No doubt, you've seen Hangar One vodkas on the top shelf of your favorite bar. Perhaps you've even tasted some of their heady elixirs -- Buddha's Hand Citron, Mandarin Blossom or Kefir Lime. Maybe you've experienced the simple perfection of their Straight vodka. Or, if you're very lucky (or just in the know), you've may have discovered their Fraser River Raspberry vodka -- a concoction so sublime, so unbelievably redolent of the essence of fresh raspberry that it's only produced once a year and in limited quantities.
Well, once again, being a Bay Area resident has its privileges. In this case, it's the fact that you can visit the Hangar One (and St. George Spirits) distillery and tasting room at your leisure. No need to drive to Wine Country for an interesting tasting room experience. No, this one's located (where else?) in an airplane hangar on the old Alameda Naval Air Station.
Driving across the NAS, you get an eerie sense of history. Military barracks, officer's clubs, gymnasiums line the winding streets. As you get closer to the water, you see the looming airplane hangars -- enormous, cavernous structures, really. The St. George Spirits hangar is plainly marked, and parking is behind the building.
The tasting room staff are all charming and engaging; they love working there, and they want to you to find the product that "speaks" to you. A $10 tasting fee includes a special cordials glass, plus extremely generous pours of over 10 different distilled spirits. (You can share a tasting, which we chose to do, as one of us had to drive).