Stark Spirits Craft Distillery

Had a wonderful rainy afternoon learning about how spirits are distilled, watching spirits being distilled, and just hanging out and making friends with the wonderful couple who own/manage the place.

Then sampled their fantastic products, which are nothing short of a labor of love.

Could not recommend more highly!

My family and best friend were in town for me, my twin brother and fiancés birthday this past weekend. I found this micro-distillery online.

Karen, one of the owners is a hoot! She's very personable and very talkative, but she's very knowledgeable as well. Buckle up for at least a 2 hour experience.

Located in a business warehouse plaza, you'll sit together getting to know one another and get background information on Karen and Greg's life which was nice to hear.

The small warehouse packs a huge punch of information you receive. You get to understand how everything works and everything that Greg makes which was fun to learn about.

Once you sit down and start tasting is where the most fun starts. They provide you with some water crackers and a lesson about drinking water and hydrating. And you get to taste all of he whiskey, rum and gin they make which is a worthwhile experience.

This husband-and-wife-run micro-distillery in Pasadena is a true gem of the craft alcoholic beverage movement. They are meticulous in their process and the products they turn out are so evidently labors of love.

From the time you walk in the door, you know that you are seeing the craft and the craftspeople.

The lobby/front office proudly displays all of the products made right there on the premises and the actual medals won by their spirits at competition. Well deserved.

The distillery itself is viewable in its entirety by standing in the middle of the room, all the barrels, the stills, the bottling equipment, and the fermenting equipment. Don't let the size give you the idea that you've seen it all though!

My partner and I had previously been on a distillery tour of a massive facility in Scotland with a guide who walked us through the process, but we still learned a lot on the Stark Spirits tour! We had the pleasure of hearing both Greg and Karen's take on their craft, and Karen said that if anyone wants to get into the nitty-gritty then they are welcome to pepper Greg with questions. She is also very knowledgeable because she is responsible for their gins -- I don't want to give too much away because the tour is great!

The tasting is part choose-your-own-adventure and part guided tour through the wide range of flavors that the distillery offers, and I encourage even experienced spirits-drinkers to keep an open mind and to follow the helpful directions that Karen provides to optimize the tasting experience.

If you've been considering a distillery tour in LA, then choose this one, and don't wait!

If you are interested what goes into distilled spirits, the Stark Spirits tour and tasting is very much worth your time. The building was a little hard to find in it's industrial park setting, but that may have been due to traffic rerouting for UCLA football confusing our GPS directions. Also, you can't just walk in, but reservations are easy to set up.

The facility is smaller. Karen was our host and she provides a lot of detail on the process and equipment. We ran into another family who was justa finishing up their tour and they seemed very pleased. Greg was very friendly but busy due to events of the day. He did make a point to stop and toast the sunset with us!

The tasting was user friendly and informal. I found that many of the versions I thought I wouldn't favor at the outset, were the ones I liked best. Their 151 rum was actually kinda tasty - perhaps too tasty. The spicier Dragon gin was a nice surprise, and we loved the Espresso Liqueur.

Had a great time with Karen and Greg at Stark Distillery.

You need to go check out this small distillery. We had a great time.

Karen & Greg, Thank you for the informative walk through and explanations of the Distillery .

Loved the tasting and enjoyed the time we spent with you both.

Thank you both for an enjoyable time there.

We had a tour yesterday evening at this location. Husband and wife are extremely Experienced and knowledgeable,it's their company.The process to making the whiskey ,rum and brandy is pretty awesome. The explanation and the tour are first and second and the tasting is third. I love the little set up and I'm happy to know that yesterday we help support local business. If you have time make an appointment, try it for yourself. We're were pleasantly surprised on all the wonderful tastings. Also this company sells their product at total wines and more in Pasadena.

We recently had a very enjoyable and informative tour of Stark Distillery. Since it's a smaller operation, we were able to learn a lot more about making distilled spirits than we might have at a larger distiller. The tour was led by the owners and distillers themselves. Greg and Karen are very friendly and knowledgeable people, and happily explained how they make their spirits and answered all of our questions.

Karen started the tour with a very interesting history of the distillery, and then described the types of spirits they produce. Again, since it was easy to ask questions, we were able to learn a lot more than we might have in a larger tour.

The tour of the facilities was very interesting. Greg started us off with a detailed look at the stills themselves, showing us how each one works and how they use it. We then saw how the mash tuns and fermenters are connected to each other and to the stills, getting a great understanding of the whole process front to back. Being a smaller facility, we were able to get close-up views of each piece of equipment, getting a good appreciation of what it does and how it plays with everything else.

The tour finished with a tasting of their spirits, which included gins, rums, and whiskeys. Since it was a small tour, Karen was able to take the time to give more detailed descriptions of them as we were tasting. This was particularly interesting for the gins. Like most gins, they use juniper berries, but Karen complements that with botanicals that aren't often found in gin. The ones we tried included star anise and Szechuan pepper, which gave a note of brightness and a nice, underlying warmth that made for a very satisfying spirit.

The whiskeys were one of my favorites. The peated variety had a nice level of smokiness and an understated taste of iodine, perfectly balancing the underlying smooth maltiness. It reminded me the most of an Islam malt whiskey - not as intensely peaty and iodinic as a Laphroaig (a personal favorite), but a very satisfying dram on a cooler evening. We also enjoyed the rums. In particular, the gold rum had a nice taste of the molasses used in its making, with the trace of smokiness rounding out the sweetness.

All of the spirits were very well made and flavorful. I'm looking forward to when we next visit.

Stark distills excellent rum and whiskey! It was a pleasure to meet Greg and Karen as well.

I attended a free tour and tasting through the Pacific Food & Beverage Museum/The Museum of the American Cocktail, and I'm very glad that I did! Greg Stark & Karen Robinson-Stark run this very space-efficient micro distillery located in an industrial park in Pasadena.

On a warm 77 degree day in late January (sorry Midwest and East Coast!) about 30 of us gathered to be led through, 15 at a time, into the tiny warehouse to view the distilling vats and aging barrels. It's all very scientific and Greg used to be a software engineer at JPL so he will tell you all about the math and chemistry involved. Karen is a gracious hostess and herself, the lead distiller of their Skyline Gin.

Altogether, there are eight unique spirits made here:
*CA Single Malt Whiskey
*Peated Single Malt Whiskey
*CA Gold Rum
*CA Silver Rum
*CA Silver 151 Rum
*Skyline Gin
*Sunshine Orange Brandy
*Aquavit

These have won State, National and International awards and rightly so, they are all delicious! Their spirits are sold at Total Wine & More (everything but whiskey) and Mission Spirits (whiskey). Mohawk Bend restaurant serves the Stark brand. They produce an astounding 4,000 cases a year and have been in business for 6 years this coming April.

I particularly enjoyed the "Sunshine," a clear Brandy made from only oranges, which are fermented & distilled. It may be one of a kind! And even though I'm generally not a gin drinker, I really loved their gin!

Melissa's Produce served tasty nibbles like brisket on toast, berries, nuts and cookies in an attempt to keep us sober! I tasted all seven of the available spirits- only the aquavit was missing this day.

Stark is a great find and I'll be back for more bottles of their exemplary spirits!

Yelp Challenge 2019: 6/100

A rainy day in Pasadena, on our Anniversary, my wife booked a tour of Stark. She had been wanting to go for a while, having sampled their spirits at a Total Wine a while back. Took a while to find the place, as it is hidden in a business park. Once we found the place, Greg (1/2 of the ownership) guided us in and offered us a seat in the office. He informed us that Karen (his wife and the other 1/2 owner) would be giving us a tour. Karen showed up a few minutes later and the fun began. Having been on a lot of Distillery tours across the US, including most of the Majors in Kentucky, we weren't sure what to expect. Tour started off with Karen asking about our life stories. We bonded over stories for about 30 minutes then walked through the small distillery. She went over the history, how much of the equipment was either build or modified by Greg. Once we finished the tour, we went back into the office for the tasting. They have a variety of distilled spirits including America Whiskey, Gin, Rum, and some liquors. We actually enjoy almost all of their spirits, and came home with their Single Malt America Whiskey (Scotch Like), and the151 Rum. The most unique tours, but really fun and not rushed.