Whisky For Altadena
Earlier this week, I drove over to Altadena to give my friend Brian Gardner a bottle of the new MacSchwarzenegger single malt—a project between Alexander Murray and the Schwarzenegger Institute that I’ve been working on for the last two years. Arnold’s team had commissioned a certain number of bottles to be given as gifts to friends of the institute, but we had intended for a small amount of cases to hit the general market as a way to raise funds for various philanthropic efforts.
However, after the fires ravaged Los Angeles this past January, we knew the project was about to take on an entirely different goal. Working with Mission Wine & Spirits to help donate the profits, we carved out the majority of the inventory and coordinated to start raising funds for the PEF Eaton Fire fund immediately. I met Brian in the driveway of what used to be his house and we hugged. Having spent many an evening in his backyard, drinking whiskey at his incredibly-curated Hye West Saloon, it was difficult to take in.
I met Brian during the two years I worked in Altadena at the Mission location on Washington, when I exited every morning onto Hill and drove north towards the mountains. I ate breakfast at Foxy’s, lunch at Connal’s, and headed down to the Old Timer for afterwork drinks on many an occasion. While I lived (and continue to live) in Burbank, I spent more time in Altadena from 2020 - 2022, especially heading over to Brian’s house to drink whiskey in the saloon.
Not long after I started, Brian and I got the idea to take the empty Bourbon barrels given to Mission by Kentucky distilleries and refill them with our own bottles. While I casually filled my cask over the next few years, Brian’s creativity, coupled with his buoyant personality, took over social media. He began filming himself (along with many of his friends) dumping fresh bottles of Bourbon into his “infinity barrel” and posting them on TikTok. It soon went viral and Brian’s thematic home bar became a whiskey sensation, taking on an entire life of its own. One time, I got Jose Canseco to troll Brian on social media about it as part of a gag.
Today, the entrance to the Hye West Saloon through Brian’s backyard looks like this. Driving down Altadena Drive and looking at the destruction, the blown-out homes and standing brick chimneys look more like the aftermath of a war than a fire. The sky was beautiful, the mountains were majestic as always, but there was nothing left of Brian’s saloon or his gigantic collection of spirits.
We reminisced for a few minutes, then embraced once again before going our separate ways. While I’m confident Brian and his family will ultimately build back stronger, many residents of Altadena are still in need of serious help. The PEF fund gives resources directly to local families affected by the Eaton fire and donating is—from what I’ve experienced thus far—the fastest way to help people on the ground, immediately.
If you purchase a bottle of the new MacSchwarzenegger Austrian Oak single malt whisky, we will donate $50 to the PEF fund from each bottle sold. If we can sell all the available MacSchwarzenegger bottles in this manner, we can raise tens of thousands of dollars to help local Altadena families. As Arnold himself often proclaims, “be useful.”
I’m trying to be as useful as I can to my friends in Altadena today.
-David Driscoll