Savage & Cooke sits on Mare Island in Vallejo, inside a massive 1918 naval warehouse that once stored munitions for World War I. Founded by Dave Phinney—the wine industry maverick behind The Prisoner Wine Company—this distillery opened in 2018 after Phinney decided to pivot from wine to whiskey. The 25,000-square-foot space houses custom copper stills from Germany and feels more like an industrial cathedral than your typical distillery, with soaring ceilings and thick concrete walls that keep temperatures steady year-round. They’re producing bourbon, rye, and American whiskey while also aging sourced spirits in their unique maritime environment.
Phinney’s journey here wasn’t typical—he sold his wine empire and wanted to build something entirely different. He partnered with master distiller Michael Jessen, who brings serious credentials from his time at Kentucky bourbon houses. The Mare Island location wasn’t random either; they needed massive space for their ambitious aging program and found it in this former naval facility that sat empty for decades. The maritime climate creates different aging conditions than traditional Kentucky rickhouses, with cool, humid air flowing off San Pablo Bay. They’re not trying to replicate Kentucky bourbon—they’re creating something distinctly Northern California.
Visitors walk through production areas where you can see the 42-foot-tall column still and hybrid pot stills working. The tasting room occupies part of the old naval warehouse, and you’re drinking spirits surrounded by thousands of barrels aging in the same space where sailors once loaded ammunition. Tours show off their grain-to-glass operation, from milling corn and wheat to bottling. The whole operation feels like controlled chaos—industrial and sophisticated at the same time, which matches Phinney’s approach to just about everything.
