The smell of the whiskey barrels...the call of the Glens....but…this isn’t Scotland. It’s Oxnard!
“Oxnard you’d think of strawberries!" laughed Scottish Master Distiller John Campbell.
He is at this hidden craft distillery called Sespe Creek, unassumingly located on an industrial estate in the city which is over 5000 miles away from his native Scotland.
"I grew up in Islay, which is an island in the West Coast, and on Islay there are 12 distilleries. There are 3000 people. I thought it was just normal for everyone to have distilleries nearby," said Campbell.
"It's part of your culture. It's a commodity in the community. If you work in a distillery, you will go down to the fishermen and you will swap a bottle of whiskey and you will get the lobster. Whiskey is ingrained in all your life in a place like Islay," he said.
But Campbell has traded Islay for Oxnard, and is now focused on putting the city on the map when it comes to whiskey. Who better to do that than this man with over 30 years experience in his homeland at some of the top distilleries?
"A lot of this distillery is based on how a single malt would make a bourbon. We do make vodka and we do make a rum as well. But the main thing right now is the whiskey," said Campbell. "I know how to do that. The technology is the same. We all have a different base. So like in America, it's generally corn. It's the main cereal in the US. Whereas in Scotland, where I'm from, it's just malted barley, whereas corn is not a crop really."
Sespe Creek started in 2017, and Campbell only joined them as their Chief Operating Officer and Master Distiller five weeks ago. But he says coming from the West Coast of Scotland has given him a West Coast vibe that fits right in here in Oxnard.
"Local community is hugely important to their identity. Coming from Islay, I am not going to say anything else. We [Sespe Creek] are South West, we are totally California. So Oxnard is going to be a huge part of that," said Campbell.
Campbell explained how to taste a whiskey, and that the flavor changes from the initial first sip.
"The first taste, you may get something. Second taste, hope you'll get something different. Third, something else. And it's like peeling an onion. You get one flavor at a time. The more depth in a whiskey, the better the whiskey is," he said.
He recommended getting a good inhale of the aromas before taking that first sip.
"Sometimes it's aromatherapy and sometimes it's just going to mental therapy and it's just occasionally fun and takes the edges off a difficult day. Sometimes it's just for yourself as well. There are certain whiskeys for certain occasions. I would say," he said.
"I would generally be a type of person that would be having that [whiskey] as a digestiv or after a meal and probably your last drink at evening. You'd want a Warbringer and to just to settle down for the night," said Campbell.
So while Oxnard may not ever be the natural home to whiskey that Scotland is, it’s certainly making its own mark and maybe a post Thanksgiving digestif this year comes from the California coast instead of Scotland?
