On August 21, 2021, the Great Jones Distilling Company will become the first legal whiskey distillery to open its doors in Manhattan since the advent of Prohibition. Located in trendy NoHo the 28,000-square-foot, four-story space will feature a cocktail bar; an event space; a restaurant helmed by chef Adam Raksin (formerly of The Lambs Club, Per Se); and a tasting room to go along with its 500-gallon still.
Juan Domingo Beckmann, founder of Proximo Spirits (best known for importing and distributing Jose Cuervo), is the man behind the new Manhattan whiskey distillery and his company owns the distillery.
While not the first distillery to open in Manhattan since Prohibition–that honor belongs to Our/New York, which opened in Chelsea in 2018–Great Jones Distilling Company brings the craft American whiskey scene to the City for the first tiem.
Head distiller Celina Perez is working alongside assistant distiller Jelani Johnson–both formerly of Brooklyn’s Owney’s Rum–to create three types of whiskeys: a bourbon ($39), a rye ($39) and a four-grain bourbon ($49) made with corn, malted barley, rye and wheat. Each whiskey is aged between four and five years, is made using only New York State grains, and the rye and four-grain bourbon will be distillery exclusives.
The Vendome still was made by the Kentucky-based metal works of the same name and sits inside a two-story explosion-proof glass chamber. And, in a fun legal workaround due to local zoning prohibiting distilling above the second floor, the floor the still stands on was lowered five feet.
Great Jones Distilling Company has been in the works for six years, meaning the brand began aging the whiskey five years ago at Proximo-owned Black Dirt Distillery in Orange County, N.Y.
For more information, head over to Great Jones Distilling Company’s official website.
In other New York-made whiskey news, we sat down with canned whiskey cocktail maker Siponey.