Local Air Force veteran starts distillery with several nods to his service

BOSTON — Finding clarity in the face of adversity. That was the theme for one local Air Force Veteran when he was deployed. He used that same message when he became a lawyer—and now a business owner.

“If you have a passion for something, you put the time into it,” said John Sorgini, an Air Force Veteran and owner of Chattermark Distillery.

John Sorgini says he’s passionate about a lot of things. One was following his father’s footsteps and serving our country.

“So after graduation, I went into the Air Force full time,” said Sorgini. “And we used to fly around the world and control air wars and, you know, do stuff like that, which was great. And flying in the Air Force is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.”

John had nearly a dozen deployments to the Middle East and other parts of the world. But he decided to come back home for law school in Boston—while staying in the military part-time.

“And so it’s going from a corporate law firm to a kind of tent in the desert,” said Sorgini. “And, you know, something’s got to give. I want to start my own business and we want to make a product that people could enjoy. And that led us to this.”

“We mash, ferment, and distill everything here,” explained Sorgini.

John found a space in Charlestown to start up his other passion—a distillery.

“More than 400 barrels here of bourbon, rye, and single malt whiskey,” showed Sorgini.

And he named it—Chattermark.

“So Chattermark is actually a native brevity code word that I’ve used in the Air Force on combat deployments,” said Sorgini. “It means to switch frequencies, but it’s about overcoming adversity and being resilient and carrying on with the mission.”

From grain to glass, John keeps it local. He gets his grains from New England farms, and then he produces bottles and packages. All of his spirits here at his distillery in Charlestown.

“The fact that we can make everything from scratch and control the process ourselves, we can really ensure quality at every step along the way,” said Sorgini.

Chattermark is in about 80 stores, bars, and restaurants throughout the state. The logo and label were carefully crafted—giving a nod to John’s military roots.

“The logo is actually a paper airplane that’s modeled after my Air Force wings,” said Sorgini. “These are the lines that are in here. If you fold them, they make the paper airplane.”

John’s goal was to make a spirit that could be shared after completing a mission, following a debriefing, or sharing moments with family and friends.

“Starting a manufacturing business in downtown Boston during a pandemic and a recession was, you know, had its own challenges on top of just doing it normally,” said Sorgini. “But it’s been a great experience to be able to pull from, you know, your own the things you’ve done yourself and then putting a good team around you.”

That mission is complete: the Chattermark team is now able to raise a glass to the distillery’s future.

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