The West Coast’s First Naval Base Is Now A Whiskey Distillery
For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse is reporting a story about food and farming from each of California’s 58 counties.
If you stand on the edge of Vallejo’s Mare Island, on the mouth of the Napa River, and look out over the water, you can’t help but feel tiny. To the right are imposing cranes and dry docks that look like the world’s biggest bathtubs. Two huge metal frames called gantries loom overhead. Behind you is a beautiful and weird collection of structures: warehouses, grand Victorians and a number of empty brick buildings that look like they have stories to tell. Since the beginning of this year, some of those buildings have been home to Redwood Empire Whiskey — the drink company’s new headquarters for distilling and entertaining.
Read or listen to the full California Report Magazine Sun article by Lisa Morehouse, October 10th, here:
Kunjan Joshi, manager of the Redwood Empire hospitality building, prepares a Charred Offerings whiskey cocktail on Mare Island in Vallejo on Oct. 2, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)