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In the Spirits
Marin’s Hanson family traded art galleries for unique, grape-based vodkas. By Bob Cooper
30 december 2021 marin living.
WHEN SCOTT AND JUDY HANSON said no to their sons as they were growing up in Ross, they meant it. They still meant it when Chris and Brandon were in their twenties and asked for help launching a craft distillery. But the sons kept asking. Fortunately for the brothers, their father had switched from owning art galleries to producing films, and his final movie was about bootleggers (2012’s Lawless with Shia LaBeouf and Jessica Chastain). “Producing that movie sparked his interest in our idea, and he became convinced it was different enough to stand out,” says Chris. Scott confirms his son’s account: “Working with the film’s writer taught me a lot about whiskey-making, so even though I had no experience in that industry, the boys finally persuaded me. They had been watching creative brewers getting substantial attention and realized there were very few innovative craft spirits being made.” Scott and Judy had already sold all but one of the 26 galleries they owned nationwide — the Hanson Gallery of Fine Art in Sausalito remains — so this new idea seemed capricious. Or was it? They would soon find out when they agreed to join all of their kids — their two entrepreneurial sons, another son, Darren, and their daughter, Alanna — in opening America’s only major distillery, Hanson of Sonoma (www.hansonof sonoma.com), to use grapes rather than grains in its spirits. Once the grapes are grown, harvested and pressed by Ceja Vineyards, another family business that shares the distillery building (the distillery is in the former Carneros Brewing Co. building), the Hansons oversee the process of turning grapes into spirits. Most are used in cocktails (see the recipe on the opposite page) that are paired at the Sonoma distillery’s pond-side tasting area with wood-fired pizza, charcuterie, artisanal cheeses, truffles or caviar. The Sausalito gallery, which displays some of Scott’s metal sculptures — he’s also an accomplished artist — now serves as
All photos courtesy of Hanson of Sonoma Distillery
eat & drink.
