#LOST SPIRITS DISTILLERY LICENSE#

Originally dubbed the Model 1, the name subsequently changed to THEA One (Targeted Hyper-Esterification Aging), which not coincidentally is a homonym of Theia, the Greek goddess of light. Just add new-make spirits, wood blocks, and electricity, and a few days later, presto! Aged spirits emerge. Thus, when he set out to create a licensable reactor, the original plan was to create an all-in-one unit, about the size of an SUV, that simply required hooking up to power and internet. Glass tubes for exposing spirits to intense lightīryan’s original reactor, used to create the Lost Spirits rums at the Salinas facility, was in no way mobile, being all exposed tubes, valves, tanks, and wiring – completely unsuitable for selling as a turnkey solution.

#LOST SPIRITS DISTILLERY LICENSE#

Rather than attempting to grow the Lost Spirits business, bottle by bottle of rum, the new Lost Spirits plan is to lease the technology to other distilleries at a massive scale, while providing what could turn out to be a significant license revenue stream to Lost Spirits. In April 2015 at his American Distillers Institute conference talk, Bryan made the head-turning announcement of plans to license the aging technology to other distilleries. Although only a few hundred bottles of Colonial Inspired have been made, those bottles have become the showcase for demonstrating what the Lost Spirits aging process is capable of. All three rums are intensely flavorful and colorful, despite having no added sugar or coloring, and received considerable attention by the rum Illuminati, as well as yours truly.Ī subsequent fourth rum, Colonial American Inspired, heralded yet another substantial improvement to the aging process, wherein the whole batch goes through the same steps, rather than each stage acting on only a portion of the whole batch. The early whiskies used only a fraction of the aging technologies used in the subsequent Navy Style, Polynesian Inspired, and Cuban Inspired rums. Along the way, Bryan studied the chemical reactions that occur during wooden barrel aging and tinkered with ways to induce the reactions more quickly. They first made heavily peated whiskies, but soon turned their attention to rum.

Setting up shop on vacant family-owned land near the artichoke fields of Salinas, Bryan built his own stills, first a wooden version, and subsequently copper. after spending a few years in Spain making absinthe and gin. If you’ve somehow managed to miss the recent media coverage of Lost Spirits, here’s the quick synopsis: About five years ago, Bryan and Joanne moved back to the U.S. The house is a combination spirits laboratory, reactor construction site, showroom for potential reactor licensees, and living quarters, complete with pool with diving board, outdoor BBQ deck (and disco mirror ball), and tennis court.

Peering through the glass over the front door, a white dragon (reminiscent of Lost Spirits’ original dragon-head copper still in Salinas) wrapped around the entry chandelier glares down at us. Having known Bryan for a while, the flag is a dead giveaway that we’ve found the right place.Īs we approach the front door, a computerized female voice welcomes us. I soon spot a large red pirate flag waving near the front door. Soon enough, the GPS indicates we’ve arrived, though it seems hard to trust the GPS, at first– the house before us is relatively new, quite large, and well-appointed in a suburban McMansion sort of way, a far cry from the dusty and artistic Lost Spirit Distillery in Salinas, which we visited last year. Heading up into the foothills on the outskirts of town, the houses grow noticeably larger and more upscale, almost certainly owned by tech money seeking a nice view in a quiet town.

(Yes, a week.) They’re about to start shipping reactors to distilleries around the U.S., and Joanne and Bryan have graciously allowed us a sneak peek. However, that’s exactly why we’re here: Today’s agenda is visiting the new Lost Spirits facility, where Bryan Davis and Joanne Haruta are building the first batch of hyper-speed aging reactors that will create the equivalent of twenty years of barrel aging in a week’s time. Wonk and I are driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles, with a pit stop tonight in Pismo Beach, and have stopped here for a quick bite before our late-morning meeting.ĭriving through the town, it’s not quite the kind of place you’d expect a revolution in the distilled spirits industry to originate. 101, you’d be forgiven if you didn’t notice the southernmost town of Morgan Hill, a dusty bedroom community of 40,000 residents, two freeway exits, a Walmart, and some small vineyards.

Lost spirits distillery