RANCHO CORDOVA — A new distillery in the Sacramento area is one of its kind in the Golden State.
Binh Dao gave me a tour of his new Rancho Cordova business, Dao Distillery, which produces rượu đế, a premium Vietnamese rice liquor. The distillery is the first of its kind in California, and the second in the U.S.
“[Rượu đế is] very similar to whiskey. We start out with the rice. Cook the rice, mash it, then ferment it and then distill it,” Dao said. “So in a way, [it is] similar to making saké.”
Dao is a Sacramento City College chemistry professor.
“Honestly, I enjoy a good liquor, and I like to do experiments with various things and taste new products,” Dao said. “That’s always been one of my passions.”
It’s a passion that is a byproduct of his perserverence. Dao’s family is one of the last so-called “boat people” who fled Vietnam in 1991 as political refugees: his parents and six boys.
“The youngest was a few months old and the trip took us 2.5 weeks in the ocean,” Dao said. “We were so lucky to have actually survived.”