Keith Barnes, who spent more than 30 years in beverage alcohol marketing and advertising, founded Bainbridge Organic Distillers in 2009 as an independent, family-owned distillery on Bainbridge Island, Washington, after first distilling whiskey in his garage to see whether high-quality organic whiskey could be made. The island site, 35 minutes from Seattle by ferry and a quarter mile from Puget Sound, was chosen for the effect of salt air on maturing whiskey, and it was Washington's first organic distillery; all its vodka, gin and whiskey is USDA certified organic, made from heritage grains grown by small Washington family farms. The distillery grinds, mashes, ferments, distills and bottles all of its production on site, and says it has distilled every drop it has ever bottled. Its whiskeys include the 100% soft white wheat Battle Point, the Two Islands cask-finished versions of it, and Yama, an unmalted barley whiskey aged only in virgin Japanese mizunara oak. In 2019 the World Whiskies Awards named Battle Point Two Islands Hokkaido Mizunara Cask the world's best wheat whiskey, and Barnes's family still owns the company.