#AdriftCareers Case Study: Matt Lessnau

17 September, 2024 - Raven Plato

A little over 5 years ago, Matt Lessnau and his fiancée Kacia decided to give up their corporate Seattle careers to move back to the beach where Matt grew up.

Trained as an aeronautic engineer, it was hard for Matt to imagine a life back in rural Long Beach that would fit his skill set. Little did he know that working as an event bartender for a wedding at Adrift Hotel would quickly lead to becoming Bar Manager for Pickled Fish and then eventually to him becoming the head distiller of an award winning craft distillery.

A bartender wearing a gray "Adrift Hotel + Spa" t-shirt is seen behind a bar counter pouring a drink from a small pitcher into a glass filled with ice. The counter has a basket of assorted fruits, and shelves of various bottled alcohol are visible in the background.

That summer Matt was approached by Adrift Hospitality owners Brady and Tiffany who were looking for the next project after opening Ashore Hotel in Seaside.

They wanted something that would fit with their current properties and be an added amenity. A craft distillery seemed like a good fit as it dovetailed with a surplus of cranberry concentrate from Starvation Alley (a cranberry farm and juice company owned and run by Tiffany’s family).

They only knew of one other distillery that made a cranberry liqueur and they thought it could be a hyper local product that could do very well.

From the beginning, Matt worked closely with the Turners in developing plans and buildout of the distillery, eventually moving from his Bar Manager position to full time Head Distiller and part owner of Adrift Distillers in 2017.

And the first product they launched in December 2017, was the Starvation Alley Cranberry Liqueur which is still one of their biggest sellers.

A person is using a hose to fill wooden barrels with a liquid. The person is holding the hose securely, directing the flow into one of the barrels. The barrels have metal bands around them, and the wood appears light in color.
A person in a black vest carefully examines a glass cylinder with a reddish liquid. Several other glass containers with various liquids are on the table. Industrial tanks are visible in the background, suggesting a laboratory or brewing environment.

Actually the distillery wasn’t as foreign to me as bartending was. At the end of the day with the distillery, you’re manufacturing something. Lots of engineering goes into that. It’s not hard to produce a spirit but finally creating something great, and figuring out how to reproduce it is the key.”

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the distillery has made quite the pivot, moving from craft spirits to distilling hand sanitizer for the local community and Washington State.

Matt plans to make sanitizer alongside the craft spirits as long as the FDA continues flexibility for small distilleries to do so. That may change in the future when there isn’t such a global need, but Adrift Distillers is continuing to go with the flow and find their niche in an ever changing market.

In the meantime, Matt recognizes how different his lifestyle is at the beach compared to back in the tech world of Seattle and he doesn’t plan to give that up anytime soon.

Two men are seen working together in a distillery. One, wearing a black vest, is pointing at a row of glasses on the table, while the other, in a checkered shirt and a cap, observes. Behind them are large distillation tanks and other brewing equipment.

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