Home Base Spirits is a women-owned, sustainable business operated by a dynamic duo. Behind the scenes are sisters— twins in fact— Alexandra and Samantha Blatteis. Since their launch in 2015, they have been celebrating local ingredients, agriculture, and the unique process behind every one of their spirits.
Alexandra and Samantha Blatteis were born and raised in Oakland, California, the home base of their operation. The prominence of farm-to-table style restaurants and emphasis on locally-sourced food in the Bay Area inspired their decision to start their business in Oakland. They launched Home Base Spirits with the mission to celebrate spirits as an agricultural product by both sourcing and producing locally. Every spirit they make is created with grains sourced locally from Mecca Grade Estate Malt and Admiral Maltings.
Samantha explains, “We noticed that people were paying attention to terroir in wine, but not in spirits. So, we decided to start talking about our ingredients and our process with the hope of getting people excited about something they didn’t know or hadn’t tried before. This has become a characteristic that sets us apart.”
Another thing that makes Home Base Spirits stand out is how heavily they rely on craft malt to impact the flavor of their spirits. For example, all of Home Base’s spirits have a higher barley mash bill than the majority of other bourbons and whiskeys. Most whiskeys and bourbons use five to fifteen percent malted barley in their recipes, where at Home Base Spirits, roughly thirty percent of each grain recipe is composed of malted barley.
The sisters have been drawn to grain-centric spirits since they started their operation and have made distilling choices that accentuate grain flavors as much as possible. Alexandra adds, “We aim to harness the biscuity, grainy flavor of malted barley in our whiskies. By using single origin, craft malted barley, we can taste the local terroir and freshness in the grain. The malt flavor shining through is what we think makes our spirits unique.”
In addition to their flagship Bourbon and Amaro-Style Bitter Liqueur, they released an American Single Malt Whiskey in July 2021 which will also be available to enjoy year-round. Their American Single Malt Whiskey embodies buttery, nutty, and honey flavors that come from using lightly toasted malts. The spirit is then aged in bourbon barrels to give it a taste of perfection.
Alexandra and Samantha are proud to be members of the Craft Maltsters Guild and celebrate the Craft Malt Certified™ Seal by proudly featuring it on their packaging. Visit Home Base’s website to learn more about their distillery, upcoming product releases, and their way of celebrating sustainable spirits and craft malt.