by Lynn Cline on
“I AM VERY PASSIONATE about folk magic and this idea of alchemy, mystery, and the history of distilling,” says Caley Shoemaker, master distiller and co-owner of As Above, So Below Distillery, in Santa Fe. “It’s pretty easy to craft a little magic into the spirits you’re making.”
Sometimes that alchemy begins in her own backyard. Soon after opening the distillery as Altar Spirits in the Santa Fe Railyard in 2021 with her husband, Jeff Gust, Shoemaker turned a surplus of neighborhood apricots into a limited-edition Apricot Eau de Vie brandy. “We were often picking trees that have been part of the city for generations,” Shoemaker says. “Hearing the stories of how the trees have grown and produced over the years added an extra layer of magic to the process.”
One of the first women to break into the U.S. distilling industry, Shoemaker started her career at Stranahan’s Whiskey Distillery in Denver, where she grew up. She went to work at Hangar 1 Vodka in Alameda, California, in 2014 and became head distiller, creating unusual expressions such as Fog Point Vodka, made with water collected from San Francisco Bay fog.
When Shoemaker and Gust moved to Santa Fe in 2020, New Mexico’s recently expanded craft-distilling laws were part of the draw. “We wanted to be able to sell our own bottles directly to consumers,” she says of provisions that also allow distillers to offer tastings and cocktails on-site.
New Mexico’s landscape also fed Shoemaker’s creativity. “Most people don’t realize that New Mexico is the fourth or fifth most biodiverse state in the nation,” Shoemaker says. As Above, So Below’s award-winning Sigil Gin combines 14 botanicals, including piñon and juniper, while its Aradia Aperitivo layers angelica, cherry bark, native osha root, and citrus peel. “We use piñon in our spirits in a variety of ways, both the needle and the resin,” she adds. “It’s a symbol of abundance. It’s so very Southwestern, and it means so many things to so many different people.”
The distillery’s popular lounge has “a little bit of an apothecary vibe,” Shoemaker says. Goth dance parties, weekly Cocktails & Trivia games, distillery tours, and other events keep the venue hopping. “At the same time, it’s important for us to be a gathering space, always a safe place to learn about the spirits,” she adds. Guests sip enticing cocktails like the seasonal Autumn Omen, combining gin, Ixchel Botanical Dry Curaçao, and a hint of absinthe verte, reclining on velvet couches or perched on high-back chairs at the warm wooden bar. Bartenders garnish drinks with marigold blossoms or other edible botanicals.
As Above’s flair for the unconventional has led to a fitting collaborator: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. After the horror icon’s manager stopped in for a cocktail, the encounter sparked a partnership that resulted in the September 2025 release of Elvira Autumnal Gin, blending juniper, black cardamom, mugwort, allspice, and sage. A new Elvira Bourbon debuted this September. “Fans of the Elvira show kept saying, ‘We want a high-rye bourbon,’ ” Shoemaker says. “I really think of whiskey like divination. After you make it, years later you taste it.”
Another fall release leans into As Above’s mystical side. Lilith is “an alpine-style dark amaro, named after a dark goddess,” Shoemaker says, with 19 botanicals, including juniper, piñon, rosemary, sage, mint, and cinnamon. “Weaving all these botanicals together is like a spell that goes into the spirits.”