3 Ways Distillers are Influenced and Inspired by the Ocean

If you’ve ever been knocked over by a wave at the beach or tossed around on the deck of a boat on a booze cruise, you probably gained new respect for the power of the ocean. Spirits companies are taking notice too, harnessing the many resources of the nearby seascape to craft their liquids in unique ways. Here’s a closer look at 3 U.S. distilleries that take more than just inspiration from the ocean’s power.

Oyster Shells

Named for Highway 98, the coastal road that winds from Mississippi and Alabama and along the picturesque Florida Gulf Coast, Distillery 98 is a micro distillery founded in 2019 that uses local GMO-free corn to make vodka, then filters it with oyster shells. Company founder and CEO Harrison Holditch named their signature vodka Dune Laker, inspired by South Walton Beach, its home in the panhandle’s lovely 30A region. The area’s unique coastal dune lakes fluctuate with the weather and tides–seawater and freshwater flow in and out creating a perfect environment for oysters to thrive. Says Holditch, “We use oyster shells during our filtration process. Oysters are some of the best filters for our oceans. They clean out the dirt and grime that runs out into our bays via rivers, springs and other watersheds. The by-products from that process are cleaner water for our oceans, and of course beautiful pearls. Using cleaned oyster shells that have no allergy causing protein during our filtration, is our homage to that process.”

In addition to filtration, Ostreida Vodka from Providence RI gets a briny boost from the East Coast oysters used in distillation.

Gray Whale Gin photo credit Daniel Gorostieta

Ocean Botanicals

The Pacific Ocean plays many roles in this Sonoma distillery’s production and ethos. Kombu harvested from the Mendocino coast provides a briny umami-ness to Golden State Distillery Gray Whale Gin and the botanical mix includes many other local, sustainable, or wild-foraged ingredients like native almonds, fir, and mint.

The distillery’s home on the Sonoma California coast lies directly on the migratory path of the hard to ignore California Gray Whale, the animal that inspired the brand, and founders Marsh and Jan Mokhtari partner with Oceana, the world’s largest marine conservation organization, to protect that environment.

“Coastal environments have been shown to improve our health, body and mind. Proximity to water — especially the sea — is associated with many positive measures of physical and mental well-being, from higher levels of vitamin D to better social relations. In fact, simply being around bodies of water lowers one’s cortisol and raises serotonin levels. Not only do oceans positively impact our mental and physical well-being, but the United Nations calls oceans the “lungs of the Earth,” as they generate most of the oxygen we breathe — roughly 70%. It is absolutely critical that our oceans are preserved and protected, and no organization is making a larger global impact on the conservation of the world’s oceans than Oceana.”

Hendrick’s has also turned to the ocean, infusing coastal botanicals like sea kelp in their limited release Neptunia, to add salinity and depth from nearby marine sources.

Aging at Sea

Jefferson’s Ocean Aged at Sea Rye takes an 8 month journey in barrels on a container ship before bottling. Co-Founder Trey Zoeller started sending his Kentucky Artisan Distillery whiskey on boat rides based on America’s distilled spirit history. Whiskey lovers often tell the tale of how, in colonial times, folks drank white whiskey locally, right off the still. It wasn’t until whiskey started getting shipped down the Mississippi River in barrels that people became enamored with a particular version from Bourbon County, Kentucky. In 2016, Zoeller reenacted a popular route to market by shipping two barrels of his Jefferson’s Bourbon down the Ohio River and up the Atlantic coast to New York City. After their year-long journey, the contents of the barrels, as reported in Popular Mechanics, tasted spectacular. The rich, tobacco-colored liquid showed more maturity than its actual age, with intense notes of caramel and vanilla.

Zoeller started regularly sending aged bourbon in barrels on a world tour of 30 ports on five continents. The barrels sit in a container at the top of the bow of the ship, to get as much pitch as possible, under “sunroofs” to let in the elements.

He reasoned that a long ocean journey would turn his 100% rye whiskey from a great mixing whiskey into a velvety sipping rye. Says Zoeller, “Things happen when you put it on the ocean–you’ve got constant contact and movement within the barrel which picks up color…We cross the equator a couple times so that extreme heat caramelizes the sugars…and although we lose a lot to evaporation,” the well-known ‘angel’s share,’ “we also get the salt air permeating the barrel and giving a briny taste.” He aged his rye for 4-5 years in new barrels on dry land, then off to sea it went.

The result? “It sits nice on your tongue, gets that great weight,” says Zoeller, “and it just doesn’t dissipate! You get all that spice up front, plus the marshmallow in there and then you get that caramel that busts out like you don’t get in typical ryes.” Combined with the salinity from months of exposure to salt air, after its long ocean voyage, Zoeller got the sipping rye he was hoping for.

And More

Other distilleries have experimented with ocean elements as well. In Northern California, Hangar One gathered the ubiquitous coastal mist in fog catchers and used that water in their experimental Fog Point Vodka. On Maui, Ocean Organic Vodka uses mineral laden deep sea water, along with local organic sugar cane and solar power to create their vodka. We look forward to seeing how distillers will continue to be inspired by the power and potential of the ocean.