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The quest for the perfect bottle of pear schnapps was the very beginning of Starks Spirits Micro-Distillery.
In 1992 Karen and Greg received a wedding gift from Greg’s cousin Werner. It was a bottle of home-distilled pear schnapps. We were in Germany for a church wedding in Greg’s parents’ home town, Kempten Allgau. The schnapps had been given to Werner by a farmer he did business with, and we knew we would never get another one like it. Greg parsimoniously doled out that bottle of schnapps for at least 10 years! When it was gone, it was gone forever.
Still, Greg thought there had to be a pear brandy–the nearest type of spirit to European schnapps, for sale in the USA. We tasted a great variety of pear-derived spirits, mostly from Europe, but also two from major US distilleries. Nothing came close. Then came the lucky day that Karen’s friend from 9th grade (!) called from Portland to say she had found a wonderful pear brandy at a micro-distillery in town. Karen visited her not long after and brought back Clear Creek Pear Brandy–as close to that German farmer’s schnapps as we’d had since. Finally, we could drink pear brandy whenever we wanted and not stretch it out for 10 years.
A couple years later Clear Creek released a peated single malt whiskey they named McCallum’s. Greg thought it was just great. His interest in whiskey increased further when he joined the LA Scotch Club, and our friend who own’s a very successful micro-brewery encouraged Greg’s increasing interest in the business of making premium malt whiskey himself. Karen never did wake up one morning and say, “Honey, let’s start a micro-distillery,” but Greg counted on her intrepid and adventurous nature to win her over. In September 2012, we filed the DBA for Stark Spirits Micro-Distillery.
We signed our lease in April 2013 and began to construct our distillery with high hopes and great enthusiasm. We got our licenses from the TTB and the ABC in December 2013. Determination and perseverance saw us through the municipal requirements to November 2014, when we obtained our Certificate of Occupancy. Stark Spirits is open for business! Our premium spirits are being distributed in fine retail stores and bars.
