Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Misadventure & Company: the positive side of a carbon-negative product

Making something interesting and doing something good

Misadventure & Co’s largely DIY CNC machine.
Misadventure & Co’s largely DIY CNC machine.

Liquid future

Bartender Whit Rigali and agricultural economist Sam Chereskin didn’t set out to make vodka. They wanted to make bourbon. But what do you know: bourbon takes time to age into its glory, and most investors would rather not wait years to see a prototype of your product. (Vodka, on the other hand, takes a week, once you’ve got everything in place for a grain-to-glass operation.) That rather significant pivot was maybe the biggest reason behind the decision to name their Vista distilling operation Misadventure & Company. The others? Rigali says that “in the long run, struggles and lessons learned are the things that people really should be toasting.” And Chereskin points to “the environmental calamity that we’re currently living through.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Chereskin (seated) and Rigali, creators of a craft brand that gets cooler as it gets bigger.

He’s not suggesting folks drink to forget things like global warming or the Natural Resources Defense Counsel’s 2015 report and its finding that 40 percent of food in America gets thrown away. Quite the opposite. “As far as we can tell,” says Chereskin, “our vodka is the first man-made carbon-negative product in the world. We can give the consumer a choice: you can have a vodka that, with every sip, makes the world literally better, or you can have any other vodka.”

They manage that carbon-negative trick by making their spirits from surplus breadstuffs donated to local food banks. Jalapeño bagels, blueberry muffins, Oreo cookies, anything made from refined wheat flour. “We joined our local food policy council,” recalls Chereskin, “and at the first meeting, we asked if anyone had extra bread. Six hands shot up.”

Overproduction makes economic sense when it comes to baked goods, and shelf life is short. So, surplus, even at the food bank level. “But not waste. The fact that we exist means that it was never waste.” The same plot of land, treated with the same fertilizer, produces raw material for both bread and vodka. The same truck hauls it away. And, adds Rigali, “a University of Michigan study showed that simply by preventing this stuff from decomposing into methane, we can ship our product all over the country and still have a smaller carbon footprint than a vodka grown and made locally.”

And wonder of wonders, it also manages to be both good and affordable — a sticking point for so many earth-friendly products. Chereskin: “We tied Boyd & Blair — the best in the world three years in a row according to Spirits Journal — with 94 points at the 2018 Ultimate Beverage Challenge.” Rigali: “The 22-dollar mark was a sweet spot that didn’t devalue the brand, but was still something that could be a tool for bartenders when they make cocktails, something they could tell their patrons about.” Straight, it’s surprisingly viscous, and tastes (to me) of vanilla and white pepper. “Note what isn’t happening in your esophagus,” says Rigali, referring to its burnless evanescence.

Place

Misadventure & Co.

2420 Grand Avenue, San Diego

To realize the founders’ vision of both making something interesting and doing something good, Misadventure & Co. built much of their own equipment, including their super-efficient still. If you’re curious, their facility will open for tours on November 1.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?
Next Article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Misadventure & Co’s largely DIY CNC machine.
Misadventure & Co’s largely DIY CNC machine.

Liquid future

Bartender Whit Rigali and agricultural economist Sam Chereskin didn’t set out to make vodka. They wanted to make bourbon. But what do you know: bourbon takes time to age into its glory, and most investors would rather not wait years to see a prototype of your product. (Vodka, on the other hand, takes a week, once you’ve got everything in place for a grain-to-glass operation.) That rather significant pivot was maybe the biggest reason behind the decision to name their Vista distilling operation Misadventure & Company. The others? Rigali says that “in the long run, struggles and lessons learned are the things that people really should be toasting.” And Chereskin points to “the environmental calamity that we’re currently living through.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Chereskin (seated) and Rigali, creators of a craft brand that gets cooler as it gets bigger.

He’s not suggesting folks drink to forget things like global warming or the Natural Resources Defense Counsel’s 2015 report and its finding that 40 percent of food in America gets thrown away. Quite the opposite. “As far as we can tell,” says Chereskin, “our vodka is the first man-made carbon-negative product in the world. We can give the consumer a choice: you can have a vodka that, with every sip, makes the world literally better, or you can have any other vodka.”

They manage that carbon-negative trick by making their spirits from surplus breadstuffs donated to local food banks. Jalapeño bagels, blueberry muffins, Oreo cookies, anything made from refined wheat flour. “We joined our local food policy council,” recalls Chereskin, “and at the first meeting, we asked if anyone had extra bread. Six hands shot up.”

Overproduction makes economic sense when it comes to baked goods, and shelf life is short. So, surplus, even at the food bank level. “But not waste. The fact that we exist means that it was never waste.” The same plot of land, treated with the same fertilizer, produces raw material for both bread and vodka. The same truck hauls it away. And, adds Rigali, “a University of Michigan study showed that simply by preventing this stuff from decomposing into methane, we can ship our product all over the country and still have a smaller carbon footprint than a vodka grown and made locally.”

And wonder of wonders, it also manages to be both good and affordable — a sticking point for so many earth-friendly products. Chereskin: “We tied Boyd & Blair — the best in the world three years in a row according to Spirits Journal — with 94 points at the 2018 Ultimate Beverage Challenge.” Rigali: “The 22-dollar mark was a sweet spot that didn’t devalue the brand, but was still something that could be a tool for bartenders when they make cocktails, something they could tell their patrons about.” Straight, it’s surprisingly viscous, and tastes (to me) of vanilla and white pepper. “Note what isn’t happening in your esophagus,” says Rigali, referring to its burnless evanescence.

Place

Misadventure & Co.

2420 Grand Avenue, San Diego

To realize the founders’ vision of both making something interesting and doing something good, Misadventure & Co. built much of their own equipment, including their super-efficient still. If you’re curious, their facility will open for tours on November 1.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Next Article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.