Our story
Made by hand, by people you can meet
It started with one copper still and a leaky roof
In 2014, Mara Olsen left a marine-research lab, bought a single 200-gallon copper still, and set it up in a drafty warehouse on Wharf Road. The roof leaked. The first three batches were undrinkable. The fourth was the Foghorn Gin we still make today.
A year later, Diego Reyes came west from the sherry bodegas of Jerez to lay down our first barrels. What began as a two-person operation is now a small, stubborn distillery that does everything in-house — fermenting, distilling, aging and bottling — within sight of the water that gives our spirits their character.
We have stayed small on purpose. Small enough that the person who made your bottle might be the one who pours it for you in the tasting room.
The makers
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Mara Olsen
Founder & Head Distiller
A former marine biologist, Mara traded the research vessel for a copper still in 2014. She runs every cut by nose and palate, foraging the botanicals for Foghorn Gin herself most mornings before the fog lifts.
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Diego Reyes
Co-Founder & Cellar Master
Diego grew up among the sherry bodegas of Jerez and oversees every barrel we lay down. His patience is the reason the Lighthouse Reserve tastes the way it does — he simply refuses to bottle anything before its time.
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Priya Anand
Tasting Room & Tours
Priya turns first-time visitors into regulars. A certified spirits educator, she leads our tours and tastings with stories you will not find on any label, and runs the recipe nights that keep the tasting room full on weekends.
Lighter on the coast
Distilling like we plan to stay
This coast gives us our water, our botanicals and our barrels' salt edge. Protecting it is not a marketing line — it is how we keep making spirits worth drinking.
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Foraged, not freighted
Six of the eleven botanicals in our gin are hand-harvested within a mile of the still. When we forage instead of ship, the flavor is fresher and the carbon is a fraction of the alternative.
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Spent grain to farms
Every batch leaves behind warm, protein-rich spent grain. Ours goes straight to two family farms up the valley as livestock feed — nothing hits the landfill.
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Powered by the roof
The solar array over the still house covers the bulk of our distilling load. On a bright Santa Cruz afternoon, the spirit runs almost entirely on sunlight.
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Recycled & refillable glass
Our bottles are made from recycled glass, and tasting-room regulars can bring theirs back for a refill discount. Less glass made, less glass tossed.
Come see it for yourself
Book a tour and we will walk you through the whole process, still to glass.
Book a tour