Old Potrero

Old Potrero Whiskey is produced by Hotaling & Co. on Potrero Hill in San Francisco, reviving 19th-century American distilling techniques using 100% malted rye in traditional copper pot stills. Expressions include Straight Rye, Single Barrel, and the historic Hotaling’s 16 Year — named after the A.P. Hotaling warehouse that survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What makes 100% malted rye different from standard rye whiskey?

Standard American rye whiskey requires at least 51% rye in the mashbill, but typically uses unmalted rye grain combined with other grains (corn, malted barley) for fermentation. Old Potrero uses 100% malted rye — rye that has been allowed to germinate and then kiln-dried, which activates enzymes in the grain that break down starches into fermentable sugars without needing additional barley malt as a processing aid. This technique mirrors 19th-century American distilling practice before industrial grain processing standardized the industry. The result is a rye whiskey with a distinctly different flavor profile: richer, more complex grain character, a rounder mouthfeel, and more of the distinctive spicy-herbal rye character than modern column-still rye whiskeys typically produce.

What is the story behind the A.P. Hotaling warehouse and the 16 Year?

The A.P. Hotaling & Company warehouse on Jackson Street in San Francisco survived the 1906 earthquake and fire largely intact while much of the surrounding city burned — a fact that inspired a famous satirical poem questioning why God would spare a whiskey warehouse while destroying churches. The building became a San Francisco landmark. Hotaling & Co. (the spirits company, formerly Anchor Distilling) named the 16 Year release in tribute to that historical whiskey heritage and the warehouse’s survival. The 16 Year is an exceptionally long-aged American rye by any standard — most commercial rye whiskey is released at 4 to 6 years — making it a genuinely rare expression of what extended barrel aging does to malted rye.