Grub Street

There’s never been a better time to make hard ­liquor in this town—or a better time to be a locavore boozehound. Recent laws have made it much easier (and cheaper) to open a small distillery: If producers agree to source their raw materials primarily from New York State, they can apply for a farm-distiller’s license, reducing the annual fee considerably and, as of next April, allowing them to sell their wares at farmers’ markets. New York has a long history of micro­distilling (both legal and not), and nearly a century after Prohibition wiped out so many businesses, craft operations have made a comeback—a confluence of the booming DIY artisanal food-and-drink movement and the enduring classic-cocktail craze. Here, an introduction to the new breed of New York ­distillers and their microbatch spirits.

Peak season for Brussels sprouts begins in fall and runs through winter. Prompted by a good frost or two, the aristocratic little cabbages turn their stored starches into sugar, rendering them sweet and nutty. Frost is to sprouts as sunshine is to tomatoes. To give the veggies a crisp textural boost, Kyle Knall, chef of the terrific new whiskey bar and restaurant Maysville near Madison Square, pulls the leaves from the hearts and cooks them separately. Then he tosses them together with crunchy bits of pig’s ear, but in a pinch, bacon does the trick.