Founder Q&A: Shadow Ridge Spirits Company

What is your role at Shadow Ridge Spirits Company?

I am the owner, distiller, and wear many other hats. I would consider our company Ultra-Small Batch and Boutique. My wife and I mash, ferment, distill, bottle, label, etc. to get our products ready for market. I also handle all the back-end operations of ordering supplies, accounting, marketing, and whatever else comes up. There are never two days that are the same, we kind of play it by ear and tackle whatever needs to get done. We don't take ourselves too seriously and try to keep it fun.

Tell us something that might surprise people about your products.

Shadow Ridge Spirits is just myself and my wife. We both work full-time, distilling and producing is a labor of love we do in our free time. We juggle our careers, running the business, and making time to relax together.

Something else that might be a surprise is that most of my whiskey recipes were created from the recipes I loved making as a home brewer. I love using Munich, Vienna, and Crystal Malt Barley in our whiskies. Also, we don't use distillers' yeast. We use ale yeast in all our spirits. I love the flavors that develop in whiskey from Belgium yeast. We use Kveik Ale yeast in our rums, and California ale to make a super clean 100% wheat distillate for our gins.

What's your go-to cocktail recipe at home?

I leave all the fantastic cocktails to the group of mixologists Crafted Pour has assembled. At home, I keep it simple. I love a good Bourbon Smash. My basic Bourbon smash is of course Bourbon, muddled lemon, mint, simple syrup and ice. Similar to a minty Whiskey Sour, or a lemony Mint Julep. I like to experiment with different bourbons, sweeteners, herbs, and fruits. I really enjoyed swapping out the lemon for blackberries, or substituting rosemary or sage for the mint.

Share your personal favorite recent ways to use Shadow Ridge products?

I really enjoy using our 1893 Navy Strength Rum in cocktails. I enjoy whiskey neat, but rum and gin in spirit-forward cocktails. Our Navy Strength rum is a minimum 114 proof distilled from a piloncillo sugar and molasses wash, then barrel aged in ex-bourbon barrels. I found it to be a great way to mix up your regular Old Fashion. Sometimes I feel that Old Fashions have become the cliché bourbon cocktail, so I either like to enjoy a different bourbon cocktail (a Bourbon Smash) or I change out the spirits in an Old Fashion. Drinking an Old Fashion with an Overproof rum has become my favorite way to use one of our products.

Most memorable cocktail bar?

Club 33 Disneyland, CA. A once in a lifetime experience and I am very grateful for the invitation from Crafted Pour. Unfortunately, I was on antibiotics, but I did get a chance to taste a few drinks. Absolutely incredible!