A quarter century in a glass

St George Spirits and the Long Road to Lot 25

One of my very first distillery visits as a wide-eyed content creator — long before the hundreds of articles that would follow — and one that’s stayed with me ever since.

I still remember arriving at Alameda’s old naval airbase more than a decade ago, utterly unsure what I was doing there. I’d been told by a friend of a friend — the kind of casual spirits-world recommendation that always seems to lead somewhere wonderful — that I should visit St George Spirits while in San Francisco. I loved their Terroir Gin, that wild, forest-floor thing that tasted like pine needles and Christmas. So I made my way across the Bay, took an Uber (my first) to what looked like an aircraft hangar, and walked into a place that would permanently change how I thought about American craft distilling.

Inside, there was confusion about who I was and why I was there. Eventually, I was introduced to Dave Smith — bright-eyed, animated, ideas spilling faster than he could pour them. Every corner of the place was alive: demi-johns of experiments, strange stills, an Xbox in one corner, the faint scent of malt and smoke hanging in the air. Somewhere among all this chaos, Dave was working on perfecting a mushroom vodka. (I still haven’t seen that one bottled.)

Then came Lance Winters — cigar, sharp wit, total candour. He wanted to know who I was and why I’d appeared unannounced in his distillery. I blurted out something about being involved in the spirits business, which was technically true, and that the Espresso Martini was my favourite cocktail. Lance paused, said the Espresso Martini was his favourite cocktail, and decided I could stay.

Within minutes, Dave was climbing the racking with a plastic hose, pulling whisky straight from casks and pouring it into my glass. I was too new to know that you could pour some away, so I didn’t. I just kept drinking. At some point I realised I’d miss my flight if I didn’t leave immediately — and that I didn’t really want to leave at all. It was my first glimpse of the restless, mischievous brilliance that defines St George.

A whiskey 25 years in the making

More than a decade after that first visit, I found myself raising a glass to a distillery marking a milestone of its own. St George Lot 25 American Single Malt Whiskey represents a quarter-century of their creativity — the 25th annual release in a series that began long before “American single malt” was a recognised category.

Back in 1996, when Lance first conceived the mash bill, American whisky was dominated by bourbon and rye. The notion of a domestic single malt seemed almost absurd. Yet St George persisted. The first barrel was filled in 1997; Lot 1 appeared in 2000. Every year since, a new Lot has been released, each one a study in blending creativity, patience, and California individuality.

The mash bill itself remains unchanged since those early days: various roast levels of two-row barley, from pale malt to heavily roasted chocolate and black-patent malts — a brewer’s mash for a distiller’s dream. Bamberg malt, smoked over alder and beech, adds a savoury, culinary smoke; crystal malt layers roasted-nut character. Even the ale yeast is chosen for its fruitiness. Distilled on eau-de-vie pot stills, the result has always been a single malt with a distiller’s precision and a brewer’s heart.

The art of the blend

For Lot 25, head distiller and blender Dave Smith selected 28 casks from the distillery’s vast library — an eclectic mix of used bourbon and rye barrels, American oak, and French oak that once held apple brandy, rum, Port, and even California Sauternes-style wine. The oldest cask in the blend is 13 years old; the youngest, five. In a nod to the distillery’s roots, Dave also included whiskey from SM-01, the very first barrel Lance filled back in 1997.

“I want you to be able to taste the wash and the roast levels that Lance was inspired to use with his background in brewing in the ’90s,” Dave says. “I wanted this whiskey to be unmistakably St George Spirits.”

Tasting notes

And unmistakable it is. Bottled at 43 % ABV, it’s beautifully composed — gentle yet expressive, a study in balance rather than brawn.

On the nose, cocoa powder and roasted nuts rise first, wrapped in soft oak and a wisp of beech smoke. Then come subtler layers — dried apricot, honeycomb, and a trace of coffee grounds.

The palate opens silky and rounded: malt sweetness giving way to chocolate, toasted almond, and faint citrus from the ale-yeast fruitiness. Those notes deepen into spice and polished oak, the influence of the Port and Sauternes-style casks showing as a golden, vinous warmth.

The finish is long and mouth-coating — cocoa dust, light smoke, and a gentle echo of apple-brandy fruit. It’s elegant, nostalgic, and quietly Californian — sunshine through old timber.

Full circle

When I finally opened my own bottle, it was waiting for me in Scotland — at the home of an old friend, more than twenty-five years of friendship behind us, and just before I was due to run the Dramathon marathon in Speyside. Unwise timing, perhaps, but fitting. My friend Niall, my partner Andrea, and I shared a dram, and for a moment I was back in that Alameda hangar: the laughter, the oak, the faint tang of malt in the air.

In that glass, I could taste the through-line — from the chaos of early experiments to the composure of a quarter-century blend. It reminded me that great whisky isn’t just about age or cask types; it’s about persistence, curiosity, and the courage to build something before the world believes in it.

Lance Winters puts it best:

“When we began making single malt in the mid-1990s, people questioned the idea of a domestically produced single malt. It was a slog for a while, as the whisky-drinking world didn’t know what to make of a single malt from California. That said, we believed in what we were doing and stuck with it. The release of Lot 25 feels like a celebration of nearly 30 years of sticking to our ideals.”

Conclusion

The St George Lot 25 American Single Malt Whiskey isn’t just an anniversary bottle. It’s a conversation across time — between brewer and distiller, experiment and mastery, California and the wider whisky world. Few distilleries manage to stay young at heart for twenty-five years. St George hasn’t merely stayed young; it’s kept its sense of mischief intact.

And if you ever find yourself in Alameda, don’t worry if no one seems to know you’re coming. You’re probably in the right place.

Lot 25 is bottled at 43 % ABV (SRP US $100) and is now rolling out nationally across the US, after an official release day at the distillery in Alameda on November 8.

For availability and updates, visit stgeorgespirits.com or check select specialist retailers in participating states.