Allen Katz shows off the pot and column still at the New York Distilling Company in Williamsburg. The newly-opened distillery is producing two varieties of gin and has just begun aging its first barrels of rye whiskey.
The state of New York City’s craft beer, wine and spirits renaissance is strong. Let us reminisce: First there were the beer bars, emerging to introduce craft beer to the denizens of New York. Then came the breweries like Brooklyn Brewery, and later Chelsea Brewing Company, Sixpoint Craft Ales, Kelso of Brooklyn, and Barrier Brewing, reclaiming the city’s once-rich beer brewing heritage. The wine wave rose to a crest, with Red Hook Winery, Brooklyn Oenology and The Brooklyn Winery all making wines with regional grapes right here in Brooklyn. And distilling, another urban art once lost, was reborn with the emergence of King’s County Distillery, Breuckelen Distilling Company, and now, the New York Distilling Company.
The New York Distilling Company, founded by former Slow Food USA chairman and cocktail historian Allen Katz with Brooklyn Brewery co-founder Tom Potter and his son Bill Potter, a veteran of the city’s fine dining scene, opened their shared distilling space and bar, The Shanty, in Williamsburg just before Thanksgiving.
While their first two gins, the Perry’s Tot – a rarely-spotted, intense and peppery ‘navy strength’ gin – and the Dorothy Parker – a milder version with gentler citrus and floral notes – have been embraced by the city’s spirit lovers, their first barrels of rye whiskey have just begun to age, slowly ripening for release in a couple of years.
We met up with Allen at The Shanty to talk gin, cocktail culture, slow food, and the connections between them.
So Allen, tell us what you’re up to. What are you distilling now?
Right now we’re doing two gins, and a couple of weeks ago we started mashing rye. We’re about to start distilling a rye whiskey, but that won’t be ready for a couple of years.
One of the gins is called Perry’s Tot, which is our navy strength gin. It’s named for a former U.S. Navy officer who was the first commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He was a local character, and we like naming things after local characters. And he’s of an era in the 19th century when navy strength gin would have had resounding distribution, at least in the British realm.
Navy strength gin really refers to the proof the gin is bottled at. In American ‘proof’ it’s at 114, or 57% alcohol. People are sometimes taken aback by that – it sounds really strong compared to most gins we’re used to here. They fear they’ll end up on their knees! But they just haven’t tasted it before. It’s quite good.
There’s a wonderful British tradition of navy strength gin. I believe their ships are still commissioned with navy strength gin kits. But at the time, back in the day, they not only were commissioned with the gin kits – the ships were stocked with barrels and barrels of this very strong navy strength gin. Officers were often paid in gin!
The gin onboard the navy ships had to be of high enough proof that if it were accidentally compromised – if the barrel broke, hit by cannon fire, or after being knocked around in rough seas, and the spirits mingled with the gunpowder stores – the gunpowder would still fire. The higher proof meant that the water content in the gin was low enough that even if it mixed with gunpowder, the gunpowder would still fire. Continue reading
