Breaker Wheated Bourbon Limited Release

About Breaker

Located in the heart of California wine country and positioned between Terravant Winery on side side and Figueroa Mountain Brewery on the other, Ascendant Spirits is the first legal distillery to operate in Santa Barbara, CA since prohibition. “A few years ago, I started learning more about the craft distilling movement and realized that with the growth in the spirits market and the limited number of distilleries, there was a great opportunity,” says Steve Gertman, the distillery’s founder. Gertman fell in love with whisky on a trip to Scotland in 1998, and finally, 15 years later, opened up the doors to Ascendant Spirits in the spring of 2013.

Ascendant Spirits is outfitted with its own custom, American-made, 500-gallon copper pot still, built entirely to Gertman’s — who also serves as Ascendant’s Master Distiller — specifications. Outside of the distillery’s walls, the Santa Rita Hills also play an enormous part in Ascendant’s final product. During the day, an intense humidity rolls over the California countryside, causing temperatures to rise as much as 40-50 degrees. This allows the barrels to “breathe heavy,” and the whisky to age much faster — up to four times faster than in Kentucky, according to scientists at California Polytechnic State University — due to its increased interaction with the wood.