Distillation redistills couple’s passion
Alamere, an old French spelling of “to the sea” (or more correctly “of the mother”), just sort of rolls off the tongue. In addition to being French, it is also the name of a rare West Marin tidefall, a waterfall that flows into the sea. So, if you were a Marin County French restaurateur and you were looking for the perfect name for a new distilling project, a name like that might just be perfect.
“It wasn’t our first choice,” says Susannah Souvestre with a laughs. “It wasn’t even in our original top 10. But now, it seems perfect.”
Souvestre, 39, and her husband, Olivier, 44, along with their partner Bruno Denis, originally opened Le Garage in Sausalito 13 years ago, followed by L’Appart Resto in San Anselmo (since closed) and F3 in Sausalito, recently rebranded as the Mediterranean bistro Zalta.
“Brandy is what the still was made for. It’s less efficient, for sure, but it does create an ultrapremium spirit.”
— Susannah Souvestre
“Let’s just say that I’m a person who likes change,” says Souvestre, the chief executive officer and head distiller of the new Alamere Spirits, near Bel Marin Keys in Novato. “I like new projects, opening restaurants and things like that.”
Souvestre had once thought of quitting college and becoming a chef.
“I’m glad I didn’t do that,” she says. “I like to say my background in the restaurant business is marrying a Frenchman.”
However, during a low moment in that business some years ago (before COVID) when the couple were really struggling to find staff, they became somewhat “disenfranchised” with the restaurant business and thought they needed to diversify as a backup plan.
They sold their interest in Le Garage and decided on forming a distillery.
“We really wanted something we could start and do just by ourselves. We wanted to keep a ‘no employees’ policy for as long as possible,” Souvestre says. “And we wanted to stay in the food and beverage world.
“Thirteen years ago, you’d put an ad on Craigslist and you’d get hundreds of resumes, you couldn’t even look at them all. Then, you started getting less and less, and just before COVID hit we would get just a few. Enough to hire people, but not a lot of choices. And then COVID hit and it was just a mess.”
Once the couple had decided on distilling, their French sentiment colored the most important of their decisions. They purchased a handcrafted Strupfler alembic still, a single pass still that is used most often to produce fine French brandies, manufactured in the Gironde region of France.
“Brandy is what the still was made for. It’s less efficient, for sure, but it does create an ultra
premium spirit,” says Souvestre, calling it the “Rolls Royce of stills.”
Four years ago, the couple traveled to Vannes, Brittany, to do an internship with a distiller there that operated the same type of still (there is only one other in the United States). Then, it took two more years to finally get the still ordered and shipped. When it finally arrived, the aged technicians from the company refused to come here and put it together because of COVID concerns.
“We had to assemble it ourselves, with help through Zoom,” she says.
Once the pieces were in place, the couple decided to start off making a vodka and two gins.
“A lot of distilleries start off making clear spirits,” Souvestre says. “They pay the bills, while you are aging spirits, and frankly they are a little easier to do.”
Their French wheat vodka was released earlier this year and immediately won the gold medal at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Their two gins, a “London Dry” and a “citrus”style, use a slightly different base spirit formulation and include 13 and 15 botanicals, respectively, one of which is the quite unusual: cocoa nibs. The term “London” means that all the botanicals must be all-natural (no tinctures or essences), which Alamere gets through the same food distributor they used for their restaurants. Technically, both gins could be called “London,” but they distinguish them according to style.
The vodka contains no additives (citric acid, glycerin and sugar are legally allowed to be added to vodka), producing a smooth, clean taste, which Alamere attributes partially to the French wheat.
Their 84-proof London Dry has a bigger mouthfeel and more juniper, whereas their “California-style” gin (at 88-proof) is more citrusy with kaffir lime, which they call makru), lemongrass and ginger.
“We are not trying to punch you in the face with juniper,” Souvestre says.
So far, Alamere has produced about 1,000 cases of product and have managed to place it in several Marin County restaurants, including, of course, their own.
“We started producing in April. We have tried to build up some stock in April and May anticipating that we will be too busy to do so once the restaurant’s busy season starts,” Souvestre says.
She credits opening the distillery with “redistilling” her passion for the restaurant business post COVID. She is looking forward to both the restaurant rebranding and introducing some new distilled products in the future, perhaps including a whiskey.
“We are not trying to sell this business in 10 years,” Souvestre says. “We are in this for the long haul.”
And if their restaurant success is any indicator, then Alamere should be around for quite some time.
For online ordering or more information go to alamere-spirits.myshopify.com.
Jeff Burkhart is the author of “Twenty Years Behind Bars: The Spirited Adventures of a Real Bartender, Vol. I and II,” the host of the Barfly Podcast on iTunes and an awardwinning bartender at a local restaurant. Follow him at jeffburkhart.net and contact him at jeffbarflyIJ@outlook.com