In the wake of devastation left by Hurricane Sandy, New York Distilling Company will mark this momentous date by bringing community together in an effort to raise funds for those most in need. A fundraising party benefiting The Brooklyn Recovery Fund will take place on December 5th, 7 to 10 PM, and will include Night Distilling, hot punches, the chance to win a personalized barrel of rye, and more.

For the first time ever, New York Distilling Company will open to the public for an evening of Night Distilling! Guests will enjoy punches and hot cocktails featuring Perry’s Tot – Navy Strength Gin & Dorothy Parker – American Gin – while a finishing run of rye whiskey is distilled for all to observe and taste.

All attendees will be entitled to one 375ml bottle of the very rye that flows, un-aged, from the still that night. Once aged, all attendees are also be entitled to a 375ml bottle of finished rye whiskey. In addition, one lucky person will win his or her own 5-gallon barrel of rye to age individually and uniquely at the distillery. Finally, each guest will also be included in the first round of membership of the New York Distilling Club, which will offer discounts on limited runs, first-notice updates on distillery events, and future opportunities to come distill with us.

The evening will also include beer from the Brooklyn Brewery, coffee from the Brooklyn Roasting Company and teas from In Pursuit of Tea. Food will be provided Stinky Brooklyn and Jacob’s Pickles.

Tickets are $125 and can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets.

Code: New York Distilling Company – Sandy Relief Benefit

100% of the net proceeds will be donated to endeavors in support of individuals affected by Sandy.

While waiting for our still to arrive from Germany, and getting the Shanty ready to receive it, we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to escape the bustle of the city and hone our recipe with our friends & partners at Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery.

Led by Jason Grizzanti and Jeremy Kidde, and started by Jason’s father Joseph in 1994, Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery was the first winery to obtain a New York State Fruit Distillery license. Jason, well known among New York winemakers and distillers, is perhaps best known for his other passion: apples.  The foremost pomologist on the eastern seaboard, Jason is also the producer of some of the finest American ciders in the country.  Trained at both the Seibel Institute in Chicago and Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, Jason has made fruit brandies and calvados style apple brandies for years.  His expertise has been crucial as he helps NYDC refine their recipes on his beautiful Christian CARL still in the Hudson Valley.

The ability to work on recipes and master the process while constructing our space and waiting for our own still has been instrumental in allowing us to hit the ground running after everything has been installed. 

Plus, the added benefit of taking in the beautiful farmland, talking shop with Jason while dodging the Winery’s two Great Danes has been an enormous pleasure as well as an invaluable resource. We will continue to work with Jason and the Warwick Valley Winery and Distillery, honing our techniques and enjoying the great spirits and great company to be found in the New York countryside.

Rob & Tom overlooking construction at the Shanty

Work on the Shanty has been moving at a terrific pace, and our contractor Rob Herschenfeld is making sure the Shanty will be in prime shape when our still arrives in March.

Rob is unique in that he really knows the Williamsburg neighborhood; he’s been a resident for 20 years, and most of his building projects have been local.  He is also unusual in being an MIT graduate. Instead of jumping into corporate or research life after school, he decided he wanted to make furniture.  He as an accomplished woodworker and still active in that, but over the years turned his attention to larger projects.  He now builds entire buildings – elevators and all! – but retains the wonderful attention to detail of a true craftsman.

Despite horrific weather, we’ve been able to complete sub-grade plumbing and receive inspection approvals, and finally poured the brand new floor.  We expect rapid progress installing the rest of the main utility and mechanical systems.  Construction is continuing on bathrooms and a full-sized tasting room with a bay window of the production floor and still. We’re happy to have Rob’s talents as he works with our architects at Fradkin & McAlpin Associates to make the Shanty worthy of being the flagship distillery of New York.

There’s a whiff of juniper in the air, recently, as small craft distilleries and consumers are re-discovering the pleasures of this ancient spirit: gin.  A drink that many may have associated with their parents or grandparents is gaining a new reputation, moving out from beneath the shadow of giant corporations in their monotonous style, and flourishing again as young distilleries here in New York and around the country have experimented with and produced gins in a dizzying array of new and forgotten styles.

At its most basic, gin is a distilled spirit flavored with juniper berries and other botanicals.  It can be traced back to at least the 17th century, when physicians in Holland produced a medicinal spirit flavored with juniper oils.  Juniper was considered an important medicine, good for the liver and kidneys, and many early spirits were made not as cocktails, but as powerful elixers.  This tradition continues even today; anytime we order a gin & tonic we’re following the example of British colonials warding off malaria by faithfully ingesting their quinine tonics … made more palatable, of course, with a splash or three of gin.

To be considered a gin, the predominant flavor characteristic has to be juniper; however the supporting cast of botanicals – exotic flowers and spices from around the world – is what gives gin its unique flavors and individual personality, in essence its identity.  There are a few standard botanicals that most if not all gins have come to rely on to marry well with juniper: citrus peel and coriander among them.  Beyond certain faithful friends, however, the distiller has an almost infinite library of flowers, fruits, herbs and spices to choose from: cinnamon and honey, star anise or elderberry or hibiscus; virtually any aromatic fruit, spice, or flower.  Early gin manufacturers would compete to find ever more exotic herbs & spices, and often British and Dutch ships sailing to the ends of the earth would bring their bounty of strange botanicals back to the local distilleries, to more fully investigate their medicinal and culinary potential.

This is what makes gin actually quite exciting: choosing and balancing an enormous variety of ingredients to find just the right recipe, experiencing the almost alchemical feeling of combining powerful and rare herbs & spices with spirit to produce something invigorating, with flavors both delicate and strong, and a haunting aroma.   The spirit is a canvas on which a palette of  flavors and aromas can be imagined, and the distiller is challenged to try and put it in a glass.

In fact, it’s this very variety that we’ve come to forget with gins.  It’s easy to overlook in this sea of London Dry style gin – the gins which for decades have stood for the very definition of what gin is – all of the alternative, historic, or just plain different styles of gin that are possible, and that are increasingly being made again.  These include the ancient whiskey-like genever (or Holland Gin) style, the genesis of gin made from maltwine and aged in oak, this style was dominant in early American bar-tending; Old Tom, a sweetened gin predominant in Britain in the nineteenth century; Plymouth Gin, another British dry style softer than London Dry; Sloe Gin, a gin liqueur made with sloe berries; as well as many unique modern gins that defy easy categorization.  The new-found vibrancy of the world of gin makes it a creative, exciting time for gin distillers.

NYDC will be making at least three different styles of gin, faithful to traditional process; a modern dry style, a naval strength gin, and an Old Tom.  We’re excited by the many possibilities inherent in gin, and plan to release certain seasonal and limited production gins in the future.

We’re interested in sourcing as many of the ingredients as possible from New York State. Many of our spices are sourced from organic traders.

We’ve contracted rye and corn from Pedersen Farms, 3 miles outside of Geneva, NY. Rick Pedersen has 1500 acres, 600 of which is certified organic. We’ve spent time up at the farm, and are really excited about the quality of grains we’ll be getting. Our sources for ingredients not traditionally found in New York, such as our spices and juniper berries, are all organic and meet demands for high quality and consistency.

The smell of juniper is certainly in the air here in New York, and NYDC is looking forward to contributing to the burgeoning gin renaissance.

Happy New Year from New York Distilling Company!

2010 has been incredibly busy for us – mostly behind the scenes – and we’re excited about everything to come in 2011!

A quick recap of our year:

We found a fantastic space in Williamsburg, and after months of planning and permit-acquiring, we’ve broken ground and are deep into construction. We’re outfitting the space with a state-of-the-art water and drainage system, putting in new floors, laying foundation, and getting the space ready for our beautiful Christian CARL still.

In October, Tom and Allen visited Pedersen Farms, up in the Finger Lakes region of Northern New York. We toured the farm with Rick Pedersen, and contracted fields of winter rye and corn for our New York rye whiskey.

In late summer, Allen went over to Stuttgart, Germany, to check on the progress of our still being fabricated at Christian CARL. The still is now ready and waiting to be shipped over as soon as our space is complete. The still is gorgeous polished copper with stainless steel accents; it’s going to look great in the Shanty!

We’ve made several trips up to Warwick Valley to work on our gins – we’ll have several varieties coming out in Spring 2011. Jason Grizzante, the master distiller at Warwick, has been generously sharing his still and his deep knowledge, and we’re really excited to transfer what we’ve learned up there to finalize our recipes in Brooklyn. We have some really unique gins coming out – stay tuned for release dates and more information!

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