There’s a detail-oriented confidence to Sara Sergent, a dedication to being the best and a trait that can’t be taught. It’s served her her whole life, from training as a runner for the U.S. cross country team in Ogden to losing everything in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Now this mental fortitude has proved essential as she has run Alpine Distilling along with her husband Rob.
This power couple have made their home in Park City for the past 15 years, founding Alpine Distilling in 2016. Rob, with a family heritage rooted in Kentucky whiskeys, crafts their darker spirits, while Sara plays with the light spirits — their gin, vodka and liqueurs.
But she’s not merely playing: Sergent is now the most decorated botanical distiller in the country. Hers is the official gin of Rolls Royce and Capital One, and she’s the gin maker for the St. Regis hotel line and for The Lodge at Blue Sky, Auberge Resorts Collection. Most recently, she was the second woman from the U.S. to be inducted into The Gin Guild, a London-based group committed to the development of the juniper-prevalent spirit.
“The Gin Guild started back in the early 1400s, and to date, there are only 500 members that have existed,” she said. “I was nominated and then brought in as a Warden Rectifier. The Warden Rectifier is their highest ranking because I’m a distiller. I speak to botanical spirits, I educate on botanical spirits (and) I promote responsible resources and sustainability in gin making.”
While recognized as an award-winning gin distiller, it’s botanicals in general — any plant or plant part valued for medicinal, flavor and scent properties — that really capture Sergent’s heart.
“I love botanicals, and so I speak in botanical gardens around the world and work with people on different farms and in different states and how you can pull the best from what fruits, vegetables and different botanicals are available,” she said.
With a vast knowledge of botanicals, the other element of Sergent’s craft involves a mastery of the distilling process, in which she joins a rich history of alchemists.
“Distilling in general has existed since the dawn of time,” she said. “Either for different medicinal purposes or just to make people feel good, we use distilling. … Anything that has a carbohydrate can be distilled — doesn’t mean that it should be, but it can be.”
For Sergent, who received a diploma in gin after studying in Scotland and who has committed to learning as much as possible relating to her craft, the science of distilling is a deep well.
“Distillates: heads, hearts, tails. Heads is the beginning of the distillate process, and you use that in things like Febreeze: It smells really great, doesn’t taste so good. And then the hearts: It’s the sweet part, it’s what you want. And then the tails: The aroma gets a little bit more like damp grass or wet dog, but the taste is really nice, but you don’t want to drink it,” she said.
When extracting tastes or aromas through this process, a distiller checks results at different times in the process to find the perfect blend for the desired product. And their tool? A still.
“Each of our (big) stills are named for the daughters we never had because we only have boys,” Sergent said with a laugh, pointing out “Olivia” and “Alafair.”
“(Olivia) is very state-of-the-art. It’s steam driven. She’s a fantastic piece of art and obviously produces award-winning spirits and gin (in) particular. So, very proud of that,” she said.
This still is designed for vapor extraction, which less than two percent of distilleries use, said Sergent.
“The botanicals are suspended, and then alcohol in its vapor form will pass through, and then it delicately pulls what I want from the botanicals,” she said. “So you can have a lot of fun with it.”
Aside from a love for botanicals, Sergent’s love for gin originates in her fond memories of time spent with her grandmother on the back porch.
“My grandmother enjoyed gin, and she was an amazing human being and loved just having a great conversation with a simple gin and tonic,” she said.
Thanks to a custom gin-making experience offered at their Main Street lounge, Sergent has made more gins than any other distiller: 2,437 and counting. But one in particular has drawn international attention: the Alpine Elevated Gin.
“Our Alpine Elevated Gin is a non-floral roots, fruits and berries. It is the highest decorated botanical spirit in the country, which is lovely,” said Sergent. “It won gin of the year in London, was served at the Queen’s Jubilee before her passing. … When someone tries our gin, they can taste that ginger, they can taste the cardamom, they can taste the other botanicals in a flow and they can enjoy it nice and neat over ice or they can have it in a cocktail.”
Part of the success in creating gins and botanical liqueurs comes from sourcing the best ingredients, Sergent said, just as important as a chef creating a menu. She takes into account how the botanicals are grown based on the climate, soil and atmosphere, like choosing juniper from Croatia for a larger, softer berry, and ginger from Guatemala, ideal due to low arsenic levels in the soil.
“I really enjoy that journey on balancing flavors and what can be achieved,” she said. “My goal is, if I’m going to have a botanical spirit, I want to make it a good one. I want to elevate time with friends and family and put forth a beautiful and really great spirit that doesn’t have to be just doused with sugar to be palatable.”
The Alpine Distilling Social Aid & Pleasure Club is one of the best places to experience the work of the Sergents, designed as “the extension of our living room” and a home for locals, she said.
Open for a spontaneous drink or available for events from “celebration of life’s to weddings, to proposals, to yoga classes to dancing lessons and everything else in between,” the team is trained to guide guests to the right drink for the occasion.
“We like to take people on a journey wherever they may be on their spirits journey,” Sergent said. “They’re going to ask you wherever you come from. Are you coming from a big hike? Are you coming from a steak dinner? So all these things play into what kind of cocktail may work best for your evening.”
A diagram on the menu presents four quadrants for selecting a cocktail: simple, sweet, complex and dry. Red dots show where each drink lands to guide guests toward the right drink for the night.
The “Elevated Gin & Tonic” sits between simple and dry, mixing tonic water, their Elevated Gin and Sergent’s Preserve Liqueur with dried botanicals like orange slices, raspberries and juniper berries. The “Last Word” is both dry and complex, featuring the AngeVert Liqueur, as well as the Elevated Gin and lime and garnished with a Maraschino cherry.
“(The) AngeVert Herbal Liqueur I’m very proud of,” said Sergent. “It just won Best in Show at the TAG Spirit Awards. It’s a 33-botanical herbal liqueur; she’s a beautiful green.”
Beyond the menu, the bar is equipped to make all kinds of drinks by request, like the iconically lilac-hued Aviation or a vodka-based Espresso Martini.
There is no food menu, but light bites are offered as pairings based on the drinks, said Sergent, such as treats like white gummy bears, dried apricots, corn nuts, freeze dried raspberries, bourbon-smoked nuts and an Alpine Distilling and Ritual chocolate collaboration bar.
Like many Park City businesses, Alpine Distilling works to be as green and local as possible. They have used botanicals from Copper Moose Farm and Summit Community Gardens, their drinks are inspired by iconic Park City experiences like the sun setting over the Swaner nature preserve or the feeling of skinning up Park City Mountain Resort in the winter, said Sergent.
Practices like providing spent grains for collection by Wasatch Recovery for fuel in Utah have earned them recognition like Recycle Utah’s 2023 Business of the Year and the Utah Green Business Award 2021 by Utah Business and Rocky Mountain Power.
“Nothing goes to waste,” said Sergent. “My footprint is small. I like to keep it that way.”
The Alpine Distilling Social Aid & Pleasure Club is open on Tuesday through Saturday from 3-10 p.m. and on Sunday from 2-7 p.m. and is located at 364 Main Street. Learn more about Alpine Distilling at alpinedistilling.com.
