How Pionering California Distillery St. George Spirits Stays Fresh After 40 Years | Eater SF

"Stepping into a former Navy hangar in Alameda, I lose all sense of scale — the cavernous 65,000-square-foot space with a redwood ceiling becomes obvious only when a semi-truck can back in, trailer and all. It feels like an alchemist’s workshop: five shiny copper stills sit on a steel-lattice platform that calls to mind Gustave Eiffel, copper columns bellow steam, and distillers pace the floor, constantly smelling, tasting, and adjusting hydrometers and portholes as they coax spirits from vapor. The place has been in the hangar for 18 years and, over its 40-year history since Jörg Rupf started the company in 1982 (with Bill Mannshardt shaping much of the early infrastructure), has produced landmark products — the first legal absinthe sold in the U.S. since 1912, the Hangar One vodka line, gins that capture a true sense of place, and one of the first American single-malt whiskeys — alongside countless experimental spirits. Co-owner Lance Winters, a former Navy engine-room nuclear scientist who joined in 1996 and pushed the operation into a research-and-development ethos, is responsible for wild but sincere experiments — from distilling Christmas trees (which led to Terroir gin) to foie gras vodka made for the late Anthony Bourdain, and batches using carrots, crabs, kombu kelp, blue agave, rice for shochu, chiles, and bananas — all driven by curiosity rather than trends. The distillery still runs Old World, analog systems: steam-powered copper stills and an apprenticeship model that passes knowledge generation to generation, and Winters has worked with others (including Cris Steller) to build industry infrastructure such as the California Artisanal Distillers Guild and help pass the California Craft Distillers Act in 2015. As they look to the future — with head distiller Dave Smith part-owner and new generations taking leadership — Winters insists they won’t chase fads like nonalcoholic “spirits,” canned cocktails, or CBD drinks, preferring instead carefully chosen releases (such as a planned California agave spirit) that reflect the distillery’s playful, curious spirit and old-school craft." - Lou Bustamante