Our spirits are always made from freshly harvested grains as local as we can. We mill all of our grains on site immediately before cooking., similar to grinding coffee beans just before brewing a cup. Our first choice is always to use locally grown grains. When we have exhausted our sources in Humboldt County, we expand our search throughout California and then Oregon as needed. Please enjoy learning more about the farmers we work with below.
PRODUCERS
HINDLEY RANCH
Laurence and Lisa Hindley are the first farmers we ever worked with. The Hindley’s property in the Mattole Valley is simply stunning and just 80 miles from our distillery. This is a 4th generation family ranch established in 1872.
All of the Hindley’s grains are grown organically, chemical free and non GMO.
In addition to farming in Honeydew, Laurence is a master mechanic and owns The Farm Shop in Ferndale.
Lisa is a wonderful, multi talented community member who volunteers her time with a local non profit and brings her hand made crafts to local fairs.
To date the Hindleys have grown the following varietals for us; Hollis hard red wheat, Alturas soft white wheat, AGS- 104 Rye, Gazelle Rye, Merced Rye and Pacheco Triticale.
http://hindleyranch.com/
JOHN LABOYTEAUX
If you have ever had a conversation about grains in Humboldt County, John’s name was most likely mentioned.
John is a wealth of knowledge about our “local grain economy” (term coined by our favorite local baker Beck’s Bakery!) and he is
extremely enthusiastic and generous in sharing what he knows.
John’s family previously owned Camp Grant Family Farm located in Southern Humboldt down the road from the Avenue of the Giants
and just 54 miles from our distillery.
He has recently relocated to Upper Lake, CA where he is enjoying a well earned retirement.
THE LOVE FARM
The Love Farm is a 20 acre parcel in Kelsyville, CA. The owner Teale Love is a retired fire fighter from Healdsburg with a passion for growing things.
After years of hard labor growing vegetables he switched his main focus to grain farmer to let a machine do more of the heavy lifting!
Teale and his wife still enjoy grow peaches, raspberries and have three greenhouses that house goldfish and koi, vegetables and an innovative aquaponics system which grows strawberries and leafy greens. They sell their produce through Lake County Organics Plus.
The Love Farm supplied us with beautiful organically grown Triticale which is a hybrid of wheat and rye.
ADAM’S GRAINS
Corn is the one grain not available in Humboldt County. (Corn is grown here but it is solely for silage/animal feed).
Adams is a 4th generation family owned business that supplies all of the corn for our Bourbon.
They have a state of the art facility including a grain cleaning machine that is frankly mind blowing. This multi-story contraption separates out any size, color or shape that is programmed in so in the end you get 100% clean grain. There can be many foreign objects in harvested grain; vetch, legumes, sticks, rocks, leaves, grain heads, moths, crickets, etc. Milling these materials in with our grains could certainly affect the final product.
To date Adam’s has supplied us with yellow corn, white corn, blue corn and a heritage red corn named Bloody Butcher. Each varietal is certified by the Non-GMO Project and certified organic.
