Winemaker Joy Merrilees pivots to spirits with a gin that captures the essence of Lake County
Images by Karen Elowitt, unless otherwise specified
When I first met Joy Merrilees she was on top of a ladder, plucking elderflower blooms from the top of a tree on her property.
“Plants have always been my passion,” she said. “Not just for their medicinal properties, but for their mental health benefits, and the happiness that people get from being outside and gardening…all of those things!”
Having grown up among the plants, flowers and trees of Upper Lake, it should not come as a surprise that Merrilees developed a passion for all things botanical. And that she’s turned that passion into not one, but two plant-related careers.
You may know Merrilees’ name already – she is an experienced winemaker, having worked for the last 20 years at some of the most well-known wineries in Lake County, capturing the essence of Lake County’s volcanic terroir into bottles of award-winning wine.
But in her spare time she tinkered with spirits, experimenting with different ways of coaxing the essence of local plants into bottles of gin. Considering her primary job as a winemaker, and her knowledge of the local flora, it was a natural progression.
“I really wanted to share with the world the sense of place of the chaparral biome here, because it’s very unique,” she said. “I’ve been immersed in it for the majority of my life, hiking, camping and exploring the hills.”
Becoming a distiller didn’t happen overnight, though. It was basically a culmination of a lifetime of study, work and observation. Armed with a degree in botany and horticulture, Merrilees leaned on transferable skills from the wine industry, self-taught knowledge, and wisdom from friends who were distillers. She also did some formal coursework on the art and science of distilling.
Somewhat serendipitously, it was actually wine – or more accurately, wine grapes – that finally turned her passion for spirits into her new career as Lake County’s first craft distiller.
Merrilees and her husband grow Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes at their 60-acre property in Kelseyville, and typically sell it to local winemakers. However, in 2023 they found themselves with 10 tons of unsold Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.
“I thought, ‘okay, I’m going to turn some excess into an opportunity,’” Merrilees said. “How can I turn a perishable commodity into something that adds value? So we decided not to feed it to the chickens, but make gin out of it.” Two years later, High Chaparral Mountain Gin was born.
While most gins are primarily corn- or potato-based, they can also be made with wine as the predominant ingredient. High Chaparral gin does use a small amount of corn to add sweetness, but the stars of the show are the wine – and of course, the botanicals.
First and foremost there’s juniper, which is what distinguishes gin from other spirits. Merrilees forages as much as she can from the higher elevations of the Mendocino National Forest, and buys the rest from local producers. Then there’s California bay laurel, elderflower, orris root, and coriander, all of which grows on her property. And lastly there’s lemon peel, which comes from neighbors and friends.
“You really just have to find that sweet spot where all of those botanicals are coming out in the proportions that you’re looking for,” she said.
For example, bay laurel adds a spicy note, elderflower offers floral notes, and the lemon peel adds finish and weight. The orris root (from irises) not only adds earthiness and notes of lavender, but also helps to bind and enhance the flavors of the other botanicals.
The elegant bottle even reflects the chaparral mountain landscape – the tree pictured is a native Manzanita from Merrilees property.
“I think that sense of place really comes through in the gin’s aromatics, its flavors, and even the visuals – it’s an all-encompassing sensory experience.”
Merrilees is thrilled to be able to flex her creative muscles as a spirit maker, and turn her love of plants into an ingestible form of art.
“I’ve been using plants to make art at every point of my career,” Merrilees said. “I was a landscape designer at one point, using plants to make landscape art. Then I became a winemaker, using plants to make wine art. So this is just the next iteration of that. Now I have a bigger paint brush, if you will, of plants, to make art from.”
The first batch of High Chaparral gin produced 2000 bottles, which can be bought at various retailers online and in Lake County. Merrilees is excitedly planning the next batch, thinking about ingredients to add and ways to adjust the recipe to make it even better.
“I do think the base of it is really good, but I want to change up the aromatics a little,” she said. “I’ll probably kick up the elderflower a bit and dial down the corn, because the botanicals will add a little bit more of that sweetness naturally. In the future I also want to add agave from my farm, but it’s still too young now.”
Merrilees is proud to have created a product that’s new to the county, but was born of its land and heritage.
“As a farmer, it’s important to stay on top of what is popular and what is going to keep Lake County an agricultural community,” she said. “We’re always looking for innovation and looking to the future.”
To learn more about High Chaparral Native Botanical Mountain Gin, visit highchaparralspirits.com.
