503 Distilling sits in Portland’s industrial southeast corridor, founded by husband-and-wife team Ryan Csanky and Lee Medoff in 2012. Ryan brought a background in chemistry and brewing, while Lee handled the business side after years in corporate marketing. They started with a 500-gallon copper pot still in their 3,000-square-foot facility on SE 17th Avenue, focusing on small-batch whiskey, gin, and vodka production. The space feels like a working distillery first—concrete floors, exposed beams, and the constant hum of fermentation tanks. You can smell the mash cooking when you walk in, and see their gleaming copper still through floor-to-ceiling windows. They’ve been grinding through the early years of whiskey aging, releasing their spirits as they mature, while keeping the lights on with their gin and vodka sales. The name comes from Portland’s area code, and everything about this place screams local—from the Oregon grain they source to the laid-back tasting room vibe where you’ll often find Ryan or Lee behind the bar explaining their process.