Since 1982, Jorg Rupf, owner of St. George Spirits has been distilling some of the world’s finest fruit brandies in a former WWII structure (Hangar 1) at the Alameda Naval Air Station. He’s very good at it: his pear eau-de-vie won the top award, best product at the show, when he submitted it to the prestigious destillata artisan producer competition in 1992. In 1997, he won Destillata’s coveted award for distilling excellence.

In August of 2001 Jorg and Ansley Coale of Germain-Robin met to discuss a collaboration. They had independently conceived the same notion – that a craft distiller, one skilled in the distillation and blending techniques used for fine brandies/cognacs, could create a far more interesting and greatly superior vodka. They thought it possible to elevate the vodka category to an entirely new level. Seven months later, the first Hangar One vodka was in bottle.

Jorg’s skill & experience is crucial because infusion is a delicate art: selecting the perfect fruit to work with, insuring its quality, picking in season, knowing the precise instant to remove the macerating solids, filtering, stabilizing. To preserve the beautiful aromatics & flavors of the exotic ingredients in all their full fresh glory, Jorg has to carefully redistill a portion of the infusion and blend it back in. Getting the process just right takes knowledge, care, a sensitive palate, and wide experience with fruit & alcohol. Hangar One is distillation as an art.

Jorg uses REAL fruit, INTERESTING fruit, EXOTIC fruit, to infuse spectacular and authentic flavor into beautifully distilled midwest-derived grain vodka. These are the finest vodkas ever produced. The result is in the bottle. Unbelievable quality.