Californians have made whiskey since the Gold Rush, and craft bourbon has taken off in the last 20 years. I stumbled upon a place that’s producing whiskey at a location where people used to make something really different: massive objects that changed the course of world events.
Whiskey distillery moves operations to site of West Coast’s first Naval base
Kunjan Joshi, manager of the Redwood Empire hospitality building, prepares a Charred Offerings whiskey cocktail on Mare Island in Vallejo on October 2, 2025. Credit: Gina Castro/KQED
