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Spirits Alley

Spirits Alley ™ is a cluster of artisan distilleries and tasting rooms along Monarch Street at Alameda Point that has helped transform the former Naval Air Station from a once deserted area, to a popular destination for both tourists and locals.  Spirits Alley™ is home to the award-winning: Admiral Malting Alameda Point Craft Soda Almanac Beer Co. Brix Beverage Building 43 Winery Dashe Cellars Faction Brewing   St. George Spirits The Rake Urban Legend Cellars

*Coming soon*  Gold Bar Whiskey

Set within and among historic buildings and oversized hangars, Spirits Alley™ has a character that is distinctly unique, complete with stunning panoramic views of the San Francisco city skyline. 

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Spirits Alley is an exciting destination on the island of Alameda.

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Introducing bentwing brandy, stories from the hangar and beyond, fresh-picked recipes by hangar 1.

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Get to Know Alameda’s Spirits Alley

Posted by Anya Soltero | Beer Wine & Spirits | 0 |

TOP PHOTO BY MYLES FENWICK; BOTTOM BY LORI EANES

Glimpses of San Francisco skyline greet those sipping and tripping around for wine, spirits, and brew with a view.

Let’s get something straight: Spirits Alley should not be conquered in one day. Unless, of course, you have copious amounts of time on your hands, a personal driver, and a liver made of steel. An eclectic cluster of artisan distilleries and tasting rooms lining Monarch Street on the former Alameda Naval Air Station, Spirits Alley is meant to be savored and is far easier to navigate in several small flights.

Now known as Alameda Point, it is undergoing considerable transition and redevelopment, and the Spirits Alley appellation pays homage to the ghosts of the area’s past and recognizes a new transformation to a wine, beer, and spirits destination. It is also the home of two nonalcoholic beverage wholesalers, Alameda Point Craft Beverage and Brix.

Whichever way you choose to divide your visits — by sections, beverage categories, or tour availability — you’ll have full access to views of the San Francisco skyline and the Port of Oakland, as well as some tasty grub from nearby food trucks or the notable Scolari’s At The Point, which serves epicure-approved noshes. Here’s a list of the wineries, breweries, and distilleries at Spirits Alley.

Building 43 Winery

Building 43 Winery specializes in handcrafted, sustainable, small-batch varietals from the Sierra foothills. The tasting room is housed in a refurbished historic Naval Aviation EOD Locker and is adorned with wine barrels, metal works, and military memorabilia. From petite syrah to cabernet franc, merlot to viognier, winemaker Tod Hickman knows his way around red varietals. Stop in during tasting room hours or book a tasting online. Open Friday through Sunday. Dog friendly. 2440 Monarch St, Alameda, 510-263-0399,  Building43Winery.com .

Dashe Cellars

This pioneering winery made its first zinfandel back in 1996. After 15 years in Jack London Square — a risqué location at the time — Michael and Anne Dashe recently jumped the estuary to Spirits Alley, where they now share a building with Urban Legend Cellars. Their expansive tasting room sits amid the working winery. In addition to its award-winning zins, Dashe makes a number of other reds, whites and rosés. Grapes are sourced from small growers in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley, Mendocino County’s Alexander and Potter valleys, and beyond. Open Thursday through Sunday. Dog-friendly; kids welcome outdoors. 1951 Monarch St., Alameda, 510-452-1800,  DasheCellars.com .

Rock Wall Wine Company

Founded in 2008, Rock Wall is part of a burgeoning winemaking scene in the Bay Area. Winemaker Shauna Rosenblum learned to make wine from her father, Kent Rosenblum, founder of Rosenblum Cellars. Open seven days a week, the tasting room boasts a full-service chef’s kitchen and a 3,000-square-foot geodesic dome. With stunning views of the San Francisco skyline, visitors can taste and purchase a range of wines including zinfandel, petite syrah, Montepulciano, syrah, and chardonnay, to name a few. Group tastings are available by reservation. Kids are welcome in the outdoor seating area. 2301 Monarch St., Alameda, 510-522-5700,  RockWallWines.com .

Urban Legend Cellars

Urban Legend owners Marilee and Steve Shaffer are in the business of redefining terroir. They craft more than a dozen wines that celebrate the unique flavors of California and their East Bay home. From a Russian River Valley pinot noir, a zinfandel-petite syrah blend, to vermentino and granache blanc, the Shaffers have a strong grasp on wines with uncompromising balance and elegance. Visit their new tasting room and taste for yourself. Open Thursday through Sunday. Kid and dog friendly. 1951 Monarch St., Bldg. 25, Alameda, 510-545-4356,  ULCellars.com .

Almanac Beer Co.

Founded in 2010, Almanac produces farm-to-table beers in small batches, using fruit, grains, and herbs purchased from local family farms in Northern California. Visit the Alameda Barrel House, Brewery & Taproom, which features an indoor beer hall and outdoor beer garden overlooking the bay. Sample a range of barrel-aged to fresh beers brewed on-site with groovy names like Vibes Pilsner, Love Hazy IPA, Sunshine & Opportunity, and Tropical Galaxy. Open seven days a week. Kid and dog friendly. 651 W. Tower Ave., Alameda, 415-992-3438,  AlmanacBeer.com .

Faction Brewing

Rodger Davis and Claudia Pamparana opened Faction Brewing, a 20-barrel brew house, in 2013. The owners are particularly smitten with hoppy beers but produce a wide range of brews including lagers, stouts, Belgian-style beers, barrel-aged beers, and the occasional sour. Faction’s warehouse walls are adorned with several stunning floor-to-ceiling murals, which preside over an indoor seating area lined with pinball and skee ball machines for the young or young at heart. Choose from 20-plus beers on draft in the tasting room to enjoy inside or outside on the large patio with stellar views of the bay and the San Francisco skyline. Food trucks are on site. Open Wednesday through Sunday. Kids are welcome throughout the premises and dogs are welcome on the patio. 2501 Monarch St., Alameda, 510-523-2739,  FactionBrewing.com .

The Rake at Admiral Maltings

Admiral Maltings was founded by longtime San Francisco brewing industry veterans Ron Silberstein of ThirstyBear Brewing Company and Dave McLean of Magnolia Brewing Company along with partner Curtis Davenport, who has an extensive background in organic farming and small-batch malting. They partner with California farmers to source quality grain and produce exceptional hand-crafted malt, a building block for beer and whiskey — and may one day sell spirits in the pub. The malthouse is situated in a 20,000-square-foot former World War II-era naval dry goods facility. Overlooking the malting floor, The Rake is the onsite pub that features 20-plus draft and cask beers brewed with the malt, as well as a brew-friendly menu. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Kids are welcome throughout the premises and dogs are welcome on the patio. 5047, 651A W. Tower Ave., Alameda, 510-666-6419,  AdmiralMaltings.com .

Hangar 1 Vodka

In a WWII-era hangar and founded in 2002, Hangar 1 produces a range of straight, flavored, infused, and barrel-aged vodkas. Distiller Caley Shoemaker oversees all phases of production. A self-described “spirits nerd,” Caley is fascinated by how the chemistry of distilling affects the quality, texture, and flavor of the final product and is inspired by the abundance of seasonal ingredients in the Bay Area. Hangar 1 offers several distillery tours, which can be booked online including two tasting flight tours, cheese and chocolate pairings, as well as a cocktail making class. Open Wednesday through Sunday. 2505 Monarch St., Alameda, 510-871-4950,  HangarOne.com .

St. George Spirits

Founded in 1982, St. George Spirits has grown from a one-man operation to a diverse and passionate team that produces a broad range of craft spirits. In a 65,000-square-foot hangar with an impressive view of the Port of Oakland, the distillery boasts an attractive tasting room, laboratory, a lineup of remarkable copper stills, and indoor and outdoor seating. St. George produces a range of artisan gins, vodkas, whiskey, brandies, liqueurs, and other spirits. Distillery tours and guided tastings can be booked online. General tastings are offered Thursday through Sunday. Well-behaved canines on leash are welcome on the patio. 2601 Monarch St, Alameda, 510-769-1601,  StGeorgeSpirits.com .

Operating hours and tour schedules available on company websites.

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This East Bay distillery just hit the big 4-0

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Welcome to Cocktail Week , East Bay Nosh’s appreciation of the local mixed drinks scene. Stay with us all week, as we bring you the best in cocktails, mocktails and spirits from businesses in Berkeley, Oakland and beyond.

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Building a long-lasting distillery is no easy feat , especially in the expensive Bay Area. But Alameda’s St. George Spirits just reached middle age, a milestone it will celebrate with a special, limited-edition whiskey.

Established by Jörg Rupf in 1982 in a small Emeryville shack, St. George began as one of the few American distilleries making eau de vie, a colorless brandy. He retired and moved to Mexico in 2010, and master distiller Lance Winters (who’d been with St. George since 1996) and head distiller Dave Smith (at St. George since 2005) stepped to the forefront. The pair has helped expand the distillery into a James Beard Foundation-recognized craft distillery that produces whiskey, vodka, brandy and more.

Winters told me that the key to St. George’s longevity is allowing the business to grow organically, as opposed to making growth the primary goal. Though St. George has indeed grown in production, it’s been deliberately slow to expand its staff. It began as a two-person operation and currently employs 35.

“Being able to grow in that organic fashion allows us to have a more financially conservative business,” Winters said, “and to protect ourselves and protect the people who come along for the ride.”

St. George Spirits 40th anniversary single malt release day Saturday Nov. 12, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 2601 Monarch St. (between Red Line and Midway avenues), Alameda

Like a lot of small business owners, Winters refers to those 35 staffers as his family. It’s a tone that began with Rupf, Winters said. “He always operated more like he was my father than he was my boss, and he set up that family dynamic in the business.”

“He really shaped a huge part of our ethos here, just because he walked that walk the whole time he was here.” said Winters.

With the exception of their gin, all other St. George offerings, including absinthe, shochu and various liqueurs, are distilled locally. (The base for its gin is made in the Midwest, Winters said, as the process to distill it is extremely water-intensive, making it impractical to produce in drought-plagued California. It’s then redistilled locally with St. George botanicals, Winters said.)

Its line of offerings is another example of how growing organically has benefitted the business. “We don’t bring a product out at St. George Spirits because there’s a niche that needs to be filled,” Winters said, and “we don’t bring a product out because there’s a trend that’s blasting by that we want to jump on top of.”

“Looking back over 40 years, I’ve seen a lot of spirits come on to the market that are better than a lot of things that are out there right now,” Winters said. But “over the years they’ve failed because their timing was wrong. They couldn’t get the market support that they needed and the brand just withered away.”

It all goes back to the growth goals other, less successful companies might be setting, to their detriment. “If you start missing those goals then you’re failing,” Winters said. Then, “you feel like a failure and that can start influencing the way that you think.”

Instead, Winters said, at St. George “we’re doing something to make ourselves happy.”

Part of what makes St. George happy is supporting the STEPUP Foundation , a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation that provides resources, education entrepreneurship training and mentorship to increase diversity in the spirits business.

As part of the St. George anniversary celebration, the company is donating $40,000 to the organization. “There’s a lot to be gained by having more voices and a diversity of voices involved in any conversation,” said Winters. “Because we tend to treat distillation as a form of self-expression, getting different perspectives to come in and espouse their own points of view is really important.”

Employees and mentees at St. George get to see the work being done, learn the language of distilling and how to distinguish where something came from. The distillery encourages experimentation and has a lab with two smaller copper still pots, a two gallon and seven gallon, that replicate what the larger pots will do. Mentees are able to learn product development by creating experimental batches that are not sold on the market but kept by the distillery for internal use.

It’s in St. George’s best interests, Winters said, to help nurture the next generation of spirit makers. “Probably the most important part from just a pure spiritual direction, is being able to let the next generation of creativity really shine here,” said Winter. “I need to figure out a way to step back, so that other people can express themselves a bit more.”

Also part of the anniversary celebration is the 40th Anniversary Edition of St. George Single Malt Whiskey. Bottled at 48% ABV, only be 1982 bottles will be sold, at a special event at the distillery on Nov. 12.

Finding the right blend for the anniversary edition release was an extensive process, Winters said. For example, over a period of several months, St. George head distiller Smith sampled more than 600 casks to decide which were best for the task. “It’s a slow plotting labor of love,” Winters said, “especially since there’s only so much you can expect to smell and taste and do accurately in a day.” 

It’s a similar process for all their spirits these past 40 years, Winters said, work defined less by business demands than by the drive to create something beautiful. “We make things because we’re inspired by ingredients and we want to express something of that,” Winters said.

“I want our stuff to be sought after, but I don’t want it to be precious,” Winters said. “I want to see people drinking it. I want to see their faces light up when they smell it or taste it.” 

Featured image: A bird’s-eye view of the St. George distillery. Credit: Alex Zyuzikov ‘

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Brandy Collins

Brandy Collins is a freelance writer and public services advocate, born and raised in the Bay Area. She is a 2019-20 cohort graduate from the Maynard Institute for Journalism, a correspondent for Oakland... More by Brandy Collins

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The Bay Area is known for being the place for craft beer brewing, but San Francisco’s craft distilling prowess is nothing to sneeze at, either. Many great liquors are born in the Bay Area, from pot still whiskey to organic vodka and much, much more. Visiting these distilleries will infuse you with knowledge about local spirits and the best way to taste them, and it’s a fun and different way to drink than just hanging out in a bar.

We recently went on a tour of the Bay Area’s distilleries to find out which ones have the best tours and tasting experiences. Here’s a list of our favorites in San Francisco and the East Bay.

Seven Stills Distillery

Seven Stills in Bayview was founded in 2013 and is truly the most unique tasting experience in the Bay. Each of their small batch whiskeys is distilled from craft beer, giving the liquors complex and unique flavors, perfect for sipping on their own or in a carefully crafted cocktail.

In the tap room, you can taste a flight of six liquors for $15, or go on a full distillery tour for $23. Reservations aren’t required but strongly suggested as this small space fills up fast on the weekends. Details: Open Tues – Wed 4 – 9 p.m. Thurs 3:30 – 9 p.m., Fri 3:30-10 p.m. Sat 12-10 p.m., Sun 12 – 6 p.m.

Anchor Distilling

Anchor Distilling makes a staggering amount of liquors . Opened in 1993, Anchor Distilling is one of the oldest pot still distilleries in America. The award-winning Junipero Gin is a must-try.  Anchor Distilling also produces a podcast, the Educational Drinking Show , for your edutainment.

Reservations are required for a one-hour tasting tour starting at $35, complete with botanical garden tour and tastings of Anchor’s six staple liquors.  Details:Open Mon – Fri 9:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. Sat – Sun 10:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

St. George Spirits

Just across the ferry in Alameda sits St. George, a gin and vodka distillery inhabiting a 65,000 square foot hangar in the old naval station. Sip St. George’s range of craft liquors while overlooking a spectacular view of the city across the Bay.

Tastings at the bar are just $15, and a whole distillery tour plus tastings will put you out a measly $20. Details: Open Wed – Sat noon – 7 p.m. Sun noon – 5 p.m.

Also making its home in the old naval station is Hangar One, one of the few female-run distilleries in the states. Master distiller Caley Shoemaker oversees production of Hangar One’s one and only product — crazy good vodka. Hangar One’s classic straight and infused vodkas are made from Midwestern grains and Californian wine grapes, and even non-vodka people will be impressed with the crisp, clean taste of Hangar One’s spirits.

Tasting flights at the bar start at $15 for 30 minutes and six tastes, and public tours are $23 for an hour plus tastings. Details: Open Thurs – Fri 3 – 7 p.m. Sat – Sun noon – 7 p.m.

Sutherland Distilling

Sutherland Distilling in Livermore has some gorgeous facilities, including a hand-carved tasting bar made from reclaimed Douglas Fir, but that’s not the only appeal of this place. Sutherland’s spirits are the very definition of small batch, locally sourcing as many ingredients as possible and distilling 300 gallons at a time.   

Tastings are $15 and include a tour, either six 1/4 oz pours or a handcrafted cocktail, and a souvenir tasting glass. Details: Open Fridays: 3:00 – 7:00 p.m., Sat 11:00 – 5:00 p.m., Sun 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Honorable mentions

These distilleries make great liquor, but don’t have a tasting room where you can sample before buying:

Raff Distillerie on Treasure Island, specializing in absinthe and craft vodka.

Bender’s Rye , not a distillery per se, but a pair of whiskey experts blending the best craft whiskeys together into a unique, delicious experience.  

Distillery 209 , makers of delicious — and kosher! — gin at Pier 50.

Best East Bay Mexican Restaurant – Casa Orozco!

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We stay out late drinking cocktails at our favorite dive and wake up early to catch the sunrise from the top of our favorite mountain the next morning. While we may not have our lives wrapped up in a pretty bow yet, we’re having a good time figuring it out. Yes, we shell out cash for a five-star dinner one day and struggle to pay rent the next. But, most important, we’re a community. And we want you to be a part of it.

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Inside St. George’s Distillery

Posted on: Oct. 21, 2015 | Tours | By: Liza Dunning

These days, St. George Spirits is known for a portfolio of twelve spirits, including gins (the Terroir being a cult favorite), fruit brandies and absinthe, the first of its kind to be commercially produced in the U.S. But it was eau de vie — a clear, double-distilled fruit brandy — that was first distilled in their 65-gallon copper Holstein thirty-three years ago, when Jörg Rupf first came over from Germany. Hailing from a family of distillers in the Black Forest, Rupf found himself inspired by California’s bountiful produce and raw materials. While eau de vie is no longer the distillery’s flagship product, its ethos of capturing the essence of fresh fruit still influences everything St. George creates.

The company’s Alameda Island distillery, in the eastern San Francisco Bay, now spans over 65,000 square feet, and its family of products currently encompass almost every spirits category. We took a peek inside the sprawling former plane hangar to see what goes on behind the scenes at this remarkable craft distillery.

At St. George, emotional support comes in the form of the pear brandy, gin, vodka, and other spirits made in their Alameda, California airplane hangar.

The distillery’s tasting room offers the full range of St. George products, from green chile vodka to pear liqueur to absinthe.

Though the distillery has been operating since 1982 (when its original founder Jörg Rupf came over from Germany to bring eau de vie to the U.S. market), a lot has changed in the last 33 years—like the 65,000-square-foot hangar the distillery now calls home.

All of St. George’s stills are named after Transformers—including the beloved copper Holstein, affectionately dubbed “Megatron.”

The team at St. George consider themselves “stewards of the raw material.” Among those materials pictured here: star anise, fennel, wormwood, stinging nettle, meadowsweet and hyssop.

It takes 30 pounds of organic Bartlett pears to create one bottle of St. George pear brandy, and each batch of brandy requires about 20 tons of pears.

When St. George was still a tiny operation and not using all of the space in the hangar, they let a Hollywood special effects company use some of the space as storage for movie props. In return, the company gave St. George a giant, old-school metal shark: the very one used to create the animatronic shark that actually killed Samuel L. Jackson in “Deep Blue Sea.”

Barrels are emblazoned with the distillery’s logo.

St. George’s gin comes in three varieties: Botanivore, a balanced and floral classic gin; Dry Rye, a malty gin started with rye; and Terroir, inspired by a hike on nearby Mt. Tamalpais, with notes of Douglas fir, coastal sage, fennel and nine other botanicals.

Though it all started three decades ago with eau-de-vie, St. George’s offerings now extend to vodka, brandy, liqueur and absinthe, plus a “California Agricole Rum” that uses regional Imperial Valley sugar cane.

A bartender in St. George’s tasting room mixes up a cocktail with the distillery’s California Citrus Vodka, made with Valencia oranges, Seville oranges, and bergamot. The raw materials are sourced from Lindcove Ranch, a family farm in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

An intricate mural featuring excerpts from both Mississippi state representative Noah S. Sweat’s infamous 1952 “whiskey speech,” and the lyrics to AC/DC’s “Have a Drink on Me.”

The distillery moved to its current location in 2004, right around the corner from Hangar One (which was founded by St. George in 2002 and sold in 2010).

In addition to the top-notch spirits, St. George also comes with a pretty fantastic view of the San Francisco skyline from their perch on Alameda Island.

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Forbes Travel Guide Stories

The Top 10 American Whiskey Distilleries To Tour Now By Forbes Travel Guide Correspondent Sarah White

April 11, 2012

Whiskey-only bars, tasting flights and $100-plus pours are more common than ever, but to become a real whiskey connoisseur you need to learn the liquor making process from the inside. We rounded up the country’s top 10 whiskey distilleries where you can tour the facilities, learn about mashbills and barrel woods and discover what gives your favorite label its distinct flavor, whether its rye or single malt, blended or bourbon.

1. George Washington’s Distillery & Gristmill, Mount Vernon, Va. Our first president likely wet his whistle on some of the whiskey his own distillery produced after its founding in 1797. Restored and reopened in 2006, it now bottles an un-aged white Rye whiskey and a barrel-aged (in charred American oak) whiskey using historically accurate techniques. (For example, it hand-chop logs for wood stoves that heat the stills). Demand outstrips supply here — spirits are on sale just twice a year, with only a few hundred bottles to each batch. Tour the 18th-century distillery year-round.

Stay: The distillery is an easy 16-mile drive from the nation’s capital, and a stay at the luxurious and intimate Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star Jefferson Hotel Washington, D.C. will give you a stylish place to retreat to where you can sample even more fine liquors at the cozy Quill bar.

Stay: Experience Southern hospitality at its finest at Five-Star Hermitage Hotel in historic downtown Nashville , 75 miles northwest of the distillery and in the center of the city’s music scene. The hotel can arrange for a private luxury car to transport you to and from Jack Daniel’s.

3. St. George Spirits, Alameda, Calif. Originally founded as an eau de vie (fruit brandy) distillery 30 years ago, St. George now produces two whiskey labels at its location in a former airplane hangar near San Francisco . See the huge collection of copper pots and aging barrels during free tours offered on weekends. In the tasting room, sample St. George Single Malt whiskey, made from roasted and smoked barley spirits, and the well-known Breaking & Entering Bourbon, blended and aged onsite from a selection of Kentucky bourbons.

Stay: The distillery is a quick cab ride across San Francisco Bay from The St. Regis San Francisco . Decorated in sleek creams and dark woods, the Five-Star hotel has contemporary art installations that echo the vibrant museum and shopping districts just beyond its doors.

Stay: About 20 miles southwest of Woodinville is downtown Seattle ’s The Fairmont Olympic Hotel. The Four-Star hotel has unique 1920’s Italian Renaissance architecture and top-notch service just a stroll away from Pike Place Market.

5. High West Distillery & Saloon, Park City, Utah . You can practically ski right into the tasting rooms in the restored mining-era home in Old Town Park City , located just blocks from some of Park City Resort’s ski runs. A 250-gallon copper pot is visible from the street through floor-to-ceiling windows, and here you can learn how whiskey is made in small batches before sampling a few of the 12 labels offered, including a barrel-aged Manhattan called The 36th Vote (in honor of Utah’s role in repealing Prohibition). Whiskeys run the gamut from 12-year old barrel-aged ryes to un-aged western oat “silver whiskeys.” Free afternoon tours are available daily by reservation.

Stay: The Five-Star Stein Eriksen Lodge is two miles away in the luxury resort community of Deer Valley. The clubby-classic wood décor, majestic fireplaces, heated sidewalks and outdoor activities keep the mountain magic alive year round.

6. Buffalo Trace, Frankfort, Ky. All bourbons are whiskey, but not all whiskeys are bourbons: A trip to Buffalo Trace in Kentucky’s Bourbon County will help you decode this riddle once and for all (hint: bourbon must be made from at least 51 percent corn). Its century-old warehouses are open for free hourly tours Monday through Saturday, winding through the reportedly haunted distillery and barrel-aging facility before finishing up with tastes of Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and chocolate bourbon balls. Take it up a notch (but be prepared to pay) with tastes of aged Pappy Van Winkle or George T. Stagg, also bottled here.

Stay: The 90-room 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville doubles as a contemporary art museum and cultural center in the heart of the historic downtown, about 55 miles west of Buffalo Trace.

Stay: Combine a visit to Woodford Reserve with one to Buffalo Trace (about 11 miles north) for a fun, whiskey-filled day trip. Be sure to try 21c Museum Hotel’s restaurant, Proof on Main.

8. Balcones Distillery, Waco, Texas If the idea of whiskey made from 100 percent roasted blue corn intrigues you, visit the Balcones Distillery and try to decipher its super-secret method of smoking liquid whiskey. Founder and head distiller Chip Tate’s crafted and installed the copper still onsite in 2009, and a factory tour gets you an up-close look at every step of the double distillation and aging process. Round off your tour with a sampling of lightly aged Baby Blue and the rich True Blue corn whiskey in the barrel-lined tasting room.

Stay: Book a suite at the Four-Star Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek , about 100 miles north of the distillery, to mimic the measured pace of Balcones’ deliberate methodology. Located in a charming residential neighborhood along a winding, wooded creek, the hotel boasts elegant Italianate architecture and a gracious, welcoming staff.

9. RoughStock Distillery, Bozemon, Mont. This distillery uses local water from mountain-fed streams and Montana-grown wheat, barley and corn to produce its five labels, including un-aged sweet corn white whiskey and a barley whiskey bottled at cask strength (undiluted after barrel aging). Tours of Roughstock are half-day volunteer “bottling parties,” where visitors are put to work filling and labeling bottles before hitting the tasting room. Plan ahead, as the working tours are only offered three Saturdays a month.

Stay: Make a day trip to the distillery from the ultimate glamping destination, The Resort at Paws Up in Greenough, Mont., a hilly retreat on the Blackfoot River that offers upscale safari-style tent camping from May though September.

10. Tuthilltown Spirits, Gardiner, New York . As one of very few whiskey distilleries in the state, Tuthilltown made a splash when it produced New York’s first bourbon in 2006 — Hudson Baby Bourbon, a 100 percent corn, single-grain spirit that’s aged in oak barrels. Here you can taste five different labels including an aged rye, a white dog whiskey and a four-grain bourbon. Visit the 220-year-old gristmill on Friday through Sunday for tours to see batches labeled by hand, or visit in fall when harvest season sends distillerymen out into nearby rye fields.

Stay: Nestled in the Catskills, Emerson Resort & Spa in Mount Tremper — 35 miles north of Tuthilltown — is a country retreat that puts visitors in the center of a thriving summer art festival scene.

One to watch: WhistlePig Farm, Shoreham, Vt. While not yet an actual distillery, this restored Vermont farm is where hand-selected whiskey blends become WhistlePig Straight Rye under the direction of master distiller Dave Pickerell (he honed his craft at Maker’s Mark). WhistlePig Farm is growing high-quality grain for future blends and storing both oak and used bourbon barrels full of 100 percent rye spirits — aged for 10 years before bottling — for its 100 proof rye. Tours are scheduled to start up this fall.

Stay: The countryside takes a starring role during a stay at Five-Star Twin Farms in Barnard, Vt., with secluded private cabins decorated in different themes, from Moroccan to Scandinavian. From here, it’s a picturesque 60-mile drive on bucolic mountain roads to WhistlePig Farm.

Photos courtesy of Jack Daniel Distillery, Woodinville Whiskey Co. and Woodford Reserve.

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Since St. George Spirits was founded in 1982, we’ve grown from a dedicated eau de vie distillery into a diverse operation that makes a range of spirits.

We believe that spirits are an art form, and we have dedicated ourselves to making spirits that not only taste delicious, but that tell stories and transport those who encounter them. 

We pledge to craft quintessential spirits to delight hedonists and genius bartenders alike, and when you taste our spirits, we hope that the character and quality of what’s in your glass will convey to you what we’re all about.  

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California , more specifically L.A., is a newbie when it comes to distilling booze but has made a giant leap forward the last few years. Cali is now producing state-of-the-art and eco-friendly distilleries with a huge selection of craft brews and spirits. We list some of the must-visits.

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