Distilling the Delta

Sabbatical Distillery and Victoria Island Farms

By Gabrielle Myers

 

 

On a just-beginning-to-warm spring afternoon, we were in the San Joaquin Delta less than 60 miles east of Oakland on a 7,000-acre island fed by rich streams and rivers flowing down from the Sierra Nevada. With a system of levees, irrigation canals, and pumps, Victoria Island Farms, the island’s sole agricultural resident, uses Delta water to produce a diverse range of crops.

Standing on the island at 13 feet above sea level, we saw and heard thousands of small bees. They gathered around blueberry blossoms, buzzing of spring and its growth potential. An occasional red-winged blackbird chirped and dived to its nest among the blueberry bushes. By June, these berries grow fat with sun and our Delta’s nourishing waters as the farm readies for a busy u-pick blueberry season.

The island is also the site of Sabbatical Distillery and Tasting Room, but distiller Daniel Leonard brought us first into the blueberry orchard. While Victoria Island Farms has grown northern highbush varieties of blueberries for several decades, Leonard says they have planted more of the woody shrubs each year to serve the public’s insatiable desire for u-pick berries, which become ripe around mid-May and continue into late June. He’ll reserve a portion of the bounty for production of his Blueberry Lemon Flavored Vodka and Farm Schnapps Blueberry Brandy. The brandy is enhanced through aging in barrels that formerly held Sabbatical’s barrel-aged honey.

 

 

Leonard founded Sabbatical Distillery with his friend Jack Zech, whom he met when they attended UC San Diego. Theirs is the first distillery to open in San Joaquin County since Prohibition. This new venture builds on the agricultural legacy of Zech’s family, who have farmed the island since 1964.

Victoria Island Farms was once among the largest producers of asparagus in the United States with 1,000 acres in production, but due to global competition and the rising costs of production here in California, the farm had to diversify into other crops like tomatoes, citrus, almonds, corn, wheat, barley, and alfalfa to sustain itself.

On that spring visit, Leonard took us to see what was left of the once-extensive asparagus plantings. The rows were still moist with rain, and we could almost hear the succulent green spears emerging from the loam to capture March’s widening light. Unencumbered by leaves, stems, or vines, the spears stood erect as symbols of spring’s fertility.

 

 

 

 

 

Leonard and Zech retrofitted their distillery into the farm’s old asparagus processing facility. They created an open layout that allows a guest to sip at the tasting bar while viewing the distillation area. Depending on the season, tasting room visitors can also buy honey from the farm’s bees and organic pistachios raised down the Valley at Nichols Farms. Solar panels power the Sabbatical farm and distillery, and in addition to harnessing the farm’s ingredients, the distillery addresses sustainable practices by spreading byproducts like mash and stems onto field and orchard. With attention to reuse and recycling, Sabbatical has established a program where customers can bring in their empty Sabbatical whiskey bottles to be transformed into custom drinking glasses.

Leonard and Zech’s experiments with whiskey ingredients have taken them through several white and yellow non-GMO corn varieties plus a Texas blue corn and their own farm-grown barley. Sabbatical’s Sábado Gin, made with 13 farm-raised botanicals, has a sublime floral lightness that expresses the essence of the recipe’s juniper berries, sarsaparilla, angelica, chamomile, rose petals, coriander, blueberries, and dehydrated peels of lemon, grapefruit, and orange. Leonard holds up a large bag filled with thick cuts of citrus rinds, and with enthusiasm describes the distilling process that won a double gold award in the World Spirits Competition in 2022. The team is experimenting with a barrel-aged gin that should be released later this year.

A favorite from their Island Harvest Series is Sabbatical’s Blueberry Lemon Flavored Vodka. It evokes an Italian limoncello with its tongue-coating lemon tang and bright citrus aroma. To retain the lemon’s true flavor, Leonard and Zech use vapor extraction and a peel infusion. Leonard says, “the fruit sediment is left in and not filtered out” to develop that distinct lemon flavor.

Leonard and Zech have recently developed a double-oak bourbon. It’s aged in a new American oak barrel for three to four years, then transferred into another new American oak barrel for several more. This double wood exposure creates a caramel-like warmth in the spirit.

Other farm products, like honey from the aforementioned bees, make their way into distillations, and the team is now working on an almond liqueur with an eye on numerous acres of almonds that have survived for decades on Victoria Island Farms. With some prodding, Leonard brings out a dark asparagus amaro that they made in 2023. He’s happy enough to share a taste with the curious, but he says the spirit turned out too bitter to keep in production.

Leonard says they want to expand their space to offer more year-round farm-to-bottle experiences, and they hope to partner with UC Davis to offer learning and educational programs on the farm and in the distillery. They want to grow more crops throughout the year, and they are interested in collaborating on new crop trials to put their extensive acreage to better use and to find new ingredients for their distilling.

Sabbatical also aims to continue its collaborations with other distillers and food artisans. Recent endeavors include a whiskey and cheese pairing at the Oxford Kitchen in Lodi featuring cheese from Cheese Central, single-barrel bourbon releases at the Brentwood Costco, and a tasting at the Downtown Alameda Whiskey Stroll. ♦

 

Sabbatical Distillery is open daily, 11am to 5:30pm, during the summer season. Reserve for a guided tasting at drinksabbatical.com. To schedule for the Victoria Farms blueberry u-pick, visit victoriaislandfarms.com/upick.

 

Gabrielle Myers is the author of Hive-Mind, a memoir, and the poetry books Too Many Seeds and Break Self: Feed. Her third poetry book, Points in the Network (2025), and fourth poetry book, Go Forth: Lose Yourself into Life (2026), are forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. gabriellemyers.com

 

 

Sabbatical Distillery’s Blueberry Lemon Vodka Spritzer

Located on Victoria Island in the San Joaquin Delta, Sabbatical Distillery creates their spirits using crops grown at this island’s historic farm. Come pick your own blueberries and pack out a bottle of the distillery’s Blueberry Lemon Flavored Vodka for this summer cocktail.

Fill a highball glass with ice and add 2 parts Sabbatical Distillery’s Blueberry Lemon Flavored Vodka to 3 parts citrus-flavored sparkling water. Stir and garnish with lemon slices, blueberries, and mint sprigs.