Where can you find craft distilleries in N.J.?

By cbadmin on September 3, 2016

Bloomfield native John Granata was vacationing in Park City, Utah, in 2013 with his girlfriend, Susan Lord, when they visited a small craft distillery that recently opened in the resort town. As spirits aficionados, they were in the habit of checking out local distilleries in the course of their travels.

But this time, they got to talking. Why not start a distillery of their own? Granata had a successful career as a video producer, but he also had owned a restaurant in Montclair and was devoted to “the science of food,” as he describes it. Lord’s background was in sales and marketing.

The couple started Googling as soon as they got back to their hotel room.

What they discovered was that the New Jersey Legislature had recently amended the state’s liquor laws to make it substantially cheaper to open a distillery. The stars appeared to be aligned, and soon, Granata and Lord were immersed in researching sales trends, distillation techniques and equipment vendors.

Within two years, they launched Jersey Spirits Distilling Co. in Fairfield. The business, which opened a year ago, already is producing a range of small-batch spirits, including Main Street Vodka, Barnegat White Whiskey, Boardwalk Rum and Jersey Apple Hooch. Both the vodka and whiskey are made from locally grown corn.

“Everything we do is grain to bottle,” says Granata, who handles every part of the production process — from cooking and malting the grain to fermenting the “mash,” to distilling the fermented liquid to concentrate the alcohol. “The people of New Jersey have really embraced it.”

From 2010 to 2015, the number of craft distilleries in the United States exploded from fewer than 100 to more than 750, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. But until 2013, not one of them was in New Jersey. That year, Jersey Artisan Distilling, also in Fairfield, became the first distillery established in the Garden State since Prohibition.

Jersey Artisan, led by former electrical engineer Brant Braue, opened the floodgates. In just three years, at least six more distilleries, including Jersey Spirits, have sprouted across the state. James Yoakum, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, is crafting a range of fine whiskeys at his Cooper River Distillers in Camden. Tim Koether, a former hedge fund portfolio manager, is now doing business as Claremont Distillery, a Fairfield operation that specializes in vodka. And a couple in Atlantic County, proud of their Greek heritage, is making rakii, a traditional Greek spirit, at their Lazy Eye Distillery in Buena Vista.

At least a half-dozen more distilleries are in various stages of launching, according to Braue, who has talked to some of his competitors about starting a trade group to promote the state’s budding craft-spirits industry. Among those in the pipeline is Asbury Park Distilling, now under construction in a space next to the popular Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten in downtown Asbury Park.

Zack Ohebshalom, a partner in the business, says that despite the state Legislature’s efforts to ease the licensing requirements, distillers still have to clear a number of legal and logistical hurdles.

“They made it considerably less costly, but it’s still difficult dealing with the TTB,” he says, referring to the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Ohebshalom and his partner, lawyer Andrew Karas, are hoping to open soon.

The craft-distillery bill that Gov. Chris Christie signed into law in August 2013 lowered the annual licensing fee from $12,500 to less than $1,000. And it cleared the way for distillers to welcome the public for tours and tastings. Braue says about 2,000 spirits lovers visited Jersey Artisan in the past year.

The fact that Fairfield is home to about half of the operating craft distilleries is no coincidence. Braue, Granata and Koether all cite the willingness of Fairfield officials to work with them.

“We talked to other towns that were dead set against it,” says Granata, who lives in Caldwell. “We talked to Fairfield and they were very welcoming of the idea.”

It’s also no coincidence that most craft distillers initially focus their efforts on making clear spirits, such as white rum and vodka. Brown spirits, such as whiskey and dark rum, acquire their color and mellow flavor from extended aging in oak barrels. Producers who want to begin selling right away — and most do — start out with vodka or white rum because they require no aging and can be distilled and bottled in a matter of weeks.

“Our white rum takes three weeks from molasses to bottle,” says Yoakum, whose long-term goal is to make aged whiskey in the tradition of his native Kentucky. “It was quick and easy to get the wheels rolling.”

Yoakum, who chose Camden over Philadelphia because of Pennsylvania’s notoriously restrictive liquor laws, also figured out a way to jump-start his whiskey-production process. Rather than begin with grain that needs to be cooked and fermented prior to distillation, Yoakum is distilling beer he obtains from area microbreweries. The result is a diverse range of whiskeys marketed under the Single Run Series label.

“Theoretically, it’s malt whiskey, since beer is made from malted barley,” he says.

At the same time, Yoakum is buying corn and rye from farmers in South Jersey for a traditional “mash bill,” or whiskey recipe, that is about 63 percent corn, with smaller amounts of rye and barley. After fermenting and distilling the mash, the clear whiskey is transferred to small, charred oak barrels for aging. Yoakum eventually plans to offer bourbon-style whiskeys that age for up to five years.

From Camden and Cape May at the southern end of the state to Fairfield and Wyckoff in the north, craft distillers are turning out a dizzying variety of spirits. At Lazy Eye, Nick and Carol Kafkalas make a grape-based vodka and several types of rakii, traditionally an anise-flavored spirit like the popular Greek cordial ouzo. They’re particularly proud of a barrel-aged rakii.

“We wanted to continue the traditions our parents taught us,” Carol Kafkalas says.

At Claremont, Koether makes a potato-based vodka that recently won a gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. He also makes flavored vodkas with New Jersey-grown blueberries and peaches.

“The reason for the blueberry and peach is because they’re big Jersey produce,” says Koether, who lives in Bernardsville. “Everything we do is trying to promote New Jersey ingredients. We are also making a white corn whiskey called Jersey Devil Moonshine.”

At Jersey Artisan, where it all began, Braue makes a whiskey from sweet sorghum, rather than traditional grains, that he calls James F.C. Hyde Sorgho Whiskey. “We treat it like a traditional bourbon, with new American oak barrels,” he says. “It’s a truly a gluten-free whiskey.”

Although the field is growing more crowded by the month, Braue believes there’s plenty of room for more craft distillers in the state — and expects to see a couple dozen up and running in the next few years. The market can support so many brands, he suggests, because spirits lovers prize variety above all else.

“When craft spirits drinkers walk into a bar, the first thing they want to know is, ‘What do you have that I can’t find in a liquor store?’ ” Braue says.