Craft Methods and Human Beings

Craft-method distillation is about individuals working by hand on small stills. The actual methods can be centuries-old techniques handed for generations from master to apprentice; they can also be innovations based on improved technology (use of bladder presses, storage in refrigerated stainless-steel tanks) or simply on good ideas, as when Hector Vasquez pumps warm water through a slender tube in a tank of roasted & milled agaves so that a cold spell doesn’t lead to inconsistent fermentation or when Jorg Rupf adds a propellor agitator to his pear fermentation tank.

Craft-method distillers tend to be focused, even obsessive. Every detail adds or subtracts from the eventual quality of the product: the ingredients themselves, their preparation for distillation, the hands-on pot-distillation, the selection of wood for aging, careful blending, judicious filtration ….

Each batch of craft-method distillate reflects the creative individuality of its distiller: quirks and insights, special talents, innovations. This intervention of individual talent and experience in what is otherwise a fairly mechanical process is what creates authentically great distilled spirits.

Craft-method spirits are an antidote to all that commoditized large-production stuff you see advertised. This site is about authenticity, personal attention, and love of one’s work, and every product listed is very very real.

Who are you guys?

Distillers and marketers of fine craft-method spirits. Since 1981, we have been deeply involved in the creation, production, and marketing of Germain-Robin brandy/liqueur/absinthe, Maison Surrenne cognac, Los Nahuales and Mezcalero artisan mescals, Low Gap whiskey, and Crispin Cain’s rose liqueur. Other projects are under way. We take pride in and believe strongly in what we do and how we do it. We think that an important part of all this is straight talk about the relationship between how craft-method spirits are produced and the actual qualities of the bottled product.