I know this sounds crazy, but my goal is to make the healthiest alcohol you could drink,” says Lisa Aver- buch, founder and president of Loft Organic Liqueurs. She giggles. “Of course the U.S. government won’t let me put that on the label.

”Headquartered in Averbuch’s old-fashioned Emery- ville live-work space, Loft released its first three flavors in January: lavender, lemongrass, and spicy ginger, all made with fresh (or in lavender’s case, freshly dried) ingredients and sweetened primarily with organic agave, from the same plant that produces tequila. They also contain a bit of sugar (Loft uses organic) to meet government requirements.

The three liqueurs are revelatory in their subtle, yet heady aromas and smooth sippability, with none of the chemical bite of artificial flavors. They are also the first to be certified organic in the United States.

That USDA stamp of approval represents an arduous two-year journey for Averbuch and Sabrina Moreno-Dolan, Loft’s director and cofounder, who became friends while working in the Ritz-Carlton’s banquet department. What started as a whim for Averbuch—making limoncello from a magazine with lemons from her boyfriend’s backyard—became a passion once she realized how easy it was to infuse fresh flavors into neutral grain spirits. She’s experimented with more than 40 different flavors, with results ranging from the sublime (tangerine, which may end up costing more because of the volume of zest required) and the less so (“tomato was kind of…ewww”). Basil “was great but only kept its flavor for a month or so.” And I can vouch that the unreleased coffee flavor makes Kahlua taste like cough syrup by comparison.

When friends began telling her they wished they could order her fresh-tasting concoctions in a bar, instead of the artificial lime-green and neon-blue spirits on offer for cocktails, Averbuch began wondering just how hard it would be to turn her hobby into a business. Not that hard, she determined after a little research, and as Square One Organic Vodka has proved, there’s a market for organic spirits. A lifelong vegetarian and a former employee of Copia in Napa, which has its own biodynamic and organic gardens, she knew she wanted to go organic all the way. In January 2006 she mortgaged the loft, hired a lawyer, incorporated, and Loft Organic Liqueurs was born.



She also retained a consultant to guide her through the 100-page application process for organic certification, and to help her source her ingredients from small organic farms who were also preferably biodynamic. (For more about biodynamic agriculture, see “The Practicing Agnostic,” page 31.) In order for her bottles to display the coveted seal, the distillery itself had to be certified organic. She could find only two who were, and they weren’t interested in taking on new projects. That meant convincing an uncertified distillery to jump through the USDA’s hoops, which include extensive documentation of everything from cleaning products and pest control to whether the organic ingredients would be stored with conventional items.

“No one was very excited about me using fresh ingredients, either,” she sighs. “Their skill lies in distilling, not infusing. We tried to explain that all we really needed was their four walls and license, with no luck.

”Finally, one in Portland, Oregon, agreed to be her guinea pig. And in the end, she received the approval from certifier CCOF without a hitch.

The first 200 cases, with their elegant, translucent bottles—“the bottle design is probably the thing I spent the most money on,” admits Averbuch—have arrived. The early buzz has been good: Loft won three medals at the 2007 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Already the San Francisco restaurants Jardiniere, Hotel Vitale’s Americano, and Kuleto’s have all agreed to carry the liqueurs, which have a suggested retail price of $30. Loft’s website (www.loftliqueurs.com) has the complete list of places to find them, along with multiple cocktail recipes for the liqueurs, which can also be ordered online, through MondoLiquor.com.

“There’s been a whole lot of interest,” she reports happily. “And I haven’t run out of money yet, which is good.”

Share this story: delicious · digg · facebook · newsvine