History
St. George Spirits, Artisan Distillers Since 1982…
Founded in 1982 by Jorg Rupf, a pioneer in what has become the craft distilling movement. Originally founded as an eau de vie distillery, St. George Spirits has steadily expanded their portfolio to include about a dozen spirits.
In 1996, Jorg Ruph hired Lance Winters, a brewer and former nuclear scientist. One year later Jorg and Lance began distilling and aging their single malt whiskey, which was first released in 2000. In 2004 St. George Spirits moved into its current location, a 65,000 square feet (6,000 m2) airplane hangar on the former Alameda naval air station.
In December 2007, the company produced the first commercially available American Absinthe, St. George Absinthe Verte, since the lifting of the 1912 ban on making the spirit. Since then St. George has continued to experiment with a number of spirits. Some of them have entered regular production like their California Agricole Rum, while other “flights of fancy” like their oyster, dungeness Crab, kombu seaweed, and Christmas tree spirits have remained experiments.
In 2010, Jorg Ruph retired from his 28 year career as master distiller of St. George Spirits. That same year St. George sold their popular Hangar One Vodka line to Proximo Spirits so that they could focus their attention on new projects, like their agricole rum, gin line, and Breaking & Entering Bourbon.
Gin
Wonderful on their own, but as a set of three—a mini gin tasting flight, if you will—they illustrate the distillers’ artistry and sense of expression, and display the potential for craft distillers to put their own personal stamp of their spirits. — Drink Me
Each of these is a great gift, but the whole set? That would be a knockout. — Chow
Vodka
Alameda’s distilling heroes are back in the vodka biz. — Eater
To make these three vodkas, St. George distill fresh produce and fruit on our copper stills using the same artisanal methods wethey rely on to make their flagship brandies and fruit liqueurs. Combining these distillates with a non-GMO base spirit results in three unique spirits that stand proudly among the rest of the St. George portfolio.
