Page 43 - SLO Visitors Guide - Spring 2022

Los Osos
Visit Foggy Bottom Distillery in the coastal village of Los Osos
Small-but-mightly distillery produces an array of whiskeys, bourbons, gins, and spiced rums
Owner Todd Adams opened Foggy Bottom Distillery in the often-foggy coastal village of Los
Osos in March of 2017.
Adams says he enjoys creating
new variations of spirits, “Distilling is a very good fit for my personality and lifestyle,” he says. “I enjoy using the tasting room as a social outlet. I am normally a very private person,” he says. “Plus I have a captive audi- ence and they have to laugh at all my jokes and wild stories.”
Adams loves to give distillery tours to his patrons, who often will ask incredulously, “You make everything in here?” Which he will reply with,
“Yes, all 35 plus spirits were made in here! That is when they are really blown away; see- ing that the distillery is the size of a small walk-in closet.”
Finding a location for
his distillery was no easy
feat, according to Adams. He
says that being a distillery was a de- terrent for many leasing agents. Ad- ams also works as a county building inspector and said that one day on the job he was inspecting the build- ing that houses Martin’s restaurant for a remodel when he saw an unusual condition
on the permit: that
100-square feet be
dedicated to a craft
distiller. After some
convincing, and a
whiskey tasting, the
owners agreed to
let Adams open his
distillery in a small
100-square foot
room. They would
later alter the plans
for the distillery to
add a deck for the
tasting room. Adams also has an off-site barrel room for aging.
Adams is a busy
man; inspect- ing during the
week and giving tastings every weekend. You may even find him running the still, which he says he did often up until the CO- VID-19 pandemic hit. During the pandemic, Adams joined several other local distillers in making
He says he can have three locations with his current license, and if he adds a restaurant he can have a full bar. “My little brother is working on having a location near his home in Roseville California,” he says. He has big plans for the restaurant, he says, “but I don’t want to give up those secrets yet.”
Foggy Bottom is open for tast- ings on Saturdays from 12 - 7 p.m. and Sundays from 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.
”If you come for a tasting, you will be entertained by my telling of the Foggy Bottom story,” says Adams. Drinks and entertainment? Sign me up!
Foggy Bottom is located at 905 Los Osos Valley Rd., Suite B, in Los Osos. For more information about their spirits and tasting room loca- tion, visit fbdistillery.com or call (805) 795-1727.
- Skye Pratt
"I enjoy using
the tasting
room as a social
outlet. I am
normally a very
private person."
— Todd Adams
an immediate pivot to producing hand sanitizer. Foggy bottom sold half of it and gave the other half away, “I just wanted to make my money back on it.” Adams said.
The future for Foggy
Adams has big plans for the future of Foggy Bottom. He says he plans on retiring from the county building depart- ment in about four years,
after which he will be able to devote more time to growing the business.
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