Eau de vie is a colorless and sweet brandy made using fermentation and double distillation techniques. The result is a fruity but light beverage, not unlike a wine. The key characteristic, however, is that it’s made using fruit other than grapes, such as pears, cherries, raspberries, or even kiwi. Sounds delicious, right?
Eau de vie is a French term that means the ‘water of life’ or ‘spirit,’ which is certainly on point since we’re talking about modern spirits here. But one of the most renowned makers of this sweet beverage is St. George Spirits or the St. George Distillery. Founded by Jörg Rupf, a living legend, as they say, this distiller walked his own path starting in the early ’80s. It really began in a small shack made out of 20 by 20 pieces of plywood, likely cobbled together using old shipping crates.
Yet today, the St. George brand is a pioneer in the industry, so when we got a chance to sit down with its current Master distiller and co-owner, Lance Winters, we certainly didn’t pass up the chance. Take a seat, pour a glass of something strong, and let’s dive into the history of America’s first true craft distillery.
Meeting with a master distiller
Sitting across from Dan Gaul virtually, Lance Winters is a striking figure, not unlike the original founder, Jörg Rupf. Both are formidable in their own ways.
As the St. George site lays out: “Jörg has a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Distilling Institute, and he’s a five-time nominee for Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional by the James Beard Foundation.” So, he’s kind of a big deal.
“If you’re at someplace where you’re meeting a distiller ask them not how they distill something but why they distill. That’s so much more important.”
But Winters carries the torch, along with the rest of the St. George Distillery team, as Rupf retired in 2010. He set the foundation and the stage for what we have the opportunity to experience today, particularly a variety of mouth-watering spirits from gin and vodkas to brandies and whiskey.
Rupf was a trailblazer for his time, however. He began to apply fermentation techniques that weren’t common in Europe at the time, eventually beating out European competitors in the prestigious Austrian Destillata blind-tasting event. He fell in love with the sheer variety of fruits growing in California, which sparked his move into Eau de vie territory.
Winters describes to Gaul why Rupf was so passionate: “Jörg didn’t do what he did because he looked at a focus group and said, ‘This is gonna be the next big thing,’ he did it because Eau de vies, by their definition, are these things of beauty. They are snapshots of fruit that you love at the peak of their beauty. When done correctly, they’re transportive. You pick up a glass of pear de vie, smell it, and you’re transported to a pear orchard. You’re just overwhelmed by the smell, and the flavor does the same thing.”
Winters continued, “We’re very fortunate that he’s an artist in that respect. He continued to make Eue de vies for years, even though nobody in this country knew how to pronounce it, knew how to drink it, or knew what it was.”
Cocktail recipes that leave their mark
Gaul and Winters discuss several cocktails you can make using St. George spirits, like the Ballervardier: A cold blend of single malt whiskey, Bruto Americano, and sweet vermouth, garnished with an orange twist.
Winters is a die-hard Terroir Martini fan, ultra-dry — no vermouth or just a rinse — and with olives, best of all with a side of a dozen West Coast oysters. He also loves American Werewolf, a gin-laden Negroni cocktail cut with Terroir Gin and Bruto Americano.
“Never ever dismiss an entire spirit category just because you had a bad experience with one member of that category. […] Explore and give things a chance because that’s what it’s about.”
But as they delve deeper into the cocktails and what goes into them, Gaul and Winters flow back to the discussion of creating and blending spirits. Winters explains that one of the reasons why St. George’s inventory is so eclectic is because it’s a natural progression to move on and distill new liquors after successfully doing so with one type.
“Actual distilling is not rocket science,” he says. “It’s not a difficult thing to do. What’s difficult is to make sure things are balanced, and every single time we make something new, it teaches us more about balancing other things. The gins were informed in no small part by making absinthe. The botanicals that go into an absinthe are all divas; they all want to take center stage, and being able to create an
He also explains in more detail how to fine-tune and blend the “diva” botanicals in the absinthe.
“We distilled each botanical separately on a lab still. We got a 30-liter lab still that allows us to do each of the botanicals individually,” he says. “And then we can blend those afterward, figure out the representative ratios that we’d be working with, and then try and scale that up. Scaling it up becomes its own little hurdle to jump over, but we get there eventually.”
It’s very much a trial and error-process, something we’ve heard shared from other distillers in the past. But like Winters and Rupf before him, true master distillers always “get there eventually.”
Creating spirits and making history
When asked about a spirit he had the most fun creating, Winters immediately says a “Terroir,” but what’s most interesting is his reasoning why.
“If you ask me to paint a landscape we’d both be embarrassed with the result. If you asked me to draw a landscape, we’d be embarrassed with it. But I can make something that draws that picture in your head when you smell it and taste it. And so I have the most fun with that because of the creative process and the feeling of pride at completion,” he explains.
It’s a glimpse at what master distillers not only do but also their mindset when they’re creating new blends. Of course, Winters also leaves us with some valuable parting advice:
“Never ever dismiss an entire spirit category just because you had a bad experience with one member of that category. There are a lot of representatives of each of those categories out there. If the very first tequila I had ever tried colored my entire view of tequilas, I’d never be enjoying margaritas or sipping tequila or mezcal. There’s something like that in every category. Explore and give things a chance because that’s what it’s about.”
That’s certainly good advice since, during the interview, Gaul had the opportunity to try a new type of gin, finding a blend that he likes — he comments that he doesn’t usually drink gin. St. George’s gin made him change his mind.
So what actually goes into the distillation of a beverage like that? A beverage that can change your mind and give you a new, transformative experience?
“If you’re at someplace where you’re meeting a distiller ask them not how they distill something but why they distill. That’s so much more important,” Winters says. “How is going to be informed by how you’ve learned to distill, but why you make something is so much more important. Are you doing it because you’ve seen in the craft spirits industry there’s been double-digit growth over the last twenty years — you’re just chasing money. And if you’re just chasing money, you’re never gonna make something that’s really, really great. But if you’re going from the heart, if you’re making something that you really care about — if you find a distiller that’s doing that — they’re gonna be making things that will hopefully resonate with you, as well.”
