St George Spirits was founded in 1982 by Jörg Rupf. Inspired by the incredible quality of California fruit, Jörg brought an old-world understanding of eau de vie — unaged fruit brandies — production to the new world and is foundational in inspiring the American artisanal spirits movement. Master distiller Lance Winters joined St George in 1996 with a dream to make an original American single malt whiskey; Jörg taught Lance to love distillation in all its forms beyond any spirit category.
American Whiskey: When did your involvement with the ASWMC begin?
Dave Smith (head distiller and vice president): While we were invited to join that ASWMC at the outset, we chose not to as we’re concerned that any definition of American single malt whiskey would ultimately hinder creativity in what we still see as a very young category... With that said, the ASWMC ultimately made a compelling argument that the category would be defined eventually, and we as American single malt distillers should be the ones to define it. Steve Hawley convinced us that if we weren’t part of the solution now, that we’d be fighting against someone else’s solution later. We couldn’t argue with that and wanted to help the good guys here. I also want to give Steve and the ASWMC credit for being incredibly thoughtful in their process of defining American single malt as a category and to listen to so many voices in this space as they developed the definition of American single malt whiskey.
AW: How did the distillery’s journey into creating American single malt begin? Was creating ASMW in the plans from the beginning?
DS: St George Spirits was founded... in 1982, and it wasn’t until Lance came aboard 14 years later that we began to produce single malt whiskey. Lance arrived with a background as a professional brewer and home whiskey distiller. He knew of Jörg by reputation, and showed up in 1996 to meet Jörg with a bottle of whiskey he’d distilled in his garage and the dream of making a unique American single malt. Jörg hired Lance for what started as a 30-day trial and eventually turned into a long and fruitful partnership. Together they started laying down whiskey in 1997, and released Lot 1 of St George Single Malt Whiskey in 2000. We’ve released a new Lot annually since then, and now here we are in 2025 celebrating 25 years of making our own pioneering single malt and getting ready to release Lot 25 of St George Single Malt Whiskey later this year.
AW: Could you talk me through your process of creation?
Lance Winters (master distiller): I came to St George with a brewing background, more of a malt-head than a hop-head. As such, I really enjoyed being able to play with different roast levels of malt to affect the final beer. As I started distilling different styles of beer, I realized that the characteristics I loved from those various roast levels carried over into newmake spirit. When I arrived at St George, Jörg and I started working with the roasted grains we found the most compelling to be able to distill a rich, chocolately, nutty new make. We ultimately landed on a mash bill of tworow pale malted barley, 120 Lovibond crystal malt, chocolate malt, black patent malt, and Bamberg malt. The desire to maintain and enhance the characteristics of the new make we loved became our guiding principle in barrel selection. Contrary to many American distillers, we tend to favor used oak. It keeps from overpowering the spirit and allows the whiskey to be driven by grain instead of oak. When Dave Smith showed up at St George, he started tasting alongside Jörg and me, and after a couple of years, asked to try his hand at a blend. Turns out he had a real talent for that, and he has since become our blender and the custodian of our whiskey program. We’ve built up an extensive barrel library over the years, allowing us to draw from multiple iterations of an already-complex single malt with each new release. Dave’s skill as a blender coupled with the selection of barrels available in our rickhouse has allowed our whiskey program to flourish and evolve into where it is today.
What would you say is the key differentiator for your American single malts in the market?
LW: The key differentiator is intentionality and our distinct point of view. In the case of our Lot series of St George single malt whiskey, our goal has always been to showcase characteristics of whiskey, contributed by various roast levels of grain. At the time we started laying casks of single malt in the late 1990s, no other distillers were using heavily roasted grains. For 25 years now, our unique mashbill, as well as our stubborn insistence on utilizing predominantly used oak, continues to set us apart. Though it evolves slightly with every release, the Lot series of St George Single Malt Whiskey has an elegant signature defined by notes of chocolate, coffee, roasted nuts, and a lovely softness on the palate. For our Baller American Single Malt Whiskey, we use a lean mashbill (two-row pale malt and Munich malt), used bourbon cask aging, and finishing in housemade umeshu casks. The umeshu cask finish is a timeconsuming labor of love, and a defining element of the Baller. The process begins by creating our own umeshu from our housemade shochu and California-grown ume fruit. We then age the umeshu in barrel for at least a year and then finish our Baller American Single Malt in the ex-umeshu casks for six–12 months. The result is a light crisp whiskey with a tight smoke profile and a bright tropical fruit finish.
How has the recent ratification of ASMW impacted your distillery?
DS: The recent ratification of ASMW is very exciting for those of us paying attention, however I wouldn’t say that it’s impacted the distillery directly. I think that the reality is that it will take many years before American single malt is a commonly understood category.
Have you noticed an uptake in interest in ASMW since the ratification was announced?
LW: I can only answer for St George Spirits here. We’ve been distilling single malt whiskey for nearly three decades. That’s nearly three decades of educating the American consumer about what an American single malt is and can be. Over that time, we’ve developed many loyal longtime fans who seek out Lot after Lot of St George Single Malt Whiskey with each year’s release, and others who come into our tasting room without much of a spirits background or industry knowledge who walk away with a bottle of our Baller American Single Malt Whiskey, not knowing anything about the category’s ratification.
