Obsessive Brooklyn locavores (locaholics?) have a new prey: small-batch spirits and wines, made right here in the borough. Sure, the small quantities can mean higher price points, so not a lot of bars feature them in their house cocktails (or else can’t yet get their hands on a bottled product)—but that just makes the hunt more exciting. Here then, is our brief guide to the best of local booze in Brooklyn. Happy drinking!
Kings County Distillery
When April 15 rolls around next week, Colin Spoelman and David Haskell will reach for bottles of moonshine and whiskey—but not because it’s Tax Day. The date will mark the Kings County Distillery’s two-year anniversary, making it the oldest of Brooklyn’s microdistilleries—but the co-owners won’t be in full celebration mode just yet. They’re in the process of moving the company’s operations from Williamsburg to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where they’ll occupy a 100-plus-year-old building not far from the York Street F stop. The new shop will feature a tasting room (the old location was too small to house one) and, if the soil tests come back ok, a patch of ground for growing corn. The duo plans to use the harvest for their moonshine, which the American Distilling Institute crowned best in the country last year. For now, the microdistillery relies on corn yields from organic farms upstate and malted barley from Scotland for its ingredients.