Essential Spirits Alambic Distilleries
A hand-made French copper alambic still has run in this Mountain View industrial unit since 1998, and Dave Classick Jr. is now the distillery's only employee. The $40 tour is the way in; there is no walk-in.
Why go
David Classick Sr. and Andrea Mirenda started distilling in their Mountain View garage in 1996, taught by a third-generation French master distiller, and moved the still to S Whisman Road in 1998.1 Their son runs it alone now, making small-batch rums, brandies and bierschnaps, and for years the house also distilled under contract, including developing the recipe for Tahoe Blue Vodka.1 The still is the draw. Built for fruit brandies, it double-distills in a single pass, and Classick says spirits off it need no resting in steel.1 Things that are made on column stills won't have any of that character,
he told The Almanac.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the tour. $40 a person, about three hours, reservation only, groups of five or more, and production shuts down while you are in the room. It ends in a tasting.1
- Avoid: dropping in. The distillery is not open to the public.1
What locals & experts say
- Adrienne Mitchel, The Almanac (June 2026):
For Dave Classick Jr., distilling is a combination of physics, art, history and heart.
Her profile reports the distillery adapting to falling drinking rates and California's three-tier distribution law, in Classick's words:It's adapt and survive mode right now, for, I think, many different places.
1
Good to know
- Hours: Monday to Friday, 11am to 6pm, business hours only; the public comes in on tours.1
- The still was formed by hand by a French alambic maker, and the house claims it as the only one of its kind in the United States. That is the venue's own claim.2
Verdict
could-visit — Adrienne Mitchel profiled the distillery for The Almanac in June 2026, which is more current coverage than most of the Peninsula gets,. Classick is candid in it about the squeeze of California's three-tier liquor law, the post-Prohibition rule keeping producers, distributors and retailers separate, which prices small stills off the shelf, and about rebuilding the business around $40 three-hour tours that end in a tasting. The rums, brandies and bierschnaps come off the still his parents commissioned in France. There is no bar and no walk-in.