Published on October, 27th 2022
Jan and Marsh Mokhtari founded Gray Whale Gin in 2016 on the simple notion that a spirit can bring people together for good times, and while together, do some good in the world.
While on a camping trip in Big Sur, Calif., founders Marsh and Jan Mokhtari gazed across the turquoise ocean to admire the beauty of the California coast and spotted a gray whale and her calf on their northern migration. At that very moment, the idea for Gray Whale Gin was born.
The result is a unique gin that tastes like California in a glass. It is perfected with six sustainably sourced botanicals – juniper, kombu, almonds, lime, fir, and mint – from along the 12,000-mile path of the California Gray Whale, the longest annual migration known to mankind. The result is a singular profile that is both bold and mixable, a consciously crafted addition to any cocktail. You can feel good about your choice of Gray Whale Gin.
Every bottle supports coastal conservation, through contributions to Oceana and 1% for the Planet. Critics have taken notice, with Gray Whale Gin scoring Double Gold at the San Diego Wine & Spirits Competition and Gold at San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and recently, readers of USA Today named Gray Whale Gin a top three craft gin distiller. Gray Whale Gin is vegan, gluten-free, and 86-proof with an ABV of 43%. It is seven times distilled; the ultra-clean corn base is the ideal canvas for the botanicals to shine. With every sip, the drinkers can taste their way along the Pacific Coastline.
We talked with Jan & Marsh about cocktail recipes, inspiration, and climate conservation, all while having a good time.
How did you both meet?
Jan: We met at a bar in Chicago. I was living there at the time; Marsh was in town on a four-day vacation from London. We met on Marsh’s first night in Chicago and spent the next three days together.
Marsh: I saw a bunch of frat guys bugging her and I walked right up to them and said, “She’s with me.”
Jan: I saw him coming and thought, “That man is very handsome.” And then he spoke with his English accent and it was all over. Both of our parents, who have been happily married for more than 95 years combined, also met in a bar, so we think it’s good luck.
Gray Whale Gin is inspired by the majestic gray whale. Can you share how the idea was first formed and its connection to the creation of handcrafted gin?
We found Gray Whale Gin in 2016 on the simple notion that a spirit can bring people together for good times, and while together do some good in the world. We were on a camping trip in Big Sur, California, at a place called McWay Falls. While there, we saw a gray whale and her calf making their annual 12,000-mile journey, the longest migration known to mankind.
We were having deep conversations, the type that happens only when you’re on vacation, away from your nine-to-five jobs, and the gravitational pull of making money goes out the window.
Jan is an award-winning creative director who has created campaigns and content for some of the world’s largest brands. Marsh is a food and adventure show host who has appeared on the Food Network, National Geographic, and Travel Channel. Despite our success, we felt something was missing. We asked ourselves,
“Are we spending our time and talents on this planet to make a positive impact and create a meaningful legacy to leave our two daughters?”
We decided then and there to create a product we could be proud of that would actively give back to ocean conservation and this majestic animal.
The conversation quickly came around to food and drink, as we are both very passionate foodies who love gin. Like vodka, gin starts off as a neutral spirit. However, there are distinct differences between the two. Gin is made by distilling juniper berries and other botanicals with a neutral spirit. This gives gin its distinctive herbal notes. While incredibly popular in Europe, gin is relatively underdeveloped in the United States. Our idea was to take gin and give it a decidedly American — and, more specifically, Californian — flavor by using botanicals found along the Pacific coast. The result is a singular profile that is both bold and mixable, a consciously crafted addition to any cocktail. With every sip of Gray Whale Gin, you can truly taste your way down the Pacific coastline, along the migration path of the gray whale!
What separates Gray Whale Gin from other gin brands in the market?
Apart from the overall mission, which is to protect and preserve the world’s oceans, our gin itself has a rather unique flavor profile. You’ll be surprised by how sippable our Gray Whale is—neat. That’s because Gray Whale Gin has a sense of place. It’s a celebration of the whales that migrate up and down the California coast, and consequently, you can taste your way along the Pacific coast. The six botanicals listed on the front of our bottle all come together in unison to create an exceptionally well-balanced gin. It masterfully dances the line of being bitter, sweet, salty, and earthy all at the same time. Our delicate, creamy finish and umami backbone come from our Capay Valley almonds and our Mendocino sea kelp, respectively.
You see, gin doesn’t have to be an overpowering “pine-needle punch” or a “Christmas tree in a glass.” Don’t get me wrong, our main flavor profile is juniper, but our juniper berries come from Big Sur. They have more of a cedar component as opposed to the familiar piney flavor that so many people associate with gin. We have a lot of gin lovers who tell us they really love Gray Whale Gin, but what we get a kick out of is when people tell us, “I don’t like gin, but I love Gray Whale.”
How long is the process of gin distillation, and why is it important?
Gray Whale Gin’s distillation process takes two days per batch. To make Gray Whale Gin, we add Mendocino sea kelp, Central Valley almonds, Big Sur juniper, and Santa Cruz mint to the base spirit, six-times-distilled corn, in the pot. The fresh fir needles from Sonoma and hand-zested citrus from Temecula are held in the distillation path, hovering above the base spirit. As the alcohol vapors rise, they delicately heat the citrus and fir, releasing those essential oils into the liquid. These wonderful flavors continue across the lyne arm, then cool and condense.
Gray Whale Gin rests for 48 hours before proofing down and bottling. This attenuation process is important because, after such a volatile process, the gin needs time to rest. This directly contributes to the wonderfully balanced flavor and mouthfeel of Gray Whale Gin.
What about the journey of creating Gray Whale Gin surprised you?
In the beginning, we heard a lot of people doubting our chances of success, because neither of us had experience in the spirits business. That led us to take big swings, to try even harder. In a nutshell, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. So we plowed on and developed a gin using botanicals that weren’t typically used in gins before. The result was a truly unique flavor that had a sense of place, a purpose, from two very passionate founders.
One of our biggest challenges was knowing when to ask for help. As an entrepreneur, you’re very comfortable wearing many hats and exercising muscles and skills you didn’t even know you had. Sometimes you become too comfortable taking on everything, and when you don’t have the experience and expertise in a certain area, you can quickly spiral, trying to do it all on your own.
That takes precious time and energy away from what you really need to focus on, which is to get your business off the ground. Our advice now is simple:
Figure out what you’re good at and outsource everything else. In other words, use your superpower as much as you can.
How do you prefer receiving feedback?
We prefer constructive and collaborative feedback, preferably shared while sipping a gin cocktail and overlooking the ocean.
The Fox Magazine is all about inspiration. What or who inspires you the most?
Purpose-driven brands like Patagonia have a proven track record of creating meaningful value for their customers with high-quality products that also do some good in the world.
What does success mean to you? What are your rules for success?
Throughout this journey, we have discovered a new definition of success: not just money, but money complemented by meaning. If you look at us on paper, it looks like we’ve had great professional success; we started reflecting on what success actually meant to us, and what our personal purpose is in addition to our professional world.
We wanted to leave a successful legacy behind, go beyond creative accomplishments and see how we can use our talents in service of something, in ways that benefit our family, our community, and our planet.
Any tips for young entrepreneurs interested in starting their own distilled spirits or lifestyle brand?
-
Remember it doesn’t happen overnight. A business’ success journey is won through many small, meaningful steps, not a few big leaps.
-
Write down your company mission and start every day with the simple act of reading that intention. Ours is on a wall in our office: “Protecting and preserving the world’s oceans one glass at a time.” It will help you see the forest through the trees.
-
Always be in beta. When your mindset is in beta, meaning you embrace change every day, you will anticipate change, and even celebrate change. You will be ready to learn from your failures, pivot to new solutions, and grow faster and smarter.
-
Consider how your business can be purpose-driven to be a force for good in the world. By pretty much every measure of brand success, consumers are more likely to try, stay loyal to, pay more for, and advocate for companies that genuinely do good. This means doing good is good for business.
Can you share a favorite Gray Whale Gin cocktail recipe?
THE WHALE HELLO THERE
+ 2 oz. Gray Whale Gin
+ ½ oz. fresh lime juice
+ ½ oz. fresh lemon juice
+ ½ oz. agave syrup
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour in the gin, lime juice, lemon juice, and agave syrup. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass, or strain over a rocks glass filled with ice, depending on preference. Garnish with a lemon twist and serve immediately.
What are you looking forward to next for Gray Whale Gin?
One of our biggest accomplishments as business owners is affecting real legislative change that protects the gray whales and helps to make the oceans a safer place for large marine animals. We didn’t just want to make a monetary donation to Oceana; we wanted to put Gray Whale Gin’s purpose into practice. Marsh and I met with Oceana scientists to identify one of the biggest threats to gray whales and asked how we could help in addition to funding. The threat was drift-gillnet fishing, sometimes referred to as “walls of death,” and our background in the storytelling and entertainment worlds would help lead to a solution.
We created a compelling 60-second film to create awareness about the threat, introduce Oceana’s proposed solution, and raise funds to help implement it. The spot assisted in raising more than $1 million to match funds from the state of California, which in turn, triggered California’s four-year phase-out period for all remaining drift-gillnet permits by Jan. 31, 2024. This is a critical win for marine wildlife, including the California gray whale, as this change encourages fishermen to transition to cleaner fishing gear, making the oceans a safer place for their inhabitants.
Gray Whale Gin and Oceana are now fighting for legislation to be passed that will ban drift gillnets on a federal level. Once the federal bill passes Congress and is signed into law, large-scale drift gillnets will be permanently phased out nationwide.
Connect With Jan & Marsh!
The Founders Of Gray Whale Gin Talk Cocktail Recipes, Inspiration and Climate Conservation
Jan and Marsh Mokhtari founded Gray Whale Gin in 2016 on the simple notion that a spirit can bring people together for good times, and while together, do some good in the world.
While on a camping trip in Big Sur, Calif., founders Marsh and Jan Mokhtari gazed across the turquoise ocean to admire the beauty of the California coast and spotted a gray whale and her calf on their northern migration. At that very moment, the idea for Gray Whale Gin was born.
The result is a unique gin that tastes like California in a glass. It is perfected with six sustainably sourced botanicals – juniper, kombu, almonds, lime, fir, and mint – from along the 12,000-mile path of the California Gray Whale, the longest annual migration known to mankind. The result is a singular profile that is both bold and mixable, a consciously crafted addition to any cocktail. You can feel good about your choice of Gray Whale Gin.
Every bottle supports coastal conservation, through contributions to Oceana and 1% for the Planet. Critics have taken notice, with Gray Whale Gin scoring Double Gold at the San Diego Wine & Spirits Competition and Gold at San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and recently, readers of USA Today named Gray Whale Gin a top three craft gin distiller. Gray Whale Gin is vegan, gluten-free, and 86-proof with an ABV of 43%. It is seven times distilled; the ultra-clean corn base is the ideal canvas for the botanicals to shine. With every sip, the drinkers can taste their way along the Pacific Coastline.
We talked with Jan & Marsh about cocktail recipes, inspiration, and climate conservation, all while having a good time.
How did you both meet?
Jan: We met at a bar in Chicago. I was living there at the time; Marsh was in town on a four-day vacation from London. We met on Marsh’s first night in Chicago and spent the next three days together.
Marsh: I saw a bunch of frat guys bugging her and I walked right up to them and said, “She’s with me.”
Jan: I saw him coming and thought, “That man is very handsome.” And then he spoke with his English accent and it was all over. Both of our parents, who have been happily married for more than 95 years combined, also met in a bar, so we think it’s good luck.
Gray Whale Gin is inspired by the majestic gray whale. Can you share how the idea was first formed and its connection to the creation of handcrafted gin?
We found Gray Whale Gin in 2016 on the simple notion that a spirit can bring people together for good times, and while together do some good in the world. We were on a camping trip in Big Sur, California, at a place called McWay Falls. While there, we saw a gray whale and her calf making their annual 12,000-mile journey, the longest migration known to mankind.
We were having deep conversations, the type that happens only when you’re on vacation, away from your nine-to-five jobs, and the gravitational pull of making money goes out the window.
Jan is an award-winning creative director who has created campaigns and content for some of the world’s largest brands. Marsh is a food and adventure show host who has appeared on the Food Network, National Geographic, and Travel Channel. Despite our success, we felt something was missing. We asked ourselves,
“Are we spending our time and talents on this planet to make a positive impact and create a meaningful legacy to leave our two daughters?”
We decided then and there to create a product we could be proud of that would actively give back to ocean conservation and this majestic animal.
The conversation quickly came around to food and drink, as we are both very passionate foodies who love gin. Like vodka, gin starts off as a neutral spirit. However, there are distinct differences between the two. Gin is made by distilling juniper berries and other botanicals with a neutral spirit. This gives gin its distinctive herbal notes. While incredibly popular in Europe, gin is relatively underdeveloped in the United States. Our idea was to take gin and give it a decidedly American — and, more specifically, Californian — flavor by using botanicals found along the Pacific coast. The result is a singular profile that is both bold and mixable, a consciously crafted addition to any cocktail. With every sip of Gray Whale Gin, you can truly taste your way down the Pacific coastline, along the migration path of the gray whale!
What separates Gray Whale Gin from other gin brands in the market?
Apart from the overall mission, which is to protect and preserve the world’s oceans, our gin itself has a rather unique flavor profile. You’ll be surprised by how sippable our Gray Whale is—neat. That’s because Gray Whale Gin has a sense of place. It’s a celebration of the whales that migrate up and down the California coast, and consequently, you can taste your way along the Pacific coast. The six botanicals listed on the front of our bottle all come together in unison to create an exceptionally well-balanced gin. It masterfully dances the line of being bitter, sweet, salty, and earthy all at the same time. Our delicate, creamy finish and umami backbone come from our Capay Valley almonds and our Mendocino sea kelp, respectively.
You see, gin doesn’t have to be an overpowering “pine-needle punch” or a “Christmas tree in a glass.” Don’t get me wrong, our main flavor profile is juniper, but our juniper berries come from Big Sur. They have more of a cedar component as opposed to the familiar piney flavor that so many people associate with gin. We have a lot of gin lovers who tell us they really love Gray Whale Gin, but what we get a kick out of is when people tell us, “I don’t like gin, but I love Gray Whale.”
How long is the process of gin distillation, and why is it important?
Gray Whale Gin’s distillation process takes two days per batch. To make Gray Whale Gin, we add Mendocino sea kelp, Central Valley almonds, Big Sur juniper, and Santa Cruz mint to the base spirit, six-times-distilled corn, in the pot. The fresh fir needles from Sonoma and hand-zested citrus from Temecula are held in the distillation path, hovering above the base spirit. As the alcohol vapors rise, they delicately heat the citrus and fir, releasing those essential oils into the liquid. These wonderful flavors continue across the lyne arm, then cool and condense.
Gray Whale Gin rests for 48 hours before proofing down and bottling. This attenuation process is important because, after such a volatile process, the gin needs time to rest. This directly contributes to the wonderfully balanced flavor and mouthfeel of Gray Whale Gin.
What about the journey of creating Gray Whale Gin surprised you?
In the beginning, we heard a lot of people doubting our chances of success, because neither of us had experience in the spirits business. That led us to take big swings, to try even harder. In a nutshell, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. So we plowed on and developed a gin using botanicals that weren’t typically used in gins before. The result was a truly unique flavor that had a sense of place, a purpose, from two very passionate founders.
One of our biggest challenges was knowing when to ask for help. As an entrepreneur, you’re very comfortable wearing many hats and exercising muscles and skills you didn’t even know you had. Sometimes you become too comfortable taking on everything, and when you don’t have the experience and expertise in a certain area, you can quickly spiral, trying to do it all on your own.
That takes precious time and energy away from what you really need to focus on, which is to get your business off the ground. Our advice now is simple:
Figure out what you’re good at and outsource everything else. In other words, use your superpower as much as you can.
How do you prefer receiving feedback?
We prefer constructive and collaborative feedback, preferably shared while sipping a gin cocktail and overlooking the ocean.
The Fox Magazine is all about inspiration. What or who inspires you the most?
Purpose-driven brands like Patagonia have a proven track record of creating meaningful value for their customers with high-quality products that also do some good in the world.
What does success mean to you? What are your rules for success?
Throughout this journey, we have discovered a new definition of success: not just money, but money complemented by meaning. If you look at us on paper, it looks like we’ve had great professional success; we started reflecting on what success actually meant to us, and what our personal purpose is in addition to our professional world.
We wanted to leave a successful legacy behind, go beyond creative accomplishments and see how we can use our talents in service of something, in ways that benefit our family, our community, and our planet.
Any tips for young entrepreneurs interested in starting their own distilled spirits or lifestyle brand?
-
Remember it doesn’t happen overnight. A business’ success journey is won through many small, meaningful steps, not a few big leaps.
-
Write down your company mission and start every day with the simple act of reading that intention. Ours is on a wall in our office: “Protecting and preserving the world’s oceans one glass at a time.” It will help you see the forest through the trees.
-
Always be in beta. When your mindset is in beta, meaning you embrace change every day, you will anticipate change, and even celebrate change. You will be ready to learn from your failures, pivot to new solutions, and grow faster and smarter.
-
Consider how your business can be purpose-driven to be a force for good in the world. By pretty much every measure of brand success, consumers are more likely to try, stay loyal to, pay more for, and advocate for companies that genuinely do good. This means doing good is good for business.
Can you share a favorite Gray Whale Gin cocktail recipe?
THE WHALE HELLO THERE
+ 2 oz. Gray Whale Gin
+ ½ oz. fresh lime juice
+ ½ oz. fresh lemon juice
+ ½ oz. agave syrup
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour in the gin, lime juice, lemon juice, and agave syrup. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass, or strain over a rocks glass filled with ice, depending on preference. Garnish with a lemon twist and serve immediately.
What are you looking forward to next for Gray Whale Gin?
One of our biggest accomplishments as business owners is affecting real legislative change that protects the gray whales and helps to make the oceans a safer place for large marine animals. We didn’t just want to make a monetary donation to Oceana; we wanted to put Gray Whale Gin’s purpose into practice. Marsh and I met with Oceana scientists to identify one of the biggest threats to gray whales and asked how we could help in addition to funding. The threat was drift-gillnet fishing, sometimes referred to as “walls of death,” and our background in the storytelling and entertainment worlds would help lead to a solution.
We created a compelling 60-second film to create awareness about the threat, introduce Oceana’s proposed solution, and raise funds to help implement it. The spot assisted in raising more than $1 million to match funds from the state of California, which in turn, triggered California’s four-year phase-out period for all remaining drift-gillnet permits by Jan. 31, 2024. This is a critical win for marine wildlife, including the California gray whale, as this change encourages fishermen to transition to cleaner fishing gear, making the oceans a safer place for their inhabitants.
Gray Whale Gin and Oceana are now fighting for legislation to be passed that will ban drift gillnets on a federal level. Once the federal bill passes Congress and is signed into law, large-scale drift gillnets will be permanently phased out nationwide.
Connect With Jan & Marsh!
