The rapid rise of the California craft whiskey scene has so far mostly been dominated by young distilleries in and near San Francisco, including Alley 6, Spirit Works, Venus Spirits and Sonoma County Distilling. Looking south, towards Los Angeles, Greenbar was pretty much the only one there doing the whiskey thing. They’ve now been joined, however, by Pasadena-based Stark Spirits and its young Peated Whiskey.

The new Stark Spirits Peated Whiskey is one of the ever-increasing number of American single malt whiskies out there. It is part of the passion project of co-distillery owners Greg Stark and Karen Robinson-Stark. Together,…