- Title: Manhattan’s first and only whiskey distillery in over 100 years
- Date: 17th September 2021
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 16, 2021) (REUTERS) VIEW OF WHISKEY POURED INTO GLASS FROM UNDERNEATH THE GLASS AT GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. BRAND AMBASSADOR, ESTEBAN ORDONEZ, 42, MIXING WHISKEY AND ICE VARIOUS OF ORDONEZ MAKING A SMOKED OLD FASHIONED ORDONEZ AT BAR (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. PROJECT MANAGER, ANDREW MERINOFF, SAYING: "Welcome to the Great Jones Distilling Co. at 686 Broadway, Manhattan's first whiskey distillery in over 100 years. So this project has been going on for the past six years. And it started off with the vision of being Manhattan's first legal whiskey distillery. In order to do so, we found some hardships along the way. First off, being the property itself. In order to understand what distilling is in New York City, you have to understand the zoning that it takes to be a distillery. So we're in an M1-5 zone in which there are only 122 buildings in New York City that allow that operation. We know that because we saw every single one of them. After a year and a half of searching, we finally landed at 686 Broadway and there you are today." VARIOUS OF DECONSTRUCTED 250 GALLON POT STILL IN LOBBY GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. PROJECT MANAGER, ANDREW MERINOFF, 31, WALKING INTO DISTILLERY ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. PROJECT MANAGER, ANDREW MERINOFF, SAYING: "This would be an engineering feat in itself. What you're looking at is two 20-foot columns and a 500 gallon pot still from Vendome, Vendome being the premier distill manufacturer in the world. This room has a ceiling height of about 34 feet. And the coolest part about this floor is the whole floor is dropped 5 feet just to fit the operations into the space. The floor resembles whiskey, as you can see by the look and feel of it. And the room that this still is encased in is completely explosion proof. The air can be sucked out of it in 90 seconds, making it one of the safest distilling rooms in the world." STILL (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. PROJECT MANAGER, ANDREW MERINOFF, SAYING: "Normally distilleries are built horizontally. This is one of the world's first vertical distilleries, especially the first in the city like this, between two residential buildings. And that was really important to us." VARIOUS OF STILL VARIOUS OF MERINOFF OPENING DOOR TO REVEAL FRESH SPIRITS THAT WILL BE BROUGHT OFF SITE TO BE AGED GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. LOGO SIGN READING (English): "GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO." VATS BARREL READING (English): "GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO." INGREDIENTS BARRELS MERINOFF WALKING INTO SPEAKEASY VARIOUS OF WHISKEY FLIGHTS GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. BOTTLES OF WHISKEY (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. PROJECT MANAGER, ANDREW MERINOFF, SAYING: "Whiskey definitely is one of the more difficult spirits to make just because most of the sourcing, the grains, at the end of the day it's not ready, day one. So it's no instant gratification. This is a labor of love. And why do New York City? Is because we feel like New York City was waiting for a distillery to call home." VARIOUS OF WHISKEY FLIGHTS BOTTLES OF WHISKEY (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. PROJECT MANAGER, ANDREW MERINOFF, SAYING: "It had its own challenges, but that's why they call it the melting pot. Things were not always easy here, they were difficult. But those people who made the difficult decisions triumphed in the end and we thought we did that very well here." MERINOFF SMELLING WHISKEY VARIOUS OF ORDONEZ WITH MERINOFF, ORDONEZ LEADING A WHISKEY TASTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. BRAND AMBASSADOR, ESTEBAN ORDONEZ, SAYING: "Why don't you tell me what you pick up on?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. PROJECT MANAGER, ANDREW MERINOFF, SAYING: "Well, this I definitely get that cream, caramel, a little vanilla and definitely taste the oak on this." (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. BRAND AMBASSADOR, ESTEBAN ORDONEZ, SAYING: "Absolutely. And again, those are all indicative of a traditional bourbon. We're very, very heavy in the amount of corn that we use. So that translates into that sweet caramel vanilla cereal. Also, bear in mind that we're four years of age, so we're pulling out a lot of flavors from American oak, which is what we use to age our whiskey on." (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. PROJECT MANAGER, ANDREW MERINOFF, SAYING: "Beautiful." (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO. PROJECT MANAGER, ANDREW MERINOFF, SAYING: "This is going to be an iconic landmark in New York. I mean, we really are here for the long run." VARIOUS OF WHISKEY IN TASTING FLIGHT VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO.
- Embargoed: 1st October 2021 19:38
- Keywords: Great Jones Distilling Co. Prohibition whiskey distillery
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Human Interest/Brights/Odd News,Society/Social Issues,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA001EV3W9QX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Curls of smoke blanket a glass filled with bourbon whiskey and ice inside a 28,000-square-foot whiskey distillery in the New York City NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. Great Jones Distilling Co. is the borough's first and only whiskey distillery since Prohibition.
The four-story distillery was six years in the making and faced many obstacles even getting it off the ground.
"First off, being the property itself," said Great Jones Distilling Co.'s project manager Andrew Merinoff. "In order to understand what distilling is in New York City, you have to understand the zoning that it takes to be a distillery. So we're in an M1-5 zone in which there are only 122 buildings in New York City that allow that operation. We know that because we saw every single one of them. After a year and a half of searching, we finally landed at 686 Broadway."
Within the distillery sits a 500-gallon pot still made by Vendome.
"This would be an engineering feat in itself," said Merinoff, 31. "The room that this still is encased in is completely explosion proof," he said. "The air can be sucked out of it in 90 seconds, making it one of the safest distilling rooms in the world."
Local zoning prevents distilling to happen above the second floor.
"The coolest part about this floor is the whole floor is dropped 5 feet just to fit the operations into the space," he said.
Although the distilling happens on site, aging of the whiskey started at Black Dirt in upstate New York five to six years ago and will continue to be sent to Black Dirt for the aging process.
"Whiskey definitely is one of the more difficult spirits to make just because most of the sourcing, the grains, at the end of the day it's not ready, day one, so it's no instant gratification," said Merinoff. "This is a labor of love. And why do New York City is because we feel like New York City was waiting for a distillery to call home... but that's why they call it the melting pot. Things were not always easy here, they were difficult. But those people who made the difficult decisions triumphed in the end and we thought we did that very well here."
Great Jones Distilling Co. is the brainchild of Juan Domingo Beckmann, founder of Proximo Spirits. His family owns and operates the popular Jose Cuervo tequila brand. The distillery includes a cocktail bar, restaurant, event space and speakeasy.
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