Day 1

Savage & Cooke American Distillery, Mare Island

April 3, 2022

Picked up the rental car and met Brady at the Intercontinental Mark Hopkins Hotel on California Street in San Francisco. We took the street car to the SF Ferry Port and caught the 4:10 ferry to Mare Island. Mare Island is an old naval shipyard. Only three of the many industrial buildings are currently occupied; SF Ferry Depot and fueling station, Mare Island Brewing Company, and Savage & Cooke Distillery. Dylan Carney is the head Distiller at Savage & Cooke and he is our primary contact.

We were welcomed warmly and enjoyed a cocktail, “Lip Service,” rye whiskey neat and some kick-ass fried chicken sandwiches from their food truck parked behind the distillery. Dylan then gave us a tour of the facilities, rack house, and distillery.

After the tour we convened in a large concrete walled room in the center of the Barrel Room. We were told this was a vault that housed confidential naval documents. Here is where Dylan and I created the blend for our Private Label Whiskey 88 proof Bourbon finished in predominantly Cabernet (Orin Swift Palermo) barrels but also a smaller percent of the bourbon will be finished in Zinfandel and Grenache barrels. We purchased one whole barrel of this liquid which will get us 240 bottles.

Dylan is quite the character. He has a beard and long hair and wears a flat-billed cowboy hat. He received his master’s in distillery in Scotland and he considers himself a “scientist.” He lives in Napa and he’ll be joining us for dinner at Wilfred’s on Wednesday night.