Lost Spirits

Lost Spirits Distillery was founded in 2010 by distiller Bryan Davis and Joanne Haruta. The first location was in rural Monterey County California, built on land owned by Haruta's family. At that time, the two founders had little money and built almost the entire distillery by hand.[6] The facility became well known for its distinctive artistic design, which included Japanese styled tea gardens and stills fitted with sculpted dragon heads.[7]

Lost Spirits initially produced highly idiosyncratic malt whiskies, fermented from malt smoked with burning peat. Unlike Scotch whisky, the peat was sourced from unusual locations. Burning plant matter preserved in the peat harvested from sources not typically used, such as Canadian forests or the Florida Everglades gave the whiskies peculiar aromas and flavors.[8][9] The unusual profiles of the early whiskies earned the distillery highly polarized and mixed reviews. They were described by French whisky critic Serge Valentin as “It’s pretty useless to try to score this... All codes, barriers and tasting semantics have already been broken anyway.[10]”

The early whisky period culminated with the release of Umami, Ouroboros, and Seascape II which represented a major turning point for the distillery. Umami was, at the time, the world's only whisky fermented in ocean water.[11] Ouroborors was the only whisky ever made from California Island peat.[12] The two releases won the distillery significant critical acclaim including its first Liquid Gold award in Jim Murrays Whisky bible.[13]

The distillery quickly sold out all of its annual production and auction prices for Umami climbed to over $1,600 per bottle at auction.[14] At the time Davis was described by GQ magazine as “one of America’s most raved about young distillers” and Whisky Magazine nominated Lost Spirits for Craft Distillery of the Year.[15]

In 2013, Davis ceased making whisky and began making rum.[16] The new rum line was a critical success and became closely associated with the Tiki Revival Movement.[17] The line was prominently featured in lectures and classes at Tiki Oasis in San Diego, the Hukilau in Fort Lauderdale, and Tiki Caliente in Palm Springs.

The rum line earned Lost Spirits several best in class designations.[18]

In 2015 the company attracted global media attention when it announced that its co-founder, Bryan Davis, had invented a new means of aging spirits. Davis' process was shown, using modern analytical chemistry, to replicate the chemical reactions which take place as spirits age in barrels.[19][20][21] It produces in days what is said to taste like decades aged spirits. This is done by a special processes that aims to replicate the ageing process in a laboratory while producing the same chemical signature and taste.[22][23][24][25][26]

In late 2014 Lost Spirits filed patents for a spirits aging technology. The technology was shown capable of reproducing the chemical signature of rum aged for 20 years in barrels, in less than a weeks time. The high-tech process utilized heat and specific bands of light to break down oak barrel wood. The process was granted a US patent in 2015.

According to the Huffington Post, Davis had been using preliminary versions of the technology to produce all of his past rums and some of the early whiskies, which may partially explain some of the distilleries critical successes.[27]

Davis’ final rum produced at Lost Spirits Monterey county location was made entirely using the new technology. It was bottled under the brand name Lost Spirits Colonial Inspired Rum and sold exclusively through Bounty Hunter Rare Wines in Napa, California. The rum was initially released at $100 per bottle without disclosing the use of the technology. The critical reception was extremely favorable.[28][29][30][31] Christopher Null broke the story of the technology in Wired Magazine creating significant controversy and a great deal of media attention.[32]

In early 2015, just before the original distillery closed, the Spirits Business Magazine awarded Lost Spirits its first Global Master Award in the category of distillery innovation for its aging work.[33]

In mid 2015, Davis and Haruta closed the original distillery and moved to Silicon Valley to focus exclusively on licensing technology to other distilleries.[34]

In late 2016 Davis and Haruta began working with Los Angeles investor Dr. Wynn Sanders, Theron Regnier, and James Haruta.[35] The group built a new highly thematic distillery in The Los Angeles Arts District. The distillery borrows elements from immersive theater, theme park design, and a distillery.[36] The highly theatrical distillery features tasting rooms themed to each spirit and connected by waterways made of the distilleries cooling water.[37]

The distillery currently has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau, due to not fulfilling orders.[38]