outdoors, I often brought that baggage with me: once, after drinking too much on a camping trip in Aspen, I begged my friend to pull over on the way home so I could puke on the side of the road.
It was clear alcohol was causing me more harm than good, but I knew leaving it behind meant stepping away from my friends and society’s norms. What followed were years of isolation: I moved across the country, stayed single and travelled the world solo in search of people and places who accepted my decision.
Since then, I’ve wondered why alcohol is so pervasive both in everyday life, and specifically in outdoors and fitness culture. Where I live on Colorado’s Front Range, post-hike beers are as common as dogs on the trail. Breweries are named after mountain ranges. It’s typical to follow a morning yoga class with a mimosa. But if we know that alcohol makes us sluggish and not feel our mental and physical best, why do we mix it with the very activities and experiences meant to make us feel most alive?
This question was still on my mind the next morning on a trip to Wahclella Falls Trail, a 2.4-mile (3.8-kilometre) out-and-back hike. The path wound through dense woods and up staircases until I arrived at a three-tiered waterfall, which can reach up to 350 feet (10.6 metres) at its seasonal peak. Watching the water rush down, I remembered that staying active is exactly what helped me change my relationship to alcohol, because I started replacing late nights at the bar with early morning hikes.
Sobriety helped me be more present in nature, which allowed me to fully face the deep-rooted pain I’d been using alcohol to hide from. I realized that the trip was an extension of that initial quest: I was still searching for people who agreed that the outdoors were better without alcohol.
By then I’d worked up an appetite, so the other writers and I boarded a bus to the town of Hood River for lunch at Celilo, a farm-to-table, sustainability-focused restaurant with alcohol-free options that give you something to sip on without feeling empty-handed. After a meal of wild caught salmon, local greens and handmade pasta, we went around the corner to Wilderton, a non-alcoholic distillery founded by liquor industry veteran and avid windsurfer Brad Whiting and distiller Seth O’Malley, who’s passionate about botanical foraging. The pair founded Wilderton in 2020 with the goal of creating beverages that offer the sophisticated experience of traditional spirits but are better suited for an active, outdoor lifestyle.
In the taproom, we tried three spirits: Lustre, Earthen and Aperitivo. Lustre is a clear spirit with a fresh, citrus taste that pairs well with tonic water, while Earthen is a warm, smoky beverage reminiscent of whiskey. My favorite, Bittersweet Aperitivo, has a bold, bright grapefruit and orange flavour—the perfect late afternoon refreshment to top off a day spent trekking. Wilderton takes what people understand about common spirits and replaces the alcohol with an impressive array of flavourful botanicals such as lavender, pine-smoked tea and tarragon.
Their spirits can be enjoyed with simple additions like soda water, but West Bev helped craft a lineup of mocktails using uncommon ingredients and botanical infusions. It’s clear that Wilderton has unlimited potential. After all, the average non-alcoholic option is a headache-inducing sugary concoction, the last thing you want after a physically demanding adventure, and the thought of normalizing such elevated, sober experiences is refreshing in more ways than one.
Walking out of the distillery, I was hit with the strong winds that make Hood River one of the world’s windsurfing capitals. I took in the silhouettes of the Gorge, where over two million hikers find inspiration each year. What contentment could all those thrill-seekers find if their time was enhanced by total presence? I realized that this part of the Pacific Northwest doesn’t just facilitate more options for those seeking healthier adventures, but it provides a space where nature-loving non-drinkers, like me, can finally belong. Most of all, it confirms that outdoor culture is long overdue for more mindful beverage experiences that are easy to savour—and hard to forget.
Disclaimer: The author attended a press trip and was hosted as media by Wilderton’s distillery.
