DISTILLERY

HISTORY

Our distillery is founded on experimenting with wormwood spirits. Early on in our trials, wormwood was an illusive banned ingredient, best known for its use in traditional absinthe. On our first distillation we fell in love with more than the myth though and unknown to us at the time, spirits with wormwood were nearing the end of a century old ban.

After over a decade of creating our own unique distilling methods we are releasing one-of-a-kind wormwood spirits that depart from traditional absinthe in profile, but use the wormwood in the distillation to create a distinct complexity. Farming our own wormwood in upstate New York's Orange County where we grew up, we are using its bitter profile, once prolific in spirits like Vermouth and Amaro, to influence our spirits similar to how bitters do in a cocktail- but all in the distilling process. You end up with familiar but new tastes for what a rye, gin, agave and wormwood spirit can be. We don’t use anise or licorice – just keep the wormwood, allowing it to create a unique depth and complexity in our favorite spirits. An entirely unique full cocktail and bar program is built around this idea, exclusively using our distillations and macerations for every ingredient in every cocktail.

WORMWOOD
At the heart of all of our spirits you will find the influence of this elusive and largely misunderstood plant. Growing our own wormwood in upstate New York at our family farm has given us a deep appreciation for this herbaceous bitters, nearly lost to history. Traditionally used for its herbal bitterness in Absinthe, Vermouth, Amaro, Bitters and even beer, it underwent a hundred year ban for misleadingly being known as a hallucinogen. While it does give a subtle lucid wakeful feel and is unique among other spirits for this, the story of why it was banned is wrapped up with the temperance movement and a grape blight in the late 19th century, when French wine Barons sought to ban absinthe due to its rise in popularity while the wine industry was recovering.
Around a century after the original ban and a decade of home distilling in Bushwick we are bringing wormwood into modern spirits outside of the absinthe tradition.  No anise or licorice is used, just the wormwood for its bitter profile and unique ability to modify the spirit, much like bitters in a cocktail, but all in the distilling process. Rounding the spirits out, creating layers of complexity from a range of deep chocolate notes to spicy herbaceous undertones, we are taking wormwood into a new chapter of its history.

PROCESS

Only making small batches in our hand-made still and using a vapour infusion distilling technique makes for a completely crafted method that we use to this day at our distillery in Industry City - Sunset Park, Brooklyn. This gives our spirits a noticeable closeness to the ingredients that ties us back to the upstate farms we grew up around, the same region where we also source all of our organic NY grains and grow different varietals of Wormwood and Artemisia. It makes our spirits smooth at 90 proof with distinct layers that transition from the front , middle, and end of the palate, continuing long into the finish of every sip. This is the standard of our distillery – pushing the boundaries of classic liquors by redefining and reinventing the craft of what wormwood spirits can be...
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