Drift Distillery & Smokehouse is a true grain-to-bottle operation with a story that stretches back to a Kansas wheat farm settled in 1876. Owners Ryan and Lesli Winter source their wheat directly from the family farm outside Bison, Kansas, and the tasting room itself is lined with reclaimed wood and tin siding salvaged from a century-old barn on that same property. The result is a space that feels genuinely earned rather than designed. You'll find a lineup that spans vodka, gin, rum, wheat whiskey, and bourbon - all made in-house - along with cocktails built around those house spirits. The smokehouse side of the operation is no afterthought: the kitchen turns out Kansas City-style BBQ with a Southern California spin, from smoked brisket and candied pork belly to spare ribs and loaded tots. It's the kind of place that works for a weekday lunch or a Friday night out with live music on the patio. San Clemente is a surf town at heart, and Drift fits that vibe - unpretentious, laid-back, and a lot more interesting than it looks from the parking lot. The distillery opened in 2017 as only the second legal distillery in Orange County since Prohibition, which tells you something about how serious Ryan Winter is about this project.