The new entry from Storyhouse Spirits is a nod to La Jolla’s Torrey pine, made with the needles of its namesake tree and other coastal flavors.

Ubiquitous only in La Jolla, Del Mar and on a small island off the coast of Santa Barbara, the Torrey pine tree is North America’s rarest, with an estimated 3,000 or fewer remaining. The tree is celebrated at places like the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and Coast Walk Trail, used in local company logos and as school mascots. Now there’s a new way to honor the La Jolla treasure: Torrey Pines Gin.

Torrey Pines Gin is the new offering from San Diego distillery Storyhouse Spirits, an “earthy, forest-forward expression” according to Storyhouse founder and head distiller Matt “Woody” Kidd.

Torrey pine needles deepen the gin, Kidd said, balanced by toasted pine nuts and herbal chaparral notes of citrus zest and sea salt air.

Torrey Pines Gin launched Aug 20, offered now through distributors and restaurants with retail availability coming soon.

A gin begins

Photo courtesy of Storyhouse Spirits

The seed for Torrey Pines Gin began growing in June 2024, while Kidd and his family, Del Mar residents, were vacationing in Nice, France. After a hike, they sat on a bench under a large pine tree whose needles had fallen all over the ground.

“One of my kiddos … came over with a handful of the needles, and he says, ‘Can you make gin out of this?’”

After a few minutes, Kidd’s son returned and yelled ‘Can we make it out of the Torrey pines in our backyard?’”

Kidd thought his son “might be on to something there,” he said.

Upon returning home, Kidd called an arborist friend and asked for new clippings of Torrey pine trees that would otherwise go into the chipper.

“I went back down to my lab [at] Storyhouse, and we started tinkering with it and soaking or macerating the different parts” to gauge the potential gin. 

“It absolutely just threw us how good it was, right out of the gate,” Kidd said, adding he spent the rest of the year fully developing and crafting Torrey Pines gin to prepare it for bottling. 

Gin and science?

Along the way, Kidd learned some rare facts about the rare tree, such as the Torrey pine is the only classified yellow pine with five needles in the a bundle. (White pines all have bundles of five; yellow pines have bundles of two or three.)

Kidd also discovered that because the Torrey pine grows on sandy, arid bluffs, its needles are longer than average and nearly triangular in shape.

A cross section of the needle revealed a three-sided shape with “one of the sides being fluted, meaning being concave.,” he said.”Those needles are structured that way to capture the mist out of the coastal air,” with the tree condensing the droplets and releasing them to the ground to water itself.

Pouring now

Storyhouse Spirits is cohosting a few local release parties to celebrate its Torrey Pines Gin; George’s at the Cove was first with a tasting party Aug 22.

Other La Jolla spots, including Duke’s La Jolla, and a few in Del Mar, will follow throughout August, September and into October, as well as more eateries closer to Storyhouse’s Downtown location.