Some Louisiana spirits start in a family recipe book. Sugarfield Spirits started on a vacation.

On a 2011 trip to Oregon, Thomas Soltau fell for a small family distillery that bottled the flavors of Pacific Northwest fruit, and he came home wondering what the same idea could do with Southern fruit. By day he was working as a neonatologist in Baton Rouge. At night, he started making liqueurs, leaning on his background in medicine and chemistry to test thousands of flavor combinations.

By 2016 the hobby was turning into a business, and Sugarfield worked through the LSU business incubator. Soltau bought land in Gonzales in 2018, the stills were running by October 2019, and the distillery held its grand opening on Jan. 4, 2020. A winery and cidery joined the property in 2022.

What's in the bottle

Sugarfield leans hard on Louisiana ingredients, using cane, sugar and molasses sourced from Assumption Parish. The lineup includes vodka, gin, bourbon, a spiced rum and an aged rum blended from nine barrels, plus an experimental Belle Rose Cane Juice Rum made from cane harvested in Belle Rose.

The liqueurs are where local produce really shows up: Ponchatoula strawberries, peaches from Waterproof and honey the team helped harvest with a beekeeper friend. This time of year, look for the Satsuma Liqueur, built on white rum and sold in the tasting room, along with a Meyer lemon liqueur in a limoncello style. Sugarfield is also the official vodka of LSU Athletics, which makes it an easy pick for a game-day bar cart.

Plan a visit

Stop in for a cocktail or a bottle, or ask for a $15 tasting of six spirits, available on request. Guided distillery tours can be requested online in afternoon time slots, and the team will call to confirm. Wine blends and ciders made with ingredients like apples, honey and blueberries are poured on site, too.

Sugarfield Spirits is at 481 W. Eastbank St. in Gonzales and is open Wednesday through Friday from 3 to 9 p.m., Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Sugarfield Spirits Co.