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Locals aim to modernize outdated distillation laws that hinder liquor production and sales in the state [10]

BY CAMILLIA LANHAM

Stillwaiting Area residents talk gun facts [14] and opinions [18] FILM Oz: visual treat, ‘Young Savages’ throws color around Paso Robles [24] Walk the red carpet for a winery in Pismo Beach [40] but … [35]

Whiskey weather Distillers move forward with the notion that someday all booze will be created equal • BY CAMILLIA LANHAM

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far as he knows, he’s also got the only distilling license in San Luis Obispo County. A little more than a year and a half ago, he got the license and opened Re:Find in Paso Robles, selling vodka and gin—or at least his version of those spirits. Technical details that govern the distillation process mean the world to producers looking to give their final products a name.

Villicana’s spirits, for instance, are actually brandy, a distillation from grapes that wineries can sell directly to consumers. But actually, he said he’s technically making two products at once—brandy and gin, or brandy and vodka—and how he can sell the drink depends on which label he uses on the bottle. One can go into a visitor’s hands; the other has to be sold through a distributor.

Confused? His website won’t help much. It lists one MAYBE SOMEDAY Tap It Brewing in San Luis Obispo of his offerings as “Re:Find has plans to put its distilling equipment to good use Botanical Brandy (aka: Gin).” sometime this year.

Yes, it’s complicated.

Which is why the guild FILE PHOTO BY STEVE E. MILLER wants to re-write the law governing spirits “and help it gets nailed down, of course. And even full of tiny blobs of translucent pulp. make a little more sense,” Villicana said. once that happens, the process won’t be Gertman also helped attendees to taste Miles Gordon at Tap It Brewing in easy. Gordon said that, as he understands Breaker Bourbon and American Star San Luis Obispo said plans for the nowit, they’ll only be able to either brew or Vodka—though only in quarter-ounce PHOTO COURTESY OF RE:FIND two-year-old brewery initially included distill at any given time on the premises. pours, one taste per product, as mandated distillation, too. They applied for a license They’ll have to choose one. So they’ll brew by state law. Soon to follow those fertile when they first started, but they got for a few hours, then shut that equipment spirits will be gins made from wildcaught up in the beer side of the operation down, gate it off, and fire up the still. harvested juniper, organic locally picked and put spirits on the back burner.

“It’s a very weird kind of law that they strawberry vodka, moonshine, and single Gordon still has the equipment, though, have, and I don’t really see the point to it malt whiskey. and hopes to get the distillery facility … ,” he said.

For Gertman, the grand opening party up and running by the end of this year.

Gordon also talked about the California marked the realization of a dream that Tap It recently hired brewmaster Ryan Artisan Distillers Guild and voiced hope took two years of tilling soil, a little luck, Aikens, who’s also a master distiller, for a change. some help from his family and friends, Gordon said. and hard work. With perseverance, he “He’s excited for that, just as much as turned a 13-year love affair with whiskey we are,” Gordon said. into what’s now his own distillery, tucked He’s got his eyes on grappa—this is anta Barbara County’s first legal between Terravant Wine Company and wine country, after all—and vodka, post-Prohibition distillery is officially Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company on barrel-aged whiskies, and single-malt operating.

Industrial Way. scotches.

Master Distiller Stephen Gertman put Gertman is an ambitious man who’s But that’s after the necessary licensing three products on the shelf for Buelltonjust beginning his 30s and is in the based Ascendant Spirits’ March 1 middle of career No. 2. Originally from grand opening party, including the Boston, he attended Occidental College intriguing American Star Caviar and the College of Design in Pasadena.

SEE IT Visitors to Re:Find in Paso Robles can see the Lime Vodka, made from the fruits After school, he moved from industrial distillation process at work; the out-in-the-open process of a small Goleta orchard. Organic design to the world of broadcast. He startles even alcohol-industry veterans unfamiliar with caviar limes are shaped and colored became a TV producer and followed that licensing and laws in the state. like dried bean pods, but they’re path for eight years until one day he

opper stills, all shiny pipes and gauges, look like something out of one of Jules Verne’s more whimsical flights of fancy. And, thanks to echoes of Prohibition reverberating down these 80 years since the alcohol-banning amendment’s repeal, the distillation equipment may look as exotic as a steam-powered time machine to today’s Californians. That’s because— with slight exceptions—distillers in the state aren’t allowed to sell their liquors directly to consumers, so there’s no tasting room where someone can sip a whiskey, check out the process firsthand, and then buy a bottle before hopping in the car to head home.

But stills could become a more common sight in the state if locals are heard in the capitol.

Alex Villicana, a member of the fledgling California Artisanal Distillers Guild, explained that the group is working to give small distilleries the same opportunities as wineries and breweries. That means tasting rooms, gift shops, and direct sales.

Villicana is the man behind Paso Robles’ Villicana Winery and was chairman for several years of Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance. As

Aging climate

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PHOTOS BY STEVE E. MILLER

decided he was sick of dealing with the things that go with a career in the industry. After working on Top Gear—and, as he sees it, reaching the apex of his career in Los Angeles—he quit and found himself a new job.

“As soon as I left,” Gertman said, “[Ascendant Spirits] was the goal.”

The day after he stopped filming, he hopped into his first American Distilling Institute class. From there, he managed to secure himself work as an assistant distiller at Breckenridge Distillery in Colorado—under the master distiller who, incidentally, taught him to distill whiskey from donuts during his first distilling class.

Donut-whiskey became grainwhiskey, and Breckenridge’s temporary assistant distiller became the fulltime master distiller in a new facility in Buellton. The facility has a small tasting room, a custom-made hybrid copper still, a steam-heated mash-tun, a few fermenters, and a wall of whiskey barrels aging in what Gertman said is the ideal climate.

Purple and blue are just starting to color the copper on Ascendant Spirits’ still—which really consists of two stills. The first distillation takes place in a huge, 500-gallon still shaped like a potbellied stove.

The liquid becomes even more refined as it’s transferred into a large stainless steel tank with copper columns above it for the second and/or third distillations.

The liquor coming out of the still is extremely high in alcohol content, so it gets proofed down with water before either getting bottled or thrown into charred oak barrels for aging.

The climate is so ideal for aging whiskey that Gertman doesn’t use a heating or cooling system in the distillery; he just opens the doors and lets nature do its thing. And that thing happens daily. The way he explains it, aging whiskey properly is all about temperature shifts: cool mornings, warm days, and cool evenings.

Temperature regulates the way whiskey soaks up flavor from the barrels it’s aged in. Heat opens up the wood’s pores, which pulls whiskey in. Cold air closes off the pores, which in turn pushes the whiskey out. Gertman said seasonal temperature shifts are part of the reason why Kentucky bourbon is so good.

“While it’s happening seasonally in Kentucky, it’s happening every day here,” Gertman said. “So we think we can age a whiskey in two to three years the way it’s aged in five to six years in Kentucky.”

A quarter-ounce of booze

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scendant Spirits put down roots in the valley only partly because of the weather. Another reason is access to fresh, local ingredients like our friend the caviar lime. And, of course, being in the middle of wine country doesn’t hurt.

Gertman has visions of Santa

Ynez Valley wine tourists who need a grape break stopping in for a taste of something harder than the area’s standard pour.

“Whiskey’s going to taste significantly different than more wine,” he said. “It’s sort of breaking new ground.”

In the tradition of breaking new ground come all the special distillery-type DESIGNER STILL Ascendant Spirits owner Stephen things he can Gertman worked with Vendome’s engineers in Louisville, Kent., do with local to come up the perfect still for his specialty brand of spirits. wine- and beermakers. A waft of grapes in the air at Ascendant Spirits’ open house paid tribute to that. The copper still’s column windows were spotted with non-sellable Terravant wine being distilled into drinkable brandy.

Gertman can also craft grappa from area grapes. As for the breweries, Figueroa Mountain is already asking for used Breaker Bourbon barrels in which to age special brews.

The big difference between operating a Terravant or Figueroa Mountain and operating a distillery with a license like Gertman’s is that he can’t sell any products directly to his customers. And there’s also the fact that, by law, a distillery like Ascendant Spirits can only give tastes in quarter-ounce increments, at the limit of one pour per product per customer.

The regulations are part of an ancient set of California alcohol laws created after Prohibition ended, and California distillers in the same boat as Gertman say it’s unfair. While you can taste and purchase with freedom at any winery or brewery in California, that freedom is greatly restricted at your local distillery.

After Prohibition, laws governing booze-makers were designed to prevent big producers from gaining a monopoly and also protect the world from the terrible effects of alcohol.

The three-tier system was born, with producers on one end, retailers on the other, and distributors caught happily in the middle.

Lobbyists caught up in the beer and wine revolution of the last few decades took their causes to Sacramento, so laws governing breweries and wineries have relaxed.

But spirits are a relatively new revolution, so the laws BIG DREAMER Stephen Gertman and his assistant governing them distiller Anthony Cano smelled the distilled liquor coming remain decidedly out of the test still. un-relaxed: no magically creative specialty cocktails, no relaxing time spent at the distillery bar with a cold beverage, and certainly no taking a bottle home.

“We’re the redheaded stepchild,” Gertman said. “These are the sorts of things that we’re trying to get changed.”

SPIRITS continued page 12 PHOTOS BY STEVE E. MILLER

SPIRITS from page 11

opportunities. However, restrictive laws aren’t hampering the trend in the state, which currently boasts 35 licensed distilleries and many more that Owens said are incognito.

“They refuse to announce until they’re totally ready,” Owens said. “Because as soon as you announce, everyone’s knocking at the door.”

Ascendant Spirits may be the first to open its doors with full disclosure and a fully legal license in Santa Barbara County since Prohibition, but there are signs that more might follow. Leslie Pond, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control District Administrator for Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, said he’s seen an uptick in distilleries and interest in opening a distillery on the Central Coast.

“I’ve just seen more people asking about it,” Pond said. “I’m getting these questions on a monthly basis right now, versus three or four years ago when no one was asking about it.”

Not like the others

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scendant Spirits is the newest member of the California Artisan Distillers Guild, created in 2012 to bring distillers together to work toward a goal many individuals were already trying to accomplish on their own: the ability to operate much like breweries and wineries do in the state.

“Many of us were talking to our legislators,” Ventura Limoncello owner James Carling said. “But we weren’t talking to each other.”

Limoncello is an Italian liquor made with lemons. Carling, who’s also the artisan guild’s Southern Coast director, said the ultimate goal is to level the playing field among the three tiers of the alcohol industry. Federal laws mostly govern taxing alcohol and leave the nitty-gritty operation, production, and distributing laws to the states.

California’s current laws force distilleries to almost completely rely on distributors and retailers to sell their products. That essentially means the only money spirits producers make is from selling product to their distributors.

“It means I don’t make any money,” Carling explained.

Ventura Limoncello operates under a rectifier’s license, which is a different type of license from the liquor-manufacturing license Ascendant Spirits has. For tasting purposes, the restrictions on Carling are more strict still than for a distiller.

He can’t even pour a quarter-ounce of limoncello for someone to taste.

“I get calls every week from people asking what my hours are,” Carling said.

“And I have to explain the state law to them and that we can’t accommodate them.”

Now, California distillers want their turn at business-friendly amendments.

They’ve dubbed their proposal “Taste California” and are currently lobbying the petition in Sacramento.

What they call for in the proposal is “the ability to offer public tasting of their own products … within their own state and federally licensed and bonded premises” and “the ability to offer bottle spirits for retail purchases directly to non-licensed consumers only.”

Retail sales and a tasting room atmosphere are two things that are essential to the survival of a small distillery, said Bill Owens from the American Distilling Institute. He said that in the 14 states that allow both tasting and retail sales, some distilleries are making as much as $30,000 a month from direct sales of bottles, T-shirts, glasses, and the like.

“People come in and want a souvenir,” Owens said. “And they’re spending money that makes [distilleries] a viable business.

It’s a very important thing.”

Boomtime

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SPIRIT WINDOW Each window on the still is a spot where the spirit gets evaporated and condensed on its way up the column, sort of like a mini-distillation.

And Ascendant Spirits jumped on the distillery end of the bandwagon at the right time. Owens said there are 456 licensed distillers across the country, with 50 more currently in the works.

States have slowly begun changing

The right stuff

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ost of the pieces that make up Ascendant Spirits came together late in 2011, but the last piece wasn’t ready until January 2012, when Gertman finally got the gas turned on, which powers the burner that creates the steam to cook his brew.

As the distillery starts to become a PHOTO BY STEVE E. MILLER part of the artisan liquor market in their post-Prohibition laws to California, the friends and family backing accommodate for businesses opening in the product think the pieces that are the the latest hyped industry. And alwaysdistillery’s identity are stacked in the on-the-liberal-edge California is one right places. of the few remaining states with laws Gertman’s father Paul, who has started restricting both retail sales and tasting and sold many health-care-related PHOTOS BY STEVE E. MILLER businesses over his lifetime, said his son has more than just a passion for making good whiskey. He said his son has business sense, too, which can take an artfully crafted product further.

“Steve combines both of those elements,” Paul said. “It’s that combination that’s necessary.”

Investing in high-quality equipment, starting a business in a growing industry, and assembling a board of directors that includes the former president of Jack Daniels, Stephen Thompson, are some of things Paul said were sound business decisions.

Vice President of Sales Kyle Herman said he signed on because when he met BATCH ONE Breaker Bourbon and American Star Gertman, Vodka are just the first of many corn-, rye-, and he found wheat-based spirits Ascendant Spirits is planning to someone with distill for gin, whiskey, and vodka lovers. integrity of character who was passionate about developing a viable product.

“I knew I was going to be selling the truth,” Herman said. “It’s about doing it right, because if you do it right, everything falls into place.” ∆

he beauty of any craft industry that produces tasty goods for the consumer is the crafters’ ability to show off their goods.

Frankly, the beauty of WOODY BREATH The smell of whiskey soaking into wood fills the anything artisan is that it’s room between Ascendant Spirits’ tasting room and the distillation area. so “in” right now.

Because of Buellton’s cool nights and warm days, the liquor is pushed “We’re just a part of the in and out of the oak that makes up the barrels on a daily basis. revolution,” Owens said.

“Buy American.”

Staff Writer Camillia Lanham writes for the Sun, New Times’ sister paper to the south. Contact her at clanham@ santamariasun.com. Executive Editor Ryan Miller contributed to this story.