by Lou Bustamante

There’s been a lot of rumors and commotion lately about the new relationship between Proximo and St. George Spirits, specifically in regards the Hangar One Vodka line. To get the scoop, I got a chance to sit down and talk to St. George Spirits master distiller Lance Winters and distiller Dave Smith.

According to Lance, “neither the Hangar One brand nor the distillery have been sold,” and that the only thing that has changed is that marketing and distribution rights for Hangar One vodka have moved from Craft Distillers to Proximo. Craft Distillers is best known as the folks behind the Germain-Robin brandy and Danzantes (recently changed to Los Nahuales) mescal brands, and Poximo are the marketers and importers of the 1800 Tequila and Three Olives vodka brands.

When asked how this change would affect the distillery and production, Dave and Lance both emphasized that the product would continue to be made at the distillery in Alameda and that consumers should notice little change in the vodka. They seemed hopeful that Proximo’s “resources and know-how” would help improve retail availability of the vodka line and result in more product support for retail and bar outlets.

For Dave Smith, his focus will be on making some of the more esoteric and unusual spirits commercially viable and refining the production process to be more efficient and improve yield. Will this ever result in the Foie Gras vodka ever making it to the market?

Lance is excited to have an alliance with a company that is keen on tapping into his creativity, by allowing St. George to create new flavors, products and brands associated with Hangar One vodka.

“Hangar One is great, but I also want to keep doing new things,” added Lance. In the near future, he hopes to release a gin, an aged and unaged rum made from California cane, along with a white dog (unaged bourbon) as a value spirit. Keep an eye out for new whiskey expressions like bourbon, made with a blend of malts along with the corn, and a single barrel single malt offering. “Whiskey brings me closer to my roots and the reason why I came to the distillery,” he said handing me a glass of the barely aged bourbon. Tasting it, I knew it would bring me back too.

http://www.craftdistillers.com/

http://www.proximospirits.com/

http://www.stgeorgespirits.com/