Only in Southern California would a few big dreamers actually attempt to make vodka from natural strawberries, one of the most expensive and hard to work with fruits out there. Ventura Spirits is a newbie “bootstrap” distillery founded by brothers Anthony and Andrew Caspary along with their friends James Greenspun and Henry Tarmy in Ventura, CA.
The four founders in their early 30s are also the only employees of the distillery, which means they are partaking in all of the backbreaking labor it takes to produce original California spirits. Recently the foursome decided pounce on a killer deal for 500 thousand pounds of frozen strawberries that were left out in the cold after some nasty contract negotiation. The result of this purchase has led to the production of some very flavorful 140 proof vodka, and the team over at Ventura has started to earn quite a name for themselves with this one of a kind spirit.
The Los Angeles Times Daily Dish got the full scoop from the Ventura distillers who are also working to produce a unique variety of booze, including gin and tequila from local California herbs, plants and fruits. In less than a year the team already has their high-end sprits on the shelves of Whole Foods and in trendy restaurants in the LA area. You can learn more about how the Ventura Distillery team plans on working with 10,000 pounds of frozen strawberries in addition to a makeshift pond, a mash filter and some hungry pigs to finish off their batch of California vodka in the LA Times article here.