Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/113109
David King, President of Anchor Distilling Company. That wasn���t going to be the end of things for Maytag, though. Even after his beer business had taken off, Maytag would restlessly wander to a downstairs corner of his brewery, where he experimented with copper pot distilling. In 1992, after years of experimenting, he unleashed Junipero Gin and Old Potrero Whisky. Authentic, small-lot and respectful of distilling traditions that went back hundreds of years, they quickly found a place in the market. Soon after came Genevieve Gin, another product of patient trial and error. When Maytag eventually decided to sell his business, he took his time about it���ive years, to be precise. Maytag wanted to ind the right people, people who would respect the business and the people who made it possible. It was a requirement of the sale that no Anchor employee would lose their jobs because of the change in ownership. So the copper stills are still there, and so are the people who���ve been operating them for 20 or 30 years. And those folks are only too happy to tell you their Fritz stories, of which there are many. Enter David King And that leads us quite directly to the arrival, on the irst of January in 2011, of David King. King was brought in to direct the operations of the Anchor Distilling. He came from another long-storied com50 / the tasting panel / march 2013 pany, the august Berry Bros. & Rudd, of London. They are among the oldest and most respected liquor distributors in the world, doing business under the same ownership since 1698. And one of the irst things King did when he got to San Francisco and Anchor was to mosey around downstairs in the small distillery. ���It was a quite natural question, to ask why haven���t you done anything with the hops that you use for the beer-making,��� King says in his merry, teasing way. He sounds like he���s letting you in on a secret when he tells you a Says Dennis Carr, VP of Sales for Anchor Distilling Company, ���We all feel like we want to be able to look back 15 years from now and say, ���I had a part in that.������ story. He seems to know that you���re going to enjoy it, so he delivers it with understated amusement. ���They said it was quite dificult to distill the hops,��� King recalls. ���So I said, ���That may be true, but let���s have a go at it anyway.������ To truly appreciate the logic of the move, you might have had to breathe the air around Potrero Hill when operations at the brewery are in full swing. The air is thick with the toasty, yeasty smells of fermenting hops. It���s quite delicious, and almost hypnotically thirstinducing. To be swaddled in this cocoon