Stephen Kroener
“Hard Spirits from Wine Country”
In the heart of California’s Central Coast where grapevines often meet oak barrels, Stephen James Kroener has quietly shaped a distinctive path in American craft spirits. As the founder and Master Distiller of San Luis Obispo’s KROBĀR Craft Distillery, Kroener brings decades of experience in the alcohol business to his work with bourbon and whiskey, an endeavor that blends family legacy, technical skill, and a long-term vision for craft distillation. Kroener grew up with spirits in his blood, albeit indirectly. He was born on September 22, 1973, and his family’s history includes tales of his grandparents working as moonshiners and bootleggers in Alabama, a heritage that would later inform Kroener’s own approach to whiskey production.
However, long before KROBĀR existed, Kroener himself amassed three decades of experience in the alcohol business in both winemaking and distillation. He studied at Colorado State University and later entered the industry with roles that allowed him to refine his technical understanding of fermentation, spirits chemistry, and production logistics. Kroener’s professional profile includes leadership roles at wineries prior to founding his own distillery; he worked with Silver Horse Winery as an owner, winemaker, and marketer, experience that grounded him in small-batch production and barrel aging long before whiskey became his primary craft.
The decade leading up to KROBĀR’s creation saw Kroener building his craft in several facets of the beverages world. That breadth of experience, from viticulture and winemaking to consulting and production management, gave him a robust foundation when it came time to make his own spirits. Soon, Kroener saw both a challenge and an opportunity. Rather than following the dominant wine narrative, he aimed to expand the region’s spirit-making traditions, focusing on small-batch, handcrafted whiskey and bourbon that could stand alongside the area’s finest wines in complexity and quality.
In 2012, alongside business partner Joe Barton, Kroener launched KROBĀR Craft Distillery with a vision rooted in a blend of heritage and modern technique. The name “KROBĀR” itself is a portmanteau referencing Kroener’s surname and Barton’s (KRO + BAR), is emblematic of the partners’ shared ethos of collaboration and craft. Under Kroener’s leadership, KROBĀR has embraced a philosophy that honors time-tested methods while allowing room for experimentation. This philosophy spans whiskey mash bills designed to bring out rich grain flavors, careful fermentation practices, and aging strategies that draw from Kroener’s extensive background in barrel science.
While KROBĀR produces a range of spirits, the distillery’s most notable acclaim has come from bourbon and whiskey. Kroener’s whiskey program focuses on demonstrating what a boutique, hands-on producer can accomplish with careful selection of grains, long aging, and rigorous attention to distillation cuts. One of the distillery’s standout achievements came when its Cask Strength Bourbon was prominently featured in Blind Barrels’ December 2022 line-up. In that blind tasting, multiple Krobar samples were selected out of a field of 60, a testament to the consistency and quality Kroener seeks in every batch. This blind choice was not a fluke; it reflected a broader recognition in the craft whiskey world that small producers with a true focus on technique can produce spirits that compete with, or even surpass, larger brands. Kroener’s bourbon is characterized by rich vanilla, caramel, and oak interplay, flavors enhanced by his belief in patience during maturation and precision in distillation. The distillery’s location in Paso Robles, an area known more for its wine, also enabled Kroener to draw on local grain sources and cooperages, aligning with a broader trend in American craft spirits. This setting emphasizes regional identity and terroir, an approach he honed during his previous years spent with fruit-based spirits.
In the craft distilling community, Stephen Kroener is respected not just for his products but for his persistence and dedication to the craft. His path from alcohol industry veteran to hands-on whiskey maker illustrates how deep experience in related fields can translate into excellence in spirits production. Meanwhile, KROBĀR distillery continues to operate with Kroener at the helm of whiskey and bourbon production, ensuring that every bottling reflects the discipline, heritage, and creativity he has cultivated over decades in the alcohol business.
Sources:
KROBĀR Craft Distillery official website/about us, www.krobardistillery.com/about-us
Blind Barrels, “Distillery Spotlight - Krobār Distillery, December 4, 2023, blindbarrels.com
San Luis Obispo Tribune, “SLO County’s whiskey boom…”, Sally Buffalo, September 19, 2018
Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee
