Digital City

Almost two years ago, I had the opportunity to visit my friend Dave Smith at his place of work: St. George Spirits, a craft distillery in Alameda, California. The entire operation is situated inside an old Navy hangar and we got the VIP tour of it all.

Of course, this was all before Dave, who is also involved with Hangar One, St. George's vodka division, became semi-famous in the world of booze -- well, through his association with the distillery. The December after I visited, the ban on absinthe in the U.S. was lifted and St. George's Absinthe Verte became the first to be legally produced and sold in the U.S. since 1912.

But the distillery offers so much more goodness. Dave was kind enough to give us his insight into the world of distilling at St. George Spirits:

What drew you to distilling?
The free drinks. No, honestly it was the ability to enjoy creative expression through artisanal distillation. When we do our best work, we're acting as caretakers for fruits and botanicals and capturing their essence -- their spirit. Like a combination of alchemy and perfume making.

What's your favorite spirit to make and/or drink? Why?
Recently, it's been absinthe. Absinthe (for us) is a complex blend of grape brandy, star anise, fennel, wormwood, hyssop, meadowsweet, lemon balm, nettles, mint, basil and tarragon.

With so many ingredients, it's incredibly challenging to find balance and harmony in so many flavors and aromatics. With that said, the reward is one of the finest absinthe's on the market.

Since the distillery is located in an big, old hangar, is it scary working there? Have any good stories?
No good stories other than ghost stories. Place gives me the creeps when you're there late at night with no one else around. Sometimes we think that there are spirits other than our own in that joint.

In your own words, what is a craft distillery?
I feel like craft distillation as a category consists of a distillation process that is constantly smelled, tasted and adjusted by the distiller to create a spirit that is the best representation of the base ingredients going into that pot still.

It seems like most large-scale products base their quality on consistency -- that's everything from large-scale distilleries to McDonald's. I'd much rather continually create spirits that genuinely reflect the fruits and botanicals of that year. If the fruit's bad, then we won't distill it, and if it's good or great -- then we'll capture that essence through distillation.

What makes St. George Spirits and Hangar One really stand out among the crowd of craft distilleries?
I feel like Jörg Rupf and Lance Winters are the heart and soul of everything we do at St. George. Lance is fearless and will happily try to distill anything -- from Christmas trees to foie gras. Jörg is our Maestro- his highest compliment is usually "it's inoffensive." The man has the absolutely the highest standards of anyone I've ever met.

The other thing that I love about St. George is that we're all a second family. Including the owners, office, tasting room and production staff, we are about a dozen people. We're very tightly knit and committed to each other through our work.

Hangar One makes some really unusual vodkas. Which one really stands out as the best in your opinion? Why?
I can't choose between the kids like that. Every product that St. George Spirits makes -- from our St. George Single Malt Whiskey to our Aqua Perfecta Eau de Vie to our Hangar One Vodkas -- have their own unique flavors and aromatics. We want to make products that people will love or hate, rather than feel that it is "just okay."

When St. George Spirits released their absinthe, what was the response? Were you surprised?
I don't think that any of us knew exactly what to expect. On December 21st, 2007 we sold out our first batch of 1800 bottles in six hours with a three hour line wrapping out of our parking lot and four TV helicopters circling the building.

I think that we were all really delighted to see so many people excited about a product that we had loved for years, but weren't allowed to sell. Lance worked on our absinthe recipe for more than a decade before absinthe was legalized. It was a very proud day for all of us.

What's next for St. George Spirits? Hangar One?
All kinds of things. We've always got small-batch experiments in the works. Keep your eyes open for our Hangar One Spiced Pear Vodka to come out later this year. We made this for the first time last year, and like last year, this will be an extremely limited run.

We're also hard at work on a number of other projects that I can't speak about yet, but you should be excited about. Trust me.

For more about St. George Spirits and everything they have to offer, visit their official Website. You'll also be able to see a list of businesses who offer their products and get more information on visiting the tasting room in Alameda.