EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. — A local distillery that helped revive craft spirits in El Dorado County is moving beyond tastings and tours and into full-service dining.
Dry Diggings Distillery has begun demolition and construction to add a restaurant and bar to its El Dorado Hills campus at 5050 Robert J Mathews Parkway, the company announced as crews work on the buildout.
The new dining space — expected to be called Hills — will sit alongside the distillery’s existing tasting room, which the company says will remain open during construction. Owners have tapped Dynamic Demolition and Deacon Construction for the project, and company posts indicate contractors are actively renovating the site.
Dry Diggings, which also operates labels under the Amador Distillery umbrella, opened its El Dorado Hills location after years in the business and has grown into a regional draw for tours and small-batch spirits. The distillery lists regular public hours for the tasting room and bottle shop; the public-facing operation will continue while the restaurant build continues.
“A bar and restaurant WILL be coming soon. Over twelve years of hard work and big dreams, and we’re finally doing the damn thing,”
an Instagram post from the distillery reads — a post that owners and local coverage have pointed to as confirmation the on-site restaurant is imminent.
Owner Cris Steller, a longtime figure in the region’s craft-distilling community, has framed the expansion as a natural next step for a “grain-to-glass” operation that emphasizes local agriculture and terroir in its spirits — an approach Steller has described in past interviews as central to the distillery’s identity. Local business observers say an on-site restaurant and bar will broaden Dry Diggings’ appeal beyond tasting-room visitors to evening diners and weekend crowds.
The project arrives at a time when El Dorado County tourism leaders are promoting local food-and-beverage experiences as a draw for visitors to Apple Hill and the foothills corridor. Producers and hospitality businesses say adding a restaurant to an established distillery can lengthen stays, create hospitality jobs and help local farms by increasing demand for regionally sourced ingredients.
Local coverage and business listings currently peg the target opening window as summer 2025, though the distillery has not released a firm grand-opening date. For the latest updates, Dry Diggings directs patrons to its website and Instagram account.
