Crane Cove Rye
A straight rye whiskey that could only come from San Francisco
The first whiskey in our collection, blended from two barrels of straight malted rye that were distilled on Potrero Hill, just a mile from our own Distillery. We believe this is one of the greatest rye whiskeys made in the United States. Crane Cove, a beautiful inlet in the San Francisco Bay, sits at the foot of the street where the whiskey was distilled nine years ago. A working shipyard for most of a century, it reopened in 2020 as a public shoreline - a place remade without erasing what it was - a philosophy that we carry into this whiskey.
ABV: 55% | 750ml
Ships nationwide, or available for pickup at Bar Brucato
Tasting Notes
Pumpernickel and pine hit the nose first, balanced by a hint of cherry, opening into toasted hazelnut and stewed apple with notes of caraway and nutmeg. The palate is cocoa nibs and a whisper of brown sugar, then a bright burst of ginger and black cardamom, ending with cedar and allspice.
Select Ingredients
100% Malted Rye
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100% Malted Rye
Every drop of Crane Cove Rye is made from a single grain — no corn, no wheat. Bold and peppery by nature, it softens over nine years into something round, layered, and unmistakably itself.
#3 Char American White Oak
Anchor Distilling partnered with Independent Stave Company to build barrels at wine barrel standards: 24-month air-dried, fine-grained American white oak, charred over an oak scrap fire — at roughly four times the cost of a standard distillery barrel. This barrel made the whiskey.
San Francisco Provenance
Distilled at Anchor's Potrero Hill facility under Master Distiller Bruce Joseph, barreled January 13, 2017, aged less than a mile from our Mission District distillery. Our Distillery Director Adam Hall was employed at Anchor when this batch was made.
Anchored in Tradition, Distilled a Mile from Our Door.
At the time Anchor began experimenting with rye whiskey, there were no other commercially available pot-distilled rye whiskies in the country. Each bottle is a direct descendant of the spirit that restarted rye as a serious, craft product — made in the same Potrero Hill distillery, by the same master distiller, in the same premium barrels. The name marks the ground. Crane Cove sits at the foot of Mariposa Street, the same street the whiskey was made on, a mile east — a working shipyard remade as a public shoreline without erasing what it was. Something like the philosophy behind this release.
Only two barrels have been bottled. Approximately 450 bottles exist — each labeled at our Mission District distillery. It's a trailblazer in the category and a heartfelt homage to craft distilling and San Francisco history.
Each release begins as an idea: a single ingredient, a fleeting season, or a sensory memory we want to distill. We chase those ideas through fermentation, maceration, aging, and iteration — crafting countless tinctures and batches until we get it just right.
These spirits are small by design. They’re made in extremely limited quantities, aged for months or years, and never made the same way twice. Some may evolve into future staples, while others exist only once — a moment in a bottle. Our Dstillery Series releases are a chance to share in something personal, fleeting, and unlike anything else behind the bar.
We'll be releasing more small-batch bottles in the seasons to come. Join our newsletter and be first to know what we're working on and when new releases are launched.
