Courtesy New York Distilling Company
6 Brooklyn distilleries to visit to beat the chill this fall
Treat your palate to a visit to Barrow's Intense, Fort Hamilton Distillery, Môtô Spirits, Van Brunt Stillhouse, Halftone Spirits and NYDC
The days have shortened, the nights are cooling, and the leaves have begun to fall. Our condolences to the swimmers, beachcombers, and heliophiles among us, but you had your time and the rest of us are coming alive right now.
As the temperatures dip, one of the best ways to keep the chill out of your bones is with a nice cocktail. At home is fine, but even better is to round up a few friends and head out to a distillery to enjoy a few spirits there and learn a bit about how it came to be.
Luckily, Brooklyn is blessed with quite a selection of distilleries (over 20) that are as diverse as the borough itself. We spoke with six local distillers, all of whom are open for tours or tastings.
Barrow’s Intense
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Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur is exactly that, a liqueur flavored with fresh ginger — 200 pounds per batch. Founder Josh Morton got the idea after a trip to Italy. “I had limoncello over there and it just didn’t taste the same over here,” he says. He started making his own at home, eventually experimenting with other flavors before settling on ginger.
Awards: 93 from Wine Enthusiast, their highest rating for a ginger liqueur
Pairs well with: Lots of stuff, both spirits and food; check their app, Mix & Match, or site for recipes
Cocktail recs: Moscow mule (“our frozen mule is our most popular drink”), anything in their tasting room
What not to mix with: “Red Bull”
Tours: Yes, on request during production hours, call ahead
Tasting room: Yes, including courtyard and fire pit
Address: 86 34th Street
Find it in the wild: Order it off the menu at Cebu in Bay Ridge, Abe’s Pagoda in Williamsburg, Cardiff Giant in Clinton Hill
Bonus: Tasting room with bottles from over 200 New York distilleries in the same Industry City building as Fort Hamilton Distillery (more on them below), Standard Wormwood Distillery, and Brooklyn Kura
Môtô Spirits
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“My business partner and I have known each other for over 15 years,” says Môtô Spirits cofounder Marie Ellinor Agustin Estrada. She met Hagai Yardeny as neighbors at Williamsburg’s 475 Kent Ave, the well-known artist loft building. “We ride motorcycles. Everything we make is inspired by motorcycle trips through different countries.”
Currently, “everything” includes their whiskey (made with rice, inspired by a trip through Vietnam) and jabuka, an apple-based spirit inspired by Croatia.
Awards: London Spirits Competition Bronze for their aged jabuka
Pairs well with: The aged jabuka pairs well with fall and winter foods, warming spices, pork, and roasted chicken
Cocktail recs: Estrada likes the aged jabuka in a citrus-heavy version of an El Diablo; Môtô sells custom kits for a variety of cocktails
What not to pair it with it: “It doesn’t pair well with asparagus,” says Estrada.
Tours: Yes, reach out in advance
Tasting room: Yes, most days but it varies
Address: 93 Forrest Street
Find it in the wild: Order it off the menu at Bolero in Williamsburg
Bonus: Pupsicles for your four-legged friends in the summer; plus they host an eclectic array of events, including concerts, drink-and-draw nights, and more, details on Instagram
Van Brunt Stillhouse
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Van Brunt is a licensed farm distillery, meaning that a minimum of 75 percent of its ingredients must come from New York farms. Founder Daric Schlesselman takes that one step further, procuring the majority of his grain from a single farm near Ithaca. Van Brunt whiskey’s tend to be on the unique side, which Schlesselman attributes to “the fact that I’m self-taught, I’m just following my own nose.”
Awards: New York Distillery of the Year by the New York International Spirits Competition, among many others
Pairs well with: “Our whiskey is great with chocolate.”
Cocktail recs: Their rye is great in a boulevardier, their bourbon in a gold rush, and their white rye is a great mezcal stand-in
Tours: Yes, on Saturdays only so book in advance
Tasting room: Yes, open Friday to Sunday
Address: 6 Bay Street
Find it in the wild: Order it off the menu at Faun in Prospect Heights
Fort Hamilton Distillery
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After years bartending and learning the classic American cocktail cannon, Alex Clark co-founded Widow Jane Distillery. He’d eventually leave there to, as he says, “pursue my dream of bringing original New York rye whiskey back to life,” the type of rye that would’ve been available to those who built the cocktail tradition he loves. That dream became Fort Hamilton Distillery, which Clark steeps in history.
Awards: Ranked as one of Fred Minnick’s Top 100 American Whiskeys
Pairs well with: Maple, though Clark believes “what grows together goes together,” so you’ll probably do great with any quality New York good
Cocktail recs: The single barrel rye is particularly good in a Manhattan.
What not to mix it with: “Would I mix it with a coke?” Clark asks. “Probably not, because you might trample some of the subtlety. But as a bartender, I wouldn’t dream of telling you what you should enjoy.”
Tours:Yes, tickets required
Tasting room: Yes, Tuesday to Sunday
Address: 68 34th Street, 2nd Floor
Find it in the wild: Order it off the menu at Faun in Prospect Heights or Cent’Anni in Crown Heights
Bonus: Another Farm Distillery, all Fort Hamilton spirits are 100 percent made with NY-grown rye and barley
Halftone Spirits
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Andrew Said Thomas met fellow homebrewers Basil Lee and Kevin Stafford in 2009. Lee and Stafford founded Finback Brewery while Thomas “began finding success distilling and developing a more culinary approach to crafting gin,” he says, before founding Halftone Spirits. Keep an eye out for their rotating lineup of season gins.
Awards: Great American International Spirits Competition Best in Show and Platinum Medal, among others
Pairs well with: Rooftop hangs and your favorite vinyl
Cocktail recs: “The house favorite is a gin and tonic with Q Tonic,” says Thomas
What not to do with it: Use it as sanitizer
Tours: Yes, Friday and Saturday, tickets required
Tasting room: Yes, seven days a week
Address: 545 President Street
Find it in the wild: Order it off the menu at Whisk & Whiskey in Park Slope, or Nitehawk Cinema at both locations
Bonus: Halftone shares their space with Finback — as Thomas says, “we welcome beer aficionados and cocktail enthusiasts alike”
New York Distilling Company
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Founded by Tom Potter and Allen Katz, both renowned in the spirits world, New York Distilling Company opened 12 years ago on December 5, the anniversary of Prohibition’s repeal. Their spirits — the current lineup includes three gins and five ryes — seek to capture the spirit of the city’s distilling scene pre-Prohibition.
Awards: Highest Rated Craft Rye Whiskey by the New York Times, and others
Pairs well with: Their Bottled In Bond is great in an old fashioned
Cocktail recs: Each of their spirit’s ideal cocktail is listed here
What not to do with it: “At all costs, avoid spilling it”
Tours: Not currently on offer
Tasting room:Yes, at The Shanty, NYDC’s on-site full service bar
Address: 79 Richardson Street
Find it in the wild: Order it off the menu at Long Island Bar in Cobble Hill, Gage & Tollner in Downtown Brooklyn, or Le Crocodile in Williamsburg
