The Maker of

Luxury Spirits

L.A. Basin

Rye Whiskeys

Scroll down to learn more…

WHAT MAKES THEM

OUTSTANDING?

Quality Ingredients

One essential component of a good rye whiskey is the highest quality grain. At Los Angeles Distillery, we use California grown malted and unmalted rye and malted barley of special character for our rye whiskies. These ingredients give more body to the whisky and also provide more basic flavor.

Besides crystal clear water, we use our proprietary strain of yeast to develop pleasant aroma and flavor in L.A. Basin Rye Whiskies.

Master of Mashing

By optimizing the temperature treatment steps, the Masters of Los Angeles Distillery are aiming to maximize not only extracting the most flavors of the ingredients but also the most sugar to assure efficient alcohol processing.

Following a specific temperature treatment, the converted mash is transferred into one of the six 12,000 liter tanks for fermentation.

Still 3 during the installation at LA Distillery

More Copper

Our 3000 Liter stills were built to marry traditional and modern distillation methods, which allow for forcing the whisky vapor through an increased copper surface resulting in elimination of most harsh and headaiche causing substances.

In addition, this marriage also helps collecting every drop of the cleanest and crispiest raw whisky.

The hydrometer reading the proof of distillate coming out of the still

Master of Distilling

Based on many years of practice, during the distillation process the LAD Masters expertly separate the unhealthy substances from the drinkable spirits to give you the most pleasant sipping experience.

They select and monitor the finest spirits as they are collected in the spirit safe making certain that the boiling and cooling temperatures and the flow rate provide the highest quality whisky.

Oak Forest

The outstanding quality of the oak bears 75% of the responsibility for the final aroma and flavor of our L.A. Basin Rye Whiskies.
For the remaining 25% the raw materials, the science of mashing, the fermentation, the art of distillation, and the copper are responsible.

When the harvest season comes, our cooper selects the individual trees to harvest (typically a tree is 100-120 years old and provides enough wood for one barrel!) based on accumulated experiences by ancestors throughout decades and centuries.

The Wood

Oak Trunks

After harvesting the trees the trunks will be sized to our special stave lengths. The logs then undergo some initial processing called rough cutting of staves for seasoning.

The Wood

The outstanding quality of the oak bears 75% of the responsibility for the final aroma and flavor of our L.A. Basin Rye Whiskies.
For the remaining 25% the raw materials, the science of mashing, the fermentation, the art of distillation, and the copper are responsible.

The rough-cut staves are stacked up high to further expose the wood to nature: summer heat and winter cold, rain, snow, and wind. We avoid the alternative: kilning to dry the wood because while the natural seasoning affects a number of good changes in the wood such as softening tannins, pre-caramelizing, and other decompositions, kilning does not provide any of those.

Therefore, we prefer seasoning instead.
While most cooperages season the wood only for 6 to 24 months, we season our Hungarian oak for 36 months to achieve higher quality levels.
On this photo, younger wood is in the front and older (darker) is in the back.

Seasoning The Wood

The Wood

The outstanding quality of the oak bears 75% of the responsibility for the final aroma and flavor of our L.A. Basin Rye Whiskies.
For the remaining 25% the raw materials, the science of mashing, the fermentation, the art of distillation, and the copper are responsible.

After adequate seasoning, the staves get their final dimensions.

To get the aroma and flavor of the wood maximized, our staves have a thickness of 31-32mm compared to others’ of 15-24mm. This is an important factor in producing “extraordinary” whiskies as we can confirm that the wood contributes some 75% of the final quality of the whisky.

Sizing The Staves

The Wood

The outstanding quality of the oak bears 75% of the responsibility for the final aroma and flavor of our L.A. Basin Rye Whiskies.
For the remaining 25% the raw materials, the science of mashing, the fermentation, the art of distillation, and the copper are responsible.

Instead of gas burners, our cooper burns oak to char or toast the barrels, thus treating the surface with the wood’s natural heat and smell.

As far as flavor goes, toasted barrels add a bit more vanilla flavor to the liquor, as well as spicy accents.

Charred wood imparts sweeter flavors like caramel and honey.

In general, at Los Angeles Distillery, we use barrels from medium toasted to highly charred interiors, and the combination of both to provide flexibility in bottling the finest spirits.

Charring

The Wood

The outstanding quality of the oak bears 75% of the responsibility for the final aroma and flavor of our L.A. Basin Rye Whiskies.
For the remaining 25% the raw materials, the science of mashing, the fermentation, the art of distillation, and the copper are responsible.

As part of the very careful and precise final assembly of the barrel the cooper prepares for the pressure test of the cask.

Here we see our cooper applying all natural sealers between the staves and the head of the barrel. The sealer is a dried leaf of a monocot plant, and assures perfect seal without imparting any off-flavors to the whiskey.

Sealing

The Wood

The outstanding quality of the oak bears 75% of the responsibility for the final aroma and flavor of our L.A. Basin Rye Whiskies.
For the remaining 25% the raw materials, the science of mashing, the fermentation, the art of distillation, and the copper are responsible.

Completed

After completing the treatments of the internal surface of the barrel they undergo individual testing: surface checking and pressure testing to eliminate future leakages.

The Wood

The outstanding quality of the oak bears 75% of the responsibility for the final aroma and flavor of our L.A. Basin Rye Whiskies.
For the remaining 25% the raw materials, the science of mashing, the fermentation, the art of distillation, and the copper are responsible.

Dominant: The Wood

During a decade of experimenting with oak the following was found that matter.

Tight grain of wood. Our cooper selects the tree directly from the forest, specifically looking for the “spring wood” with tight grain that makes the whiskey very aromatic and flavorful with low tannin content.

What gives higher aroma and flavor? Hungarian oak with our engineered internal surface geometry not only does that but also creates beautiful colors.

The best toasting and charring will create more joy for you while sipping our whisky.