Alcohol is one of the leading death causing substances in America, wasting lives and destroying families. A business that produces a deadly product that will without doubt cause death injury and misery in our society. YEAH ALCOHOL!!! Lets make more and more and more :)
I can't wait until the local boutique cigarette company opens up too. Whoo-Hoo!

@Death Drinkers -- That Prohibitionist line you put out is no more valid today than it was at the turn of the 20th century. Seriously, get a grip.

UC Grad. I'm not saying anything about prohibition, just no need to celebrate something that causes so much pain and misery. My analogy about celebrating a cigarette store is valid. Both cause so much death and sickness. Not all the time, but enough to make it unsavory to celebrate the factories that churn out the fuel for the misery.

Get a grip? How about get clue: Tell me how many people died last year in alcohol related deaths. Prove to me you know what you're talking about and if you don't know, its an east look up. Here's a story to get you started. Its a story of how Alcohol related deaths account for 4& of deaths worldwide, more than Aids, TB or violence. Source was World Health Org:
Web Link

To compare

Diseases of Heart 599,413
Malignant Neoplasms 567,628
Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases 137,353
Cerebrovascular Diseases 128,842
Poisoning 41,592 Drug Overdose (2010)2 38,329
Intentional Self-Harm (Suicide) 36,909
Motor Vehicle Accidents 34,485
Alcohol-Induced 24,518
Pharmaceutical Drug Overdose (2010) 22,134

@DS: Thank you for bringing some sanity to this discussion.

Alcohol induced does not cover drunk driving, or chronic and fatal health problems caused by prolinged abuse. The numbers above simply people who have died from ingesting too much of the poison. Yes, people die simply from drinking too much of it, and it happens all the time. Evey year we read the stories of young lives ending because they drank too much poison. Its fatally toxic if you consume too much which can be done without too much effort.

I knows it unpopular and I know its darned hard to contradict these "insane thoughts". Funny, someone puts up a link to the WHO's findings and those are irrational thoughts, but someone comes up with numbers, just numbers, no source or definition of where/when those numbers occurred, and suddenly that's the "Sane" discussion. We believe what we want to, even in the face of facts. Sorry. I know its bumming some people out, but truth is truth, even if you try to craft it as otherwise. I don't want it closed down, but I won't celebrate the opening of any business who's product WILL, not maybe will, but will one day be the product that is directly tied to people's deaths.

It never ceases to amaze me that there are people who can't feel good unless they are pissing on someones parade.

@Strong argumant of treuth (spelling?): By your logic, we shouldn't have complimentary stories about restaurant openings, since people will overindulge and eat themselves into morbid obesity.

Quite frankly, you sound like you have some serious problems with figuring out the difference between the moderate use of a product, and the abuse of a product. Until you figure out the difference, stay away from making comments about it.

"Whether a discerning palate can detect those qualities ..." -- what are you trying to say? Apparently you can't and you are saying this is just hype?

"Alambic" (or "alembic") is an ancient still configuration.

This article follows (almost to the exact anniversary) early Voice coverage of Essential Spirits in 2000:

Web Link

Also, like the highly respected Germain-Robin and others, Essential Spirits is about small-batch, hand-crafted, uniquely flavored products whose customers search out, sip, and gently savor them. Probably paying a premium price for the experience. Of course it's possible for anyone to abuse these, like any, alcoholic beverages; but the reality is, most people don't. There are far cheaper and more available sources for someone determined to get drunk.

Those consumed with broad-brush anti-alcohol dogma probably never understand the irony of condemning a small artisanal family business like Essential Spirits. Reality isn't dogma's point. The same thinking killed California's promising fine-wine industry in 1920 (an industry that would not recover its pre-Prohibition size until 1990) -- while during Prohibition itself, average US alcohol consumption actually rose, quality collapsed, and organized crime got its big round of venture funding.

Will it make people feel better when their kid is killed in a DUI or alcohol overdose, that it was a fine crafted local spirit that did the job?
I'm not against prohibiting the local cannabis delivery groups or those locals who grow it, but I don't feel the need to make it a point of civic celebration. The same goes for the booze factory, in fact, looking at the death statistics associated with that product, it makes more sense to celebrate the cannabis side rather than the booze side.
Prohibit nothing...again, prohibit NOTHING, but don't celebrate the stuff that kills so many.

Reading some of the stuff above I feel like I have been transported to 19th century. Keep the death and gloom stuff for your own crowd, we here in Mountain View can drink and live a long live. I can't want to try some the the spirits from this small company which is only a few block from my house.

Rodger, don't hide from the fact that alcohol related death's happen in Mountain View. I can introduce you to some "We here in Mountain View" people who could inject some reality into the discussion.