Our Team
Our Roots
When Andrea and I purchased a piece of land in the Coast Range mountains nearly two decades ago, our dream was to farm responsibly, foster a family, and create beautiful wines. Since then, we've been fortunate to work with the incredible community of winemakers here in the Willamette Valley and see Trisaetum Winery exceed our original vision. Somewhere along the way, I began to develop an equal passion for spirits. The thought of founding a distillery became a second dream, but one that figured to remain dormant until my daughter Tatum began developing her own passion for spirits. When Tatum expressed the desire to begin distilling together, the vision of winemakers turned distillers became something we had to do. At Brixeur Spirits, we take a winemaking approach to distillation and aging of spirits. We taste constantly, obsess over ingredients and can't help but experiment. In fact, our biggest challenge is knowing when to stop and finally agree a spirit is worthy to bottle and carry the Brixeur Spirits brand.
MEET THE DISTILLERS
Founder
James Frey
I get bored easily. And I'm impatient. That combination is not generally conducive to peace and tranquility for those who have to live with me, so I do my best to channel those traits into passions like wine, art and spirits.
I love to taste. Whether you're crafting a complex wine or a contemplative spirit, tasting every day is important. And when you're surrounded by a team of incredible palates, it makes tasting fun...and helps to create something special.
I have trouble doing one of anything...so from day one everyone at Brixeur Spirits knew we were going to experiment. 70 potential botanicals for our gin. Aging whiskey in countless combinations of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling casks. Pushing boundaries. Being unconventional. It can all be a little overwhelming, but fortunately they put up with my nonsense.
Lead distiller
Tatum Frey
I believe that I grew up in the best place on earth - Oregon wine country. Every year during harvest I watched in awe as my mom cooked impressively large meals for the hungry harvest crew, my dad inevitably injured himself somehow, and at the end of all the hard work were bottles and bottles of hand-crafted wine.
Post studying at the University of Oregon my high school sweetheart, Jackson (you'll find him below), and I moved back to the Willamette Valley to the little 120-year-old white farmhouse at the bottom of Trisaetum's Coast Range vineyard. We spent our first fall back in the valley deep in wine harvest, and now each year we still break distilling operations for two months of the year to join in on the crush festivities.
I now serve as the lead distiller for Brixeur and spend my days at work tasting whiskey, farming botanicals for gin, and blending wine. It's a tough job but, hey, someone's got to do it.
Lead Distiller
Jackson Harloff
Growing up in the heart of Oregon Wine Country exposed me to many different fields of agriculture (no pun intended) at a young age. Something was always being harvested - wheat, hazelnuts, grapes - and I loved to see how the earth changed with the seasons. Some of my earliest memories come from my parents' garden, working with the land and learning how to care for plants.
In 2018, after meeting my now wife, Tatum, and the Frey family, Trisaetum brought me on as an intern in the tasting room, and within two years, I was working full-time on the winemaking team. And at that very moment, when wine began to dominate my free time - and my bank account - I was introduced to distilling. Instantly, I was hooked. The variation of botanicals from one gin to the next, the difference from aging a spirit in this barrel compared to that barrel, and the science that lies behind the art fully captured me.
Seven years later, here I am distilling my favorite spirits and making some of the best wines in the world. What a ride! And we're only just getting started.
Assistant Winemaker
Justin Fuller
I was born and raised in North Carolina. After I graduated from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a psychology degree I knew I’d do whatever it took to avoid grad school. So I moved to Savannah, Georgia to live with my best friend at the time (girlfriend now). I found a great wine shop where I befriended the wine buyer and from there I became enthralled with wine.
The next logical step (to me anyway) was to just move to where the wine was and so my girlfriend and I moved to California. I landed in the Russian River Valley where I managed the tasting room at Thomas George Estates. After years of pouring and selling wine I was itching to make the stuff so again we picked up and moved to Oregon.
Trisaetum brought me on in 2017 as an intern and ended up hiring me full time after harvest. I worked my way up to Assistant Winemaker in 2020 and now also enjoy helping in the product development of Brixeur Spirits.