Page 46 - San Luis Obispo Visitors Guide - Spring 2023

Los Osos & Baywood Park
Visit Foggy Bottom Distillery in the coastal village of Los Osos
Small-but-mightly distillery produces an array of corn whiskeys, bourbons, ryes, gins, and spiced rums
Owner Todd Adams opened Foggy Bottom Distillery in the often- foggy coastal village of Los Osos in March of 2017. The small-but-mighty distillery produces a wide array of spirits including corn whiskeys, bour- bons, ryes, gins, and spiced rums.
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; seeing that the distillery is the size of a small walk-in closet.”
Finding a location for his distillery was no easy feat, accord- ing to Adams. He says that being a distillery was a deterrent for many leasing agents. Adams also works as a county building inspec-
tor and said that one
day on the job he
was inspecting
the building
that houses
Martin’s
restaurant
for a
remodel
when he
said jok-
ingly that
there was
an unusual
condition on
the permit: that
100-square feet be
dedicated to a craft dis-
tiller. 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 COVID-19 pandemic
hit. During the pandemic, Adams joined several other local distillers in making 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 department in about 3 years, after which he will be able to devote more time to growing the business. 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 Bot-
tom is open for tastings
on Satur- days 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
46
SPRING 2023
slovisitorsguide.com
Mon-Fri 8am to 2pm
Sat & Sun 7:30am to 2:30pm
To-Go Orders: 805.528.5711 1188 Los Osos Valley Rd., Los Osos
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