Lee Medoff

Head Distiller and Founder

Medoff started as a brewer at McMenamins and co-founded House Spirits before starting Bull Run Distillery. Lee is the founder and head distiller of Bull Run Distillery located in Portland, Oregon.

Medoff, born and raised in Oregon, began his career as a brewer. He moved on to winemaking when he encountered his first distilling experiences, which led him to decide on becoming a distiller. He has been distilling legally and professionally since 1998.

He started House Spirits Distillery in 2004, where he helped create several popular craft spirit brands of which his namesake Medoyeff Vodka and Aviation Gin are the most successful. He was one of the founding members and first president of the Oregon Distillers Guild, America’s first craft distillers guild. In 2010, with his sights set on making a pure malt Oregon Whiskey, he started Bull Run Distillery and began to develop unique barrel-finished products. This catapulted Bull Run's sought-after whiskeys to where they are today.

Jennifer Kadell

Director of Operations

Being immersed in the Oregon wine scene and managing wine tasting rooms for almost a decade eventually lead Jennifer through the doors at Bull Run Distillery. She wanted to bring the environment she had created in wine tasting rooms to the tasting room side of the distillery.

She joined Bull Run Distillery in 2013 and managed their Portland tasting room for three years before starting to play a more prominent role in managing operations. It's always been Jennifer's top priority to ensure the brand message echoed in the tasting room both welcomes the consumer and appeases the connoisseur.

Having lived in Oregon for most of her life and being a lover of travel, Jennifer has constantly been surrounded by some of the best food and wine scenes. This passion for creating flavors has been instrumental in developing cocktails for Bull Run events. From the successful Carlton Cocktail Walk, featured at Bull Run’s second location in Carlton, to many other onsite and offsite events. One of Jennifer’s missions has been to show off Bull Run's delicious spirits in as many tasty ways as possible.

Jennifer’s current focus is expanding Bull Run's very successful custom barrel program. She happily works with private whiskey clubs and liquor stores throughout the country. If you have a group that's interested in picking out a personalized barrel and bottling it, click here.

Trevor Kadell

Carlton Post Master

From the age of 16, Trevor has worked with a variety of foods from chocolates to barbecue and much more. Food was the inspiration for his career until he became acquainted with spirits and cocktails.

Starting at Bull Run in 2018, he was still working at Ned Ludd part-time where his infatuation with spirits began. With flavor and quality also being a top priority at Bull Run, it was an easy decision to join the team.

Trevor has put his hand into every pot in the distillery. He’s worked farmers markets, a variety of events, at the Portland tasting room, and has also played a part in production. Currently, he's running BRD’s satellite tasting room in Carlton, The Carlton Post.

Jalina Von

PDX Tasting Room & Events Manager

Jalina was raised partially in wine country, and partially in Portland, which helped develop a natural passion for both the “farm to fork” lifestyle, as well as a more urban outlook in her personal and professional life.

She has had numerous experiences with other jobs and obtained a variety of skills through them, but was never able to combine both her passions and work until more recently in life. Starting in the wine industry, Jalina quickly realized she most wanted to pursue a career in hospitality and event planning.

Always immersing herself in the behind the scenes portion of every industry she’s worked in, the chance to learn about wine and spirits hardly seems like work. “It’s something to easily get excited about, and with all the creativity out there, the learning experiences are endless”. When Jalina was offered a Management position at Bull Run Distillery, it was very obvious to her what her next challenge would be.

Jalina is very excited for this new experience, and the opportunity to be a part of both sides of this amazing community; the geniuses who create, and the good people it draws together.

Dakota Brower

Designer & Multi-Media Manager

A wearer of many hats, Dakota is responsible for Bull Run's design needs, manages the company's social media presence, and is the go-to "tech guy".

With a background in advertising, he was given the opportunity to work on some marketing materials for BRD. Having a passion for graphic design and a love for Whiskey, joining the Bull Run team was an easy choice.

In the following years, Dakota's role in the company has grown, making him an essential part of the organization.