INTRICATELY HAND CRAFTED

ABOUT

Sidewinder is founded on innovation.  We are constantly exploring new ways to blend tradition with a modern sense of provenance, purity of expression, and sustainability.

Sidewinder is small, even by micro-lot standards. Being and remaining small allows us to pursue perfection in all aspects of our art without the constraints of meeting production minimums.

Sidewinder is local.  We are of those crazy few who believe that spirits, much like wines, can express a sense of place.

Sidewinder Spirits Owner John Kinney 1500w

FOUNDER

John Kinney founded Sidewinder Spirits Company in 2016 as an offshoot of his Livermore winery, Occasio.

At Sidewinder, the principles of provenance, tradition, and sense of place that are so integral to John’s winemaking practices have guided the creation of truly unique hand crafted spirits.

 

Distiller

Dave Hendrickson's years of ardent education and training has given him command of traditional methods of distillation and the discipline and insight to go beyond them.  Like John, Dave believes that great spirits are not defined by intensity alone, but by their balance and sense of place.

dave-henderson
dave-henderson

Distiller

Dave Hendrickson's years of ardent education and training has given him command of traditional methods of distillation and the discipline and insight to go beyond them.  Like John, Dave believes that great spirits are not defined by intensity alone, but by their balance and sense of place.

OUR STILLS

PRUDENCE :

Prudence, our alembic copper still, is the mother of all virtues. The Greeks represented her by the mirror and the snake – the mirror representing the historical perspective required for wisdom, and the snake acting as the protector of knowledge.

Prudence was formed by hand by Spanish artisans; it is the result of almost 1500 years of gradual perfection.

Prudence distills all of our grape brandies as her unique, onion-domed shape allows passage of many of the flavor compounds essential to fine brandies that can be lost in column stills.

TEMPERANCE :

Temperance is the virtue of restraint and control. She is a hybrid pot and column still, with four reflux plates, allowing for a greater degree of control over the distillate than can be achieved with the alembic still.

Temperance distills our gins and whiskies.

OUR NAME

Sidewinder is named for the type of pocket watch with the winding post at three instead of twelve. The name and logo provide the links to Occasio Winery, whose pocket watch defines the timeliness of the wine making process. In a complementary sense, Sidewinder invokes the timeless artisanship of craft spirit production.