Meet Your Maker: Binh Dao of Dao Distillery

For business owner and distiller Binh Dao, the line between the classroom and the distillery is thinner than it looks. He spends his weekdays teaching chemistry at Sacramento City College, then brings that same instinct to Dao Distillery, where he's just as likely to explain the science behind a pour as he is to serve it. 

"This product right here is a form of art and science," Dao said while holding up a bottle of his Ruou De Cali Premium, which just took home top honors at the renowned New Orleans Spirits Competition. "The science is very basic, but we use a very scientific approach to make sure it's reproducible and extremely high-quality."

Dao Distillery opened in the Barrel District in September 2024, built around rượu đế, a traditional Vietnamese rice spirit that's common at home in Vietnam but had never had a real presence in the U.S. market. Dao is one of only two distillers in the country making it, the other operating in Texas. Two years and more than a dozen awards later, he's still chasing the question that got him started: why wasn't ruou de already here?

Binh Dao, Owner and Distiller of Dao Distillery, combines art, science and tradition when crafting his award-winning ruou de.

From Hobby to Distillery

Dao never set out to open a business. "I actually never thought about opening up a distillery," he said. "But enjoying a good drink has been my hobby, and when that combined with a chemistry background, I thought, ‘Okay, if I'm drinking it, I might as well make something uniquely my own.’"

The turning point came on a trip back to Vietnam, where he tried ruou de for the first time. "I fell in love with it. I said, ‘[This country] has such a great product. How come nobody else knows about this, and this isn't available in the U.S.? This is such a shame.’" 

Encouraged by friends who wanted to see something built for the Vietnamese community, he decided to do it himself. 

That same self-reliance traces back further than the business. Dao's family came to the U.S. as refugees; he arrived in Sacramento in eighth grade and didn’t speak any English. He later went on to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry at UC Davis. "My family were political refugees," he said. "We risked our lives for the opportunity to get an education and to be here in this country, and so we don't want to take anything for granted." 

He's quick to point out that entrepreneurship wasn't part of the plan. "I did not take a single business class in school. I had to teach myself a lot of business principles in order to do the thing we're doing right here."

A Lab Away from the Lab

During his Ph.D. work, Dao spent roughly six years researching drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease before he was invited to start teaching at Sacramento City College, a job he's held ever since. "Teaching truly is my passion," he said. Of the distillery, he put it simply: "This is basically my lab away from my teaching lab."

That rigor extends to what goes into the bottle, too. Every batch is made entirely from rice grown in Sacramento, most of it organic, though Dao won't put that claim on the label unless every batch qualifies. "The majority of the time it's organic, but not always, so we can't legally put that on our spirits," he said. "But it's the best rice grown right here in Sacramento."

That same precision carries over to Dao’s evolving cocktail program. One of the distillery's most distinctive drinks, the Umami Sour, pairs ruou de with fish sauce, ginger, lime and lemon, a combination Dao built around the two ingredients he considers most authentically Vietnamese. "I think the two most authentic Vietnamese ingredients in here are the fish sauce and the ruou de," he said. 

The distillery’s Ruou de Elixir, a rice spirit infused with ginseng and other botanicals, is inspired by a mealtime tradition from Binh’s upbringing. "My father doesn't drink liquor, but the only one he has at home is the ginseng-infused liquor," he said of his father, a gardener of 30 years. "At dinner, if he's tired, he'll take a shot. He swears it's what's been keeping him going all these years."

More Than A Tasting 

Ask Dao a question about ruou de and he'll answer it like he's back in his own classroom – in a way that’s engaging and thorough. "We have distillers come in from all over the state, and we’ve even had scientists who analyze distilled spirits," he said. "We've had home brewers and home distillers come in here asking us for feedback. They'll ask us for some of the technical tricks, and we're happy to share all of that." 

Between exchanges like that and the science he walks through behind the bar, most people leave the tasting room having learned something, not just tasted something.

Competing on the World Stage 

Dao Distillery has entered spirits competitions from the local San Francisco World Spirits Competition to the world-recognized New Orleans Spirits Competition, and come away with an award nearly every time. The distillery has received over a dozen awards so far, including gold medals and multiple best-of-category wins. "We always wanted to see how our product compares to product from China, Japan and Korea," Dao said. "For us to enter a big spirits competition and come out being the best in that category, that's incredible for us.”

The wins carry weight beyond the shelf. 

"We do a lot of this to help build pride in the Vietnamese community," Dao said. "A lot of Vietnamese people don't believe in the quality of their own product, but now, with these awards, we can say our product is just as good." 

At a recent American Craft Distillers Association event in Sacramento, Dao saw the industry's representation gap firsthand. "I was the only Asian there," he said.

A True Family Business

Dao Distillery runs on two full-time employees and a rotating crew of three part-timers, most of them family. His uncle, who once made ruou de in Vietnam, works there full time. "When he came to the U.S., he didn't speak English, so it was very difficult for him to find work," Dao said. "Having this business allowed me to hire him and use his specialty." Dao’s brothers, cousins, his wife and close friends round out the team.

"Without the support from my wife, I don't think this would have happened," Dao said. He and his wife, Hannah, have two young children, ages 6 and 9, who visit the distillery often. "Our kids take great pride in this. One of the reasons we do this is to also create something for our family, for the next generation."

Rooted in Rancho Cordova

Dao didn't initially set out to land in Rancho Cordova but happened upon his current location when he was ready to open. The reception he’s received since has left an impression on him. "This city has been awesome," he said. "After I took over [the space] and started the business, I got so much support from the City of Rancho Cordova, the Chamber of Commerce – everybody." 

Word has traveled well beyond city limits. "It is incredible that somehow the word gets out," Dao said. "We have people come from the Bay Area, from out of state, and they choose to come here and spend time with us tasting our product."

What's Next

Heading into its next year, the distillery's focus is distribution: getting bottles into more restaurants, bars and retail shelves around the region. Dao and his team are also experimenting with new grains and distillation methods, including vacuum distillation, a technique that lowers pressure to evaporate alcohol without applying heat. "That's going to be able to preserve the flavor really well," he said.

The long-term vision is bigger still: a 20-acre, ranch-style property with a bonfire at the center, roasted meats, live music and the same Vietnamese ingredients that define the current menu. "It's going to be really cool," Dao said. "That's something we hope will happen in the next two or three years."

For now, Dao keeps coming back to what made him start in the first place. "America truly is the land of opportunity," he said. "Had we not been here, I don't think it would have been possible for us to do what we're doing right now. If you're ambitious enough, you can find a way to do it."

To learn more about Dao Distillery and view current hours of operation, visit DaoDistillery.com.

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Dao Distillery is located in Rancho Cordova's Barrel District. Visit barreldistrict.com for more information and upcoming events.