Even if you have driven past the Chevron El Segundo refinery ten thousand times, you can find yourself admiring the majestic, industrial landscape. The columns over a hundred feet tall, with their intricate maze of piping, have a weird beauty. At sunset they might seem to be almost from another planet.
If you stop in at one of the brick industrial buildings just across the street, you may be surprised to see one of those columns on a much smaller scale. It’s designed to refine plant materials rather than petroleum, and the result is designed to go into your mouth rather than your car.
Rob Rubens runs the distillery that bears his name and he says that some people who work on the big columns are delighted by his 17-foot-tall version.
“We have had folks from Chevron come in here, and they are always fascinated by our mini version of what they have across the street. They like to pick it apart and analyze how it works,” he said.
Rubens hadn’t been looking for that kind of symmetry when he started considering where to open the state’s first brewery and distillery under the same roof.
“I decided on March 17, 2014 that we were going to open a distillery, and exactly 27 months later we opened our doors here. It was luck… we had been searching for a home for nine months, and we found that somebody else had defaulted on the lease here.”
Rob Rubens Distilling and Brewing is one of four craft distilleries to open in Los Angeles County since 1920, when Prohibition closed down the dozen or so that had been here. Operating a distillery hadn’t been Rob’s lifelong dream. In fact, he had never seen one until five years ago, but as soon as he did he was hooked.
“I already loved craft beer when I went to the Old New Orleans rum distillery in October 2013. I fell in love with the concept, and I realized that it hadn’t really caught on here in LA. I had a friend teach me home brewing and I started doing my own home garage and balcony brewing. I started taking distilling workshops and courses, visited places to see best practices, and then dived in headfirst.”
When it came to brewing beer, Rob could easily find fellow amateurs, but there wasn’t a corresponding network of home distillers.
“You can home distill, though it’s technically illegal. They’re working on reform for that that, but home brewing is still what most people do, or at least what they admit to. That used to be the case with home brewing 30 years ago, people did it secretly, but now it has become more common.”
The distillery and brewery opened in June of 2016 with several beers on tap in their tasting room and two distilled products: vodka and gin. Novice drinkers often think all vodkas are alike, but there are subtle differences, depending on what was distilled and by what method. As explained in “Vodka Distilled” by Tony Abou-Ganim, they can be lighter or heavier in body, thin or oily, and have subtle herbal, floral, or fruity notes. As for gin, let’s let Rob explain that.
“Gin is vodka redistilled with botanical character added by one of several methods. Some places macerate their spices and herbs and then add it to the spirit, but ours is all vapor infused. The alcohol vapor from the still runs through what is called a gin basket, which holds the aromatic herbs. We’re making a floral type of summertime gin, using lavender and coriander, and we hop our gin. We’re not the only one to do that, but it’s certainly a little bit different from most of what is on the market.”
Adding hops to gin is an ancient idea, probably going back to 17th century Holland, but few American gins are made this way. Unlike mass market gins that taste of juniper, coriander, and little else, hopped gins can be savored straight or in cocktails with only the most modest additions. It’s a versatile but slightly unusual product, and when talking to Rob you get the sense that he is walking a line between an instinctive tendency to experiment with flavor and a recognition that doing so too much risks losing a mainstream audience.
Classic brews and ales
When asked whether his brewery was conceptually different from those of other microbrewers in the area that specialize in India Pale Ales, his response showed an awareness of that tension.
“We’re not an IPA house. I know it’s very popular, but our inspiration is from classic beers and ales. That said, what we make is not about my personal tastes, and everyone in this business keeps that in mind. Monkish said they would never do IPA’s, but now one of their canned beers is a New England style IPA. You have to stay relevant to your consumer, no matter what, but you also have to stay true to yourself. We try to have a spectrum of beers. One of our core beers is a strawberry wheat beer, not a common thing for anyone here to be brewing. That’s equally popular with the male and female population, and it’s a beer that is appealing to wine drinkers. We’re still a very young business, and our focus has to be on making sure each new release is of high enough quality that it should be on tap here. ”
The beer and spirits are both served in their Victorian style tasting room. As with any tasting room, it serves not just to allow people to try before they buy, but to expose patrons to things they didn’t know they wanted.
“A lot of what our mission is here and why we serve both the beer and the spirits, is to cross-educate. We want to have spirit drinkers discover craft beer, and we want beer drinkers to discover that not all vodka tastes the same. A lot of what sells any brand is the story behind it, and if we can interest consumers in understanding the product than they’re on the way to trying and liking it. We want them to dig into the backstory, not just say “I’ll buy that, it’s in a cool bottle. We’re removing a lot of stuff that industrial producers leave in their products, so it’s the purest spirit. Distilling is a complex process and it will take some education for even interested consumers to understand.”
Rob has seen signs that the craft beer and spirits revolution has taken off even in a demographic that is usually much more concerned with the cost of a product than its quality.
“One of our accounts, Loyola Marymount University, opened a place on campus called The Loft where students can enjoy craft beer. It’s great to have the students enjoying quality products instead of running out to get 30-packs of Miller every time they get a chance. That’s especially cool for me to see because when I was their age, I was the kid who was buying 30-packs… It’s a transformation in their way of thought. They’re drinking for flavor rather than effect.”
Though the production facility in El Segundo looks big when you first see it, it’s obviously not as big as its founder’s ambitions. Will Rob Rubens be able to do all the things he wants to do while staying in this space? Rob isn’t addressing this directly, but there’s a hint in his carefully worded answer.
“I was really hoping this spot was going to last us for five years, but we’re barely six months old and things are getting tight. At the very least we’re going to need off site space for storage and cooperage. This space will carry us through about 8,000 barrels of beer production and about 70,000 gallons of spirits production per year. That will be snug but doable. We’ll look at our options as time goes on.”
All the same, a moment or two later he is dreaming big again.
“We’re rolling out a new and expanded cocktail menu on the first week of March. I will go from five options to about 20. We’re looking at delivering a varied experience. If you go out now in Los Angeles, or Chicago, or New York, you can find all sorts of cocktail bars where you can get a hot toddy, dirty martini, or something different. We’re going to be able to offer that experience with mixology, with professionalism, with the ambiance to complement that effect. Someday I may want to expand and have a restaurant, but that’s a long way down the line because I have a very full plate.”
Rob Rubens has a full plate because his customers have full glasses, and have been coming back for refills on a regular basis. His tasting room, near the corner of Center Street and El Segundo Boulevard, is open daily. It’s a place of discovery and education for even the most knowledgeable beer and spirit connoisseurs to connect with the craft distilling revolution or just enjoy a great beer.
Rob Rubens Distilling and Brewing is at 909 East El Segundo Boulevard. More information and hours are at RubensSpirit.com. B
