BOSTON — When John Sorgini, the founder and owner of Chattermark Distillers, created the distillery’s Coastal Forest Gin, he wanted to make it taste like the North Shore, where he grew up.
“The idea is like you’re sitting in a forest on the North Shore and smelling the sea air,” Sorgini said.
It is his favorite product from Chattermark, a grain-to-glass distillery in Charlestown that started production in 2019. The distillery makes and sells straight bourbon whiskey, straight rye whiskey, and gin.
“We control everything from beginning to end here,” Sorgini said. “We get all of our grains from New England farms. We make everything on site from grain. We don’t source alcohol, so we make everything from scratch.”
Chattermark Distillers has won a number of awards from the American Distilling Institute and one from the American Craft Spirits Association. This year, the institute awarded Chattermark with a gold medal and best-of-category award for its Pot & Column White Rye; a bronze medal for its Coastal Forest Gin; a silver medal for its Straight Rye Whiskey; and a bronze medal for its Straight Bourbon Whiskey.
Sorgini’s journey to creating Chattermark Distillers really starts in Lynn, where he was raised. He went to Aborn Elementary School, Pickering Middle School, and St. John’s Prep. Sorgini said he was also a paper boy for The Daily Item.
Growing up in Lynn taught him the value of hard work, he said. Lynn also showed him what it is like to have a supportive community by his side.
“It taught me to be able to punch your own path a little bit,” Sorgini said.
After college, he was in active duty in the Air Force. He then left active duty to go to law school, he said.
“I was in law school on Sept. 11. I was recalled back to active duty after that,” Sorgini said.
Once he was able to finish law school, he said he worked as a corporate attorney in downtown Boston, but was still called back to active duty from time to time. Eventually, he said he decided that it was time to try something new.
Chattermark Distillers was that something new.
The meaning behind the distillery’s name comes from his time in the military, he said. Chattermark is a NATO brevity code that was used during his deployments.
“It means to switch frequency, but it’s about overcoming adversity and being resilient to carry on with the mission,” Sorgini said.
The bottles also have some intricate details that tell the story of Sorgini’s life.
“The logo is actually a paper airplane flying away from you. It’s modeled after my Air Force wings,” Sorgini said.
At the bottom of the label, there is copper foil with morse code. Sorgini said it is a nod to the creator of morse code, Samuel Morse, who was from Charlestown.
“It has my kids’ names in morse code on the back of every bottle,” he said.
Sorgini said he always wanted to start his own business and create something that would bring people together.
“Generally it’s always good to bring people together over drinks, so I figured it’d be great to create a quality product that allows people to do that,” Sorgini said. “It’s great to be able to hold up a bottle of something that you created from scratch. The art and science of the process is what really intrigued me into doing something like this.”
