Spirits · Modesto, California
Do Good Distillery
A Modesto craft distillery making whiskeys with a brewer's approach.
- Founded
- 2013
- Founded by
- Jim Harrelson
- Based in
- Modesto, California
Making it since
2013
Their story
Jim Harrelson was a deputy sheriff and detective in Stanislaus County before he opened Do Good Distillery in Modesto in October 2013, with help from friends and family. The distillery honors Paul Katuszonek, a friend who introduced Harrelson to whiskey and had hoped to open a distillery of his own before he died in a traffic accident. The name comes from a line attributed to Benjamin Franklin: do well by doing good.
Harrelson became president of the California Artisanal Distillers Guild and helped push for a state law change that lets small distillers sell their spirits on site. He has since died, at age 38, of a heart attack.
How it's made
Harrelson came from home brewing and built his whiskey recipes the way a brewer would. The Peat Smoked Whisky, for example, uses imported peated malt, is aged in rye casks, and finishes in the distillery's own rum barrels.
Why we carry them
Do Good is a small Central Valley distillery with an inventive streak. We like the peated whisky for anyone curious about smoky spirits made close to home.
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