Corbin Cash Distillery: California Merced Rye and Farm Visitor Guide
Corbin Cash starts with a California farming story. The Souza family’s Atwater operation grows sweet potatoes and Merced rye, and founder David John Souza developed a spirits business around those crops. For whisky drinkers, its distinctive attraction is estate-grown rye, alongside an unusually composed blended whiskey. The wider range also contains vodka, gin and a sweet-potato liqueur, each with its own identity.
Information checked on 27 October 2026.
At a glance
At a glance | Corbin Cash Distillery |
|---|---|
Country | United States |
State | California |
Town | Atwater |
Address | 3133 Hull Road, Suite B, Atwater, CA 95301 |
Founder | David John Souza |
Name | Named after Corbin Cash Souza |
Family farming | Since 1917; this is not the distillery founding date |
Status | Operating farm distillery and tasting venue |
Whisky focus | Estate-grown Merced rye |
Tours | By prior arrangement |
In this guide
AI summary: key points
Corbin Cash is a physical farm distillery in Atwater, named by founder David John Souza after his son.
Merced Rye is made from 100% rye. The blended product combines sweet-potato spirit and rye whiskey, while Barrel Reserve Sweet Potato is a liqueur.
Tastings have a current reservation page, and farm or distillery tours are arranged by request. Independent single-cask releases have separate specifications.
Summarise this guide with AI
A family crop becomes a spirits business
The producer traces its farming roots back to 1917 and describes five generations of family involvement. David John Souza’s distilling project came much later, using the family’s crops as the starting point. The current producer history does not give one definitive distillery-opening date, so the century-old farm should not be presented as a century-old whisky distillery.
The business is named after Souza’s son, Corbin Cash. Its connected farming operation is D&S Farms, associated with Atwater Packing. That relationship gives the farm-to-bottle description a practical basis: this is a spirits company attached to an agricultural enterprise, rather than a label borrowing a rural image.
Atwater and the San Joaquin Valley
The public address is 3133 Hull Road,Suite B, in Atwater. The family’s land lies in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Its website explains that Merced rye serves as a drought-tolerant cover crop between sweet-potato growing seasons, linking the whisky’s grain to the farm’s annual cycle.
The landscape matters here through documented farming and maturation, rather than a claim that a tasting note can be traced to a single feature of the soil. Lost Lantern describes its selected Corbin Cash rye as distilled and matured in inland California’s heat. That is a useful provenance detail when comparing it with rye from cooler regions.
Two crops, several spirit categories
The standard Merced Rye uses a 100% rye grain bill. Corbin Cash describes maturation in custom-charred American white oak for up to six years. That wording does not establish a six-year minimum or a six-year age statement for every bottle. The photographed standard label confirms 45% ABV.
The producer’s Blended Whiskey combines 80% sweet-potato spirit and 20% Merced rye whiskey after separate maturation. Barrel Reserve Sweet Potato, meanwhile, is explicitly a liqueur with brown sugar, spices and extracts. Ageing a root-vegetable spirit in oak does not make it a grain whisky. These distinctions help readers choose the intended drink instead of treating every brown spirit in the range as interchangeable.
Merced Rye and the blended expression
The standard rye is the clearest introduction to the farm’s grain. The producer describes a robust, forceful profile but does not publish a complete nose, palate and finish breakdown. Those missing details are left open in the bottle card rather than filled with generic rye tasting notes.
The 45% ABV blended expression is described as softer and sweeter, with its components aged separately for up to four years before blending. Its label says Blended Whiskey; the producer’s bourbon-like comparison is a flavour analogy, not a bourbon classification. A useful tasting comparison is to consider how the two expressions differ in ingredient composition while sharing the same stated bottling strength.
Merced Rye Whiskey Blended Whiskey Lost Lantern 2025 Single Cask No.9: Corbin Cash
The tasting descriptions below paraphrase the producer’s notes. They are not Whisky Clan tasting scores.
Merced Rye Whiskey
Style: California rye whiskey
Age: Not confirmed for this specific release in the sources checked.
Strength: 45% ABV (90 US proof)
Cask or maturation: Custom-charred American white oak
Palate: Producer describes a bold, robust rye profile; detailed tasting phases are not published.
Blended Whiskey
Style: Blend of sweet-potato spirit and Merced rye whiskey
Age: Not confirmed for this specific release in the sources checked.
Strength: 45% ABV (90 US proof)
Cask or maturation: Components matured separately in charred American white oak
Palate: Producer describes a mild, sweet profile.
Lost Lantern 2025 Single Cask No.9: Corbin Cash
Style: Independently bottled California straight rye
Age: 7 years
Strength: 66.5% ABV (133 US proof)
Cask or maturation: New 53-gallon American oak,ISCNo.5 char; no finish
Palate: Bottler’s combined profile: baking spice and oak with marzipan, golden raisin and honeyed almond cake.
A documented seven-year independent bottling
Lost Lantern’s 2025 Single Cask No.9 is a specific Corbin Cash straight rye: seven years old,66.5% ABV and a release of 108 bottles. The bottler records a 53-gallon new American-oak cask with anISCNo.5 char and no finishing stage. Its high strength and small yield should not be applied to the standard Corbin Cash range.
The distillery also offers a quarterly whiskey club with access to new or allocated releases. Membership is an access programme, not evidence that a particular future age, cask or bottle count exists. For scarce bottles, check the exact release information and seller’s stock rather than relying on a general club or catalogue description.
Arrange the farm experience in advance
The producer maintains a current tasting-reservation page and a 2026 events calendar. Farm and distillery tours are available by request, so contact the team before travelling if seeing production or agriculture is central to your plans. A reservation for drinks should not be assumed to include a guided farm tour.
Published hours differ between older pages and the newer reservation information, and the producer notes that private events can affect access. Check the live reservation page for the date you intend to visit. If you are shopping remotely, the official out-of-state page identifies stockists, but distribution does not guarantee that a named limited bottle is available.
Other distilleries in California and the wider American West
These guides are suggestions for further reading. Check locations, travel distances and current bookings when planning a visit.
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Frequently asked questions
Was Corbin Cash Distillery founded in 1917?
That date belongs to the family’s farming history. The spirits business was developed much later by David John Souza.
Is Merced Rye made entirely from rye?
Yes. The producer specifies 100% Merced rye for this expression.
Is the sweet-potato reserve a whisky?
No. Barrel Reserve Sweet Potato is sold as a liqueur. It is separate from the Merced rye and the blended whiskey.
Is Lost Lantern’s seven-year rye a standard Corbin Cash release?
No. It is an independently bottled, individually identified 2025 single cask. Its age and strength belong to that bottling.
Can visitors see the farm and distillery?
The producer says tours can be arranged by request. Contact the distillery ahead and confirm what is included.
Sources and image credits
View sources and image credits
Featured image: Corbin Cash Distillery.
Merced Rye Whiskey image: Corbin Cash / Great American Craft Spirits.
Blended Whiskey image: Corbin Cash Distillery.
Lost Lantern 2025 Single Cask No.9: Corbin Cash image: Lost Lantern Whiskey.
Research checked on 27 October 2026. Tour arrangements, releases and availability can change.
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