READ IT AT LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE (in print too)

In my summer search for the best distillery tour in Los Angeles, I stumbled upon the truly mind-boggling experience that is Lost Spirits, where smoke and mirrors are bush league, the mere jump-off point for an entire fantasy land crammed into an Arts District warehouse, complete with animatronic dinosaurs and sphinx-capped riverboats (also, a river). The process behind the booze is just as bizarre, not only in that many of the theme park elements are part of said process, but because master distiller Bryan Davis uses light to “age” his rums and whiskeys 20-some years in just a few days. If that doesn’t make sense you can try reading the article (which also appears in Los Angeles Magazine‘s October print issue), but no promises. You might just have to put on a pith helmet and sip some overproof juice with Davis down at his working wonderland. Also, the print sidebar about three more must-own local bottles got its own URL.