In Real Life with Ilias Mastrogiannis -Craft Distiller and Drink Master

One of the aspects I enjoy most about my In Real Life interviews is the breadth and depth of passions Microsoft employees possess outside of their work lives. This week, we meet Ilias Mastrogiannis, a software engineer who runs a craft distillery with his wife.

While he started this distillery about five years ago, Ilias comes from a line of winemakers. He has fond memories of his dad’s wine-making hobby back home in Greece—stomping on grapes in bare feet, mixing and blending wine, the fermentation process. Incidentally, his dad’s hobby started when he inherited wine-making equipment from his father.

When his dad passed a few years ago, Ilias felt like the “baton” was passed to him to keep up three generations of tradition and maintain the joy of creating interesting spirits. But he didn’t know exactly how. One day, while taking a bus home from work (this is a theme with great ideas I’ve heard, by the way), Ilias was journaling as the rain tapped on the bus roof and the cars passed by outside its windows. His parents came into his thoughts. He remembered how, regardless of their difficulties, they built a house and managed to provide for both him and his brother to ensure they had everything they needed to be successful.

And on that bus, the idea for a family distillery was born.

California gets a lot of attention for grapes and wine making, but Washington State is right in there, producing the second-most volume of fermentable grapes in the United States. So, it makes perfect sense that the Mastrogiannis Distillery focuses on grape-based creations. From brandy to ouzo to wine, their aim is to develop unique small-batch spirits from grapes solely grown in Washington.

As a spirit master, I asked Ilias his favorite cocktail to make with brandy, and he supplied a twist on a classic: A brandy old-fashioned.

“The easiest is a brandy old fashioned. Think of it as an old fashioned, but with a brandy base. It’s just brandy, a little bit of sugar or simple syrup, some bitters and a cherry, over ice with that little orange peel. It's a beautiful, easy cocktail to make.”

And if you’d like to make it with Mastrogiannis Brandy, check out their website for a look in to their product line.

At the end of each interview, I ask my guests what they want their legacies to be—their gift to the world. Ilias told me he wants to teach his children that you can achieve what you really want in life.

“Regardless of the task at hand, if you put the love, creativity, and passion behind it, anything is possible. The Greek have a word for this, it’s called "Meraki," and it’s my motto for anything I do in life,” Ilias said. “There isn’t a clear definition in English, but Meraki defines the inner pride that all of us have regardless of race, color or where we came from when we achieve or drive towards a goal, knowing it’s our best work yet.”

Ilias, I can’t think of a more perfect mindset in service to yourself and your family. Thank you for giving us a glimpse into your craft and energetic approach that’s distilled in everything you do.  

If you’d like to learn more about wine and spirit making, Ilias hosts a podcast called “The Distillery Nation,” and for those in the Seattle area, he teaches a course at South Puget Sound Community College. You can follow his family’s distillery on social.

Thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you back here soon for another installment of In Real Life.