Timo and Ashby Marshall, a husband and wife who had worked in environmental nonprofits, founded Spirit Works in Sebastopol in 2012. They committed to grain-to-glass production, milling, mashing, fermenting and distilling their whiskey from California organic red winter wheat. The Straight Wheat Whiskey, aged at least four years in full-size charred American oak, is the house whiskey, alongside a rye and a four-grain bourbon. In January 2024 Spirit Works closed its Sebastopol tasting room at The Barlow and moved production elsewhere in Sonoma County.