Mike Griffo
Michael S. “Mike” Griffo was born in January of 1977. While not much information has been published regarding Griffo’s childhood, as a young adult, he earned a doctorate in physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. It was there that Griffo also met Jenny Daly, the woman who later became his wife and business partner.
Once their university studies had concluded, Mike and Jenny moved to New York City to pursue their careers. Mike worked on Wall Street, while Jenny, who held a master’s degree in international development from Stanford University, developed professional experience in education and nonprofit work. Although the couple had established lucrative careers in New York, they eventually determined to return to the nature-centered, easygoing culture of Northern California. So they resigned their positions, returned to the West Coast, and settled in Petaluma, a Sonoma County city with a strong agricultural identity and a growing community of food, wine, beer, and spirits producers.
The idea of establishing a distillery had begun taking shape years earlier. In 2008, while Mike and Jenny were visiting Peay Vineyards on the Sonoma Coast, they discussed creating a related business of their own. Mike initially considered opening a winery, but Jenny recognized that his scientific training and his interest in whiskey and gin were particularly well-suited to distilling rather than wine. While still living in New York, Mike had begun studying the subject and conducting small-scale experiments in the confines of their small apartment kitchen.
Back in California, Mike and Jenny founded Griffo Distillery in Petaluma in 2013, although commercial operations and the public introduction of its spirits did not follow for two more years. Mike became its head distiller of the enterprise and principal creator of its spirits, while Jenny directed the company’s business, branding, community relations, and operations. At the center of the Petaluma facility was a custom Vendome copper pot still equipped with electronic sensors and ethernet-connected controls, who was soon christened “Betty.” The technology associated with Betty did not replace sensory judgment, but it gave Griffo detailed control over each production run and provided a consistent documented record of how the still was performing, ensuring consistency between batches.
Though whiskey had been part of Mike’s interest from the beginning, and became an increasingly important component of the distillery’s portfolio, Griffo entered the market in April 2015 with Scott Street Gin. Later, Griffo’s principal grain-derived spirit became Stony Point Whiskey, named for an area near Petaluma. Mike developed it from a mash containing 55 percent corn, 30 percent rye, and 15 percent barley. Because corn constituted more than half of the recipe, the spirit qualified as a bourbon-style mash bill, but the finished product was sold as American whiskey rather than bourbon. Barrel selection gave Stony Point another defining characteristic. Mike aged the whiskey in barrels incorporating both American and French oak, using the two woods to shape the relationship between grain, spice, sweetness, and oak. Stony Point was bottled at 94 proof.
Griffo later expanded its grain-spirit work with his Stout Barreled Whiskey, using a bourbon-style mash bill with roasted malts, combining corn sweetness with malty earthiness. Then, the whiskey was sent for stout-barrel maturation, gaining the whiskey a nutty, chocolate-like influence that is associated with dark beer. Bottled at 90 proof, that expression demonstrated Mike’s willingness to treat grain choice, malt roasting, fermentation, distillation, and barrel treatment as linked parts of a single flavor system. Griffo also offered White Whiskey made with organic yellow corn and rye from a high-rye bourbon mash bill, providing a more direct presentation of the grain-derived spirit before prolonged maturation.
The success of Griffo distillery resulted in a major ownership change in 2023, when MGD Acquisition, LLC, an investor group formed to expand the distillery’s production and national distribution, purchased a majority interest in the enterprise. Mike and Jenny retained minority ownership positions, and the transaction announcement stated that both founders would continue with the company in specialized roles. Mike remained focused on the spirits themselves and on developing new expressions, preserving continuity between the company’s original scientific approach and its plans for wider distribution.
Michael Griffo’s whiskey work stands apart because it developed directly from the same disciplined outlook that had guided his earlier education and career. Stony Point Whiskey joined organic corn, rye, and barley with computer-monitored pot distillation and the combined influence of American and French oak. The resulting whiskey was neither an incidental addition to a gin-centered distillery nor an attempt to imitate Kentucky production. It remains a Sonoma County grain whiskey constructed around local production, carefully measured distillation, a high-rye corn recipe, and Michael Griffo’s conviction that scientific precision could serve—not diminish—the craft of making spirits.
Sources:
Sonoma Magazine, “Griffo Distillery: Sonoma-Style Spirits in Petaluma,” Sonoma Magazine Staff, November 17, 2015, sonomamag.com
Sonoma County Tourism, “Sonoma County Distillers, Jenny and Mike Griffo, of Griffo Distillery in Petaluma,” author not given, date not given, sonomacounty.com
Patch, “Sonoma Co.’s Griffo Distillery Breaking Through the Spirits Biz,” author not given, September 2, 2015, patch.com
Griffo Distillery official website, griffodistillery.com
The Spirits Business, “Equity Group Buys Majority Stake in Griffo Distillery”, November 9, 2023, thespiritsbusiness.com
Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee
