A Visit to Great Jones Distillery
It’s an unusually chilly and drizzly grey evening in late August in the Big Apple and as we walk along Broadway north of Houston, a golden glow illuminating from a streetfront window inviting us into a wonderland with a geometric display of alchemy. We’ve approached Great Jones Distillery and its three-floor homage to the gilded age in New York City.
Drinkhacker has taken a tour previously, of sorts, having reviewed their core lineup of whiskey releases in 2022. Prior to firing up their own stills in 2021, their whiskey was produced in partnership with Black Dirt Distillery. Today we take a physical tour of their Manhattan facilities which boasts a fully operational distillery, fine-dining restaurant, bar lounge, and speakeasy-themed event space. Per the company:
One hundred years after the last whiskey distillery in Manhattan shut its doors, Great Jones Distilling Co. is bringing this iconic spirit back to the Big Apple. Our home at 686 Broadway in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan is a monument to the rich culture of Prohibition-era New York, and a celebration of whiskey — past and present.
The spirit of New York drives everything we do. It’s why we use 100% New York-sourced ingredients in our craft whiskeys, and it’s what inspires us to deliver experiences worthy of the best of our city. Whether you’re touring our distillery, sipping a craft cocktail, or enjoying a locally-sourced meal at our restaurant, you’re part of a New York tradition, reborn.
A quick refresher on Great Jones: it’s the first legally operating distillery in the 212 area code since Prohibition, which may be a new fact for those that are familiar with New York City producers who were not aware that those other producers operate out of the outer boroughs and not Manhattan.
I am a sucker for New York’s speakeasy lore, having lived a stone’s throw from the now-closed Chumley’s, so it was with great giddy anticipation to tag along with Kate Snow, my distillery touring partner from prior Louisville adventures, and our spouses.
No detail is spared in creating the gilded age art deco nostalgia with its heavy-handed brass accents, deep cherry-red wood interiors, and gold-infused lighting. Step inside the entrance and a large deconstructed still glimmers in their lobby.
Up a curved staircase is their cozy bar lounge, where our crew started out to await our tour guide. Cocktails are crafted by the lauded head mixologist Collin Frazier, with all garnishes made in-house. We toasted with – what else – Great Jones Manhattans. (Side note: some lazy internet sleuthing will unveil that the name “Manhattan” is supposedly in reference to the recipe’s 2:1:2 ratio of ounces of rye, ounces of vermouth and dashes of bitters. Other rumored origins appear as well, such as one bartender named Mr. Black having created this cocktail at a bar just around the corner at Houston and Broadway. I’ll be sticking with the 2:1:2 version of the story.) Their signature smoked old-fashioned is also worth ordering, of for no other reason than to witness its elegant production by the bartender’s skilled sleight of hand.
The lounge is very inviting, every nook feels like the “perfect spot,” equally well suited for a barfly looking for some solace to a first date to a small crew of busy adults just looking to catch up and catch a breath. We could have just planted ourselves at the bar until the wee hours, loitering and bantering with the bartenders, but alas it was time to get to the brass tacks of the heart and soul of Great Jones’ spirits making, just steps away from our luxurious perch.
Our tour was led by Mikela who perfectly embodied old soul sophistication with hipster chill, perfectly on brand with the overall Great Jones vibe. He swung open the grandiose interior glass doors just at the end of the lounge to the distillery and immediately to our left stood the 30-foot Medusa, their lovingly dubbed custom still, glistening like an apparition under spotlights. Medusa is a 3-part hybrid featuring a single pot still, an 8 plate column still, and a 12 plate column still manufactured by Vendome Copper and Brassworks, a manufacturer that predates Prohibition. This wasn’t our group’s first distillery tour and Mikela perfectly balanced the general whiskey 101 overview with specifics on Great Jones, humoring our questions and quips in stride.
Here’s a quick 4-1-1 on the (212) facilities. Celina Perez is at the helm as head distiller and for starters, let’s not overlook how impressive it is to squeeze a full scale end-to-end operation into the preciously limited space of a single floor loft space on Broadway. 500 gallons of distillate are produced in a weekly cycle over two mash runs that are fermented for 3 days in their 1,000 gallon fermentation tank. The whiskey is dumped into char 3 barrels made by Independent Stave Company then carted up to Warwick to be aged and bottled at the Black Dirt Distillery rickhouses since fire codes limit storage of alcohol on premise to four barrels at a time. Great Jones is a certified New York farmer-distillery, which requires at least 75% of the grains need to be sourced within the state. Great Jones currently source 100% of their grains from not only within state, but exclusively from the Warwick region.
Next up was a tasting, whose cellar destination required us to limbo down an ancient utility elevator and walk through narrow passages dotted by an old telephone booth past a brick wall that one time was a fake wall leading to a rum-runner tunnel connecting an underground network of speakeasies, all evoking a scrambled secret getaway to outsmart the G-men.
We arrived at a den of brick and (empty) barrels with nicely stationed flight glasses for our tasting. Every time we think we know how to do this, a good host, such as Mikela, introduces a new way to approach and experience the whiskey in front of you. He fell into whiskey accidentally but his forensic curiosity for the spirit made him very knowledgeable and engaging with each swirl, sniff, and sip of the single barrel 9 year old rye, four-grain straight bourbon, and cab franc-finished bourbon in front of us. With Glencairns poised by our chins, we contemplated the tears of the whiskey and ruminated the “New York nosh” in lieu of whiskey legs and “Kentucky chew.” We detected rich botanicals and dark fruit in the four-grain, lavender and fruitcake in the rye, and a rewarding honey personality coming through on the cab franc-finished bourbon.
We were then whisked away through a different door than where we entered to stand in the Speakeasy private event space, decked out with apropos brooding dark wood and leather seating surrounded by more exposed brick. You could almost hear the low buzz of covert conversation and the chirping of clinging glasses paired with bouncy piano tunes on an upright.
We capped off the night with cocktails and dinner in their handsome dining room with full view of their open kitchen. A stately enormous plaque hangs on the side wall with a minimalistic expressed map of Manhattan that pinpoints locations of speakeasies back in the day. Some of us dove back into the smoked old-fashioned, some opted for the amaro twist on the Manhattan. The tantalizing menu under Chef Adam Raskin (of Le Cirque and Per Se) offers the greatest hits of decadent dining featuring meticulously locally sourced ingredients, such as house made milk bread, crudo, beet salad, local burrata, roasted prawns, pork chops, duck, Brussel sprouts, and more. It was a tremendous finish to the visit.
In short, the space is gorgeous, the tour is enchanting, the cuisine is indulgent, and the spirits – either neat or within their signature cocktails – are hypnotic. As a passion project of Proximo CEO Juan Domingo Beckmann who had a vision of creating a distillery and landmark destination in New York City, this big and bold concept project works. With a who’s who on their management team leading the production, mixology, cuisine and hospitality experience, Great Jones successfully transported us as far away as our imaginations could take us. A worthy escape, even if you’re local. We shall return.
Great Jones Distilling
686 Broadway, New York, NY 10012
greatjonesdistillingco.com
