Hangar One and St. George Spirits Are Parting Ways

Alameda-based St. George Spirits produces every conceivable type of liquor, from rum to gin to tequila to whiskey, but they might be best known for their Hangar One vodka brand (named for the distillery's home, a former naval airplane hangar). Back in 2010, founder Jorg Rupf and distillers Lance Winters and Dave Smith decided to sell the Hangar One brand to Jersey City, NJ-based Proximo Spirits, which is also behind Three Olives vodka, 1800 tequila, The Kraken rum, and a host of other liquor brands. As part of the deal, they agreed to produce Hangar One on Proximo's behalf for a few more years, but now the time has come for Hangar One to fly the nest; sometime this summer, it'll move production to a new distillery right next to St. George, in the same building that houses Faction Brewing.

The move opens up space for St. George to devote more time to other projects (they've got an apple brandy and a barrel-aged agricole rum and on the way), and for Winters to eventually introduce a new vodka brand of his own. Meanwhile, Proximo has brought on a new distiller, Caley Shoemaker, who is coming in from one of its other brands, Stranahan's Whiskey in Colorado. Proximo's Hangar One facility in Alameda is set to open sometime this summer, with a tasting room to follow in summer 2015.

· Local Distillers Can Now Charge Tasting Fees [~ ESF ~]
· Behind-The-Scenes: St. George Spirits With Lance Winters [~ ESF ~]