Newly opened Stone Groove Stillhouse says it’s not only Anaheim’s first modern distillery; it is also the first to make distilled spirits with music in the mix.
Co-owners Jeff and Christa Duggan, local founders also responsible for Costa Mesa’s Portola Coffee Roasters in 2011, opened Stone Groove in July at the MAKE Building neighboring the Anaheim Packing House food hall.
Their concept is adding a second step to the distilling and aging process of making spirits — such as the maturation method of creating whiskey in wooden barrels — by using calibrated music audio to influence extraction and enhance the flavor, color and aroma of the spirit.
“A lot of my chemistry came into play when I was studying beverages,” said Jeff Duggan, who studied both chemistry and computer science in college.
So far, the Duggans have created a Blues Bourbon Whiskey, a Country Bourbon Whiskey, a Classic Rock Rye Whiskey and a Jazz Fusion Single Malt Whiskey.
To develop the different flavor profiles, the spirits are exposed to sound waves from different genres of music which they say uniquely agitates the spirit—through vibration, frequency and resonance of the music playing.
This process affects the extraction of compounds in the wood and the chemical reactions during the maturation period, with results influenced by each genre’s profile of high to low audio frequencies.
The couple has built a system for the “sound energy transfer” process, which is currently patent pending. They’re also interested in working with a university to study the science of their system.
Duggan said he dove into distilling spirits after brewing coffee at Portola, which led him to combine distilled coffee and alcohol into another concept known as Theorem by Portola in 2013. He was also making wine in the meantime, which taught him about fermentation.
“I don’t do anything casual. I’m obsessive in nature,” he told the Business Journal, with a laugh.
Similar to bringing coffee grounds and water together, “whiskey comes out of the still clear, and it’s not whiskey until it touches its solid, which is the wood barrel,” Duggan said. “For me, it was learning about how people manage barrels and how they rotate them. They roll them back and forth” to homogenize the liquid.
“Then it got me thinking: how can I influence the extraction process?”—which is when Duggan added music as an aging factor.
All the spirits are made on-site at the Anaheim distillery and are also used in the pub’s cocktails, created by Bar Director Matt Fitzgerald. Stone Groove also has a retail program where consumers can purchase bottled house-made spirits.
“I knew that if I was creating a product, it had to have a retail component,” Duggan said.
The plan is to use a few different genres for each spirit. A Beethoven Moonlight Sonata Single Malt Whiskey and a Hip Hop Rye Whiskey are coming up next.
Stone Groove, named after ‘70s slang, was conceived in 2016 and construction on the distillery pub started in late 2023. Jeff Duggan worked with designer Piper Skillman to curate proper sound systems and incorporate acoustic features such as cork-heavy flooring and PET felt so guests can also audibly enjoy music from their seats. The kitchen is helmed by Executive Chef Jessica Luevano.
