Sonoma County Distilling Co.
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There is an energy in the air of Sonoma County that I have not experienced since the early aughts in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Everywhere I am visiting to write about beer and spirits is overflowing with a can do attitude. Some of the places I am visiting are hard to find or are in limited supply. The people I am meeting are figuring out ways to make a better beer and better spirit usually with little or no background in the beverage industry and very little money. Lack of experience and money are not getting in the way of them making worldclass beer and spirits and it is inspiring.
You would not be mistaken for mixing up Sonoma County Distilling Company for an auto body repair shop or a cabinetmaker from the outside. The concrete building and closed roll up doors tell a very different story once you walk through the doorway though. Worldclass spirits are being made in this building and its owner is showing the spirits world what can be done with a little bit of space and sheer determination.
The lure of a place like Sonoma County to many people is wine. Often over romanticized with its sprawling vineyards and the promise of making you feel sophisticated if you can identify oak or blackberry in one of the hundreds of expensive tasting rooms you might find yourself in. There are days when this is fun or appropriate but I always find myself looking for the small producers who are building a business against all odds.
The guys on limited budgets doing the most that they can do with what little they have always seem to be on the path to the most interesting experiences in life. When your choices are limited, you have to work smart and get creative. I have always been drawn to the creatives making things happen despite the odds being squarely set against them.
This brought me to Sonoma County Distilling Company and the whirlwind of a man behind the distillery is a perfect example of this work ethos.
Disillusioned during the financial crash of 2008, Adam Spiegel was part of a mass layoff that occurred when the financial company he worked for lost billions of dollars in a manner of weeks. Managing money for foundations and endowments, a disillusioned Adam Spiegel decided to forge his own future and work in a position that allowed him to get his hands dirty. After years spent sitting in a chair and staring at a screen he decided that enough was enough and started making whiskey.
At first in a garage with a fifteengallon still and working with his former business partner, the results were promising and the whiskey they were creating was better than most whiskey’s they could buy on a shelf.
So he decided to open a full blown business.
Sonoma County Distilling Company was founded in 2010 as 1512 Spirits and was later remained in the city of Rohnert Park. The beginnings were humble: a 784 square foot warehouse, an alembic still and above all a driving belief that they could make a better product than the big guys.
We hear the cliches all of the time about being passionate and usually when I hear someone say they are passionate about who they work for or whatever hobbies they are into I tend to take it with a grain of salt. The truly passionate people that I have met never say the word.
The word passion didn’t come out of Adam’s mouth on the day that I visited, but it was palpable. The obsession was omnipresent, the goal in making the best possible product despite knowing that it will be harder or more challenging or require some kind of clever solution that has not been thought of yet.
All of the hallmarks of great Whiskey making are present behind those concrete walls at Sonoma County Distilling Company. Fermentation on grains to extract as much flavor as possible, open tank fermentations to allow the naturally occurring yeast and bacteria in the Sonoma County air to find its way into the tanks and add more depth of flavor, small batches that can be all monitored constantly to ensure that top quality is maintained at every step of the process, a small barrel step up program that allows for depth of color and flavor to happen more rapidly, cobb mountain water sourced directly from the spring, gorgeous packaging that symbolizes that every detail from start to finish has been given deep consideration.
When visiting Sonoma County Distilling Company, you will not get rolling vineyards or castles nestled in a valley. However what you will get is a different kind of romance. The kind where if you work your ass off and are passionate about what you are doing, you will find a market. Or maybe more appropriately, a market will find you.
Web: http://sonomacountydistilling.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DistillingCo
Instagram: http://instagram.com/sonomacountydistilling
