Hangar One
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Hangar One is an artisan vodka produced in Alameda, California by veteran distillers Jörg Rupf and Lance Winters (St. George Spirits). The vodkas are made by blending hand-distilled fruit infusions and distillates with a grain neutral spirit from midwestern wheat produced on a column still. Using only real fruit, Hangar One does not include food additives such as glycerine to provide flavor or to mask harshness.
The "Straight" vodka is made by blending the wheat vodka with a Viognier wine vodka that has been distilled by hand on a small pot still (similar to the alembic stills used for production of Scotch, Armagnac, and Cognac).
Hangar One also produces several infused vodkas, made from rare fruit with unusual complexity, such as Buddha's hand citron, Kaffir lime, and tangerine flowers ("Mandarin Blossom"). These fruits, leaves, and flowers are too delicate or do not have enough juice to distill, so they are infused into the vodka. This is re-distilled by hand on a small pot still to focus the flavors and create levels of complexity. Once a year, Hangar One produces Fraser River Raspberry, when raspberries are available from the state of Washington. Hangar One also occasionally releases an "Alchemist Series" bottling based on the distillers' experiments; in 2006, this was a Wasabi vodka made from the only fresh wasabi grown in the U.S.
[edit] Origins
In 1982, Jörg Rupf brought a Holstein pot still to California and began carrying on his family's tradition of making eau de vie. Known as the "Grandfather of American craft distillation," Rupf has been one of the strongest proponents of artisan distilling, and has taught many of the artisan distillers now operating in the U.S. He has won several international awards for his Poire Williams, and is known as one of the foremost fruit distillers in the world. Together with Lance Winters, St. George Spirits now produces several eaux de vie and liqueurs under the "Aqua Perfecta" label, St. George Single Malt Whiskey, and "Qi Liqueur."
Facing an increasingly monolithic distribution system, in 2001, St. George Spirits joined forces with Ansley Coale of Germain-Robin brandy, who had been hand-distilling Cognac-style brandies in California since 1982, to create Hangar One vodka. At the same time, Coale started Craft Distillers, a marketing company devoted to making artisan-distilled spirits widely available.
The Hangar One distillery is located in an old hangar on the former Alameda Naval Air Station, hence its name. It is directly across the bay from San Francisco, California.
