Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Suput.
Hi Sarah , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We are Marko and Sarah Suput. We married in 2012 and soon after, decided that we wanted to start a business together. One night at the dinner table, Marko stated “you know what I’d really like to do is start a distillery.” Sarah’s response was, “what’s a distillery?” And from that point forward we got to work. About 4 months into research, sample distilling, visiting existing craft distilleries and attending conferences, we got the brilliant idea to stick our operation on a farm. We had young kids at the time and wanted to find a way to blend our new business with our family and farming seemed like the right way to do it. It took about a year to find the perfect property but we knew that the Santa Ynez Valley was our ideal location. But when the Flying V Ranch, a family run llama ranch hit the market, we knew it was the ideal location. The property was purchased in 2016. We got to work slowly transitioning llama pastures to apple, apricot and quince orchards. We also got to work to obtain federal, state and county permissions to operate the first agricultural distillery in Santa Barbara County.
We opened the distillery and tasting room in March of 2023. The long road to opening came with some advantages. We learned a lot about farming in the meantime. We built a variety of relationships with local winemakers so that once we were ready to open, we had a great supply of unwanted wine with which to make our vodkas, gin, brandy and liqueurs. Over the past four years our product line has expanded. We make a variety of infused vodkas, brandies and liqueurs.
Our tasting features a small petting zoo and acres of orchards which guests can walk through. You can also find Rock 12 spirits in restaurants and bars throughout the county. At the tasting room we offer some fun special events from cocktail classes and gin blending classes. Around the holidays, we turn it up with the Rock 12 Days of Christmas.
It’s an all in family run business, even the kids are a part of the vision. We see continuous growth and have earned some cool awards along the way including Distillery of the Year from the California Craft Spirits Competition.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road.
Our first application for a Land Use Permit was denied. This was after we had already purchased the property and received a conditional preapproval. That set back was tremendous. But we plead our case before the Santa Barbara County board of supervisors and won unanimously.
Other setbacks have been the cost of the self-funded building. We were no exceptions that it took twice as along and twice as much as we originally estimated.
Wineries around are closing – leads to a bit of nervousness.
But in terms of customers, industry relationships, and at the end of the day, making a quality product which we are proud of . . . . that part has been wonderful.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are craft distillers. Specializing in bringing a scientific approach to what we make. Marko is chemical engineering bringing both lab precision to spirits as well as original engineering approaches to our equipment and processes.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Our family has been incredibly supportive of our endeavors. Our brother in law Andrew has managed our website for years. Family friends in Serbia print all our labels for us. The officiant of our wedding and lifelong friend, Bernie Wohlfarth designed our labels for us and has offered tremendous design guidance along the way. Fidencio Flores has been a tremendous wine parter and offered lots of farming counsel along the way. Luis Catalan has been our ranch manager for 5 years. He has decades of experience farming at Dos Pueblos. Together we’ve learned all things apricot, apple and quince. Sonja Magdevski and Sean Pitts taught Sarah a lot about tasting experiences and running a tasting room.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rock12disitllery.com
- Instagram: rock12distillery
- Facebook: rock12distillery
