Booze News

New Jersey Issues Its First Distillation License Since Prohibition

Craft distilling? What exit?
Craft distilling? What exit? Photo: iStockPhoto

Dirty Jerz has 45 licensed wineries, 11 craft breweries, and 14 brewpubs. And now for the first time since Prohibition, it has a licensed, commercial distillery, too. This week the Garden State’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control gave the state’s nascent craft liquor industry a huge boost when it issued Jersey Artisan Distilling a license to produce sweet, precious booze. According toe New Jersey Newsroom, co-owners Brant Braue and Krista Haley plan to begin production immediately, and that they hope to have a traditional, colonial-era rum — apparently Jersey was a hotbed for the stuff — on the market by April. Fruit-infused spirits made with fresh, locally-sourced produce (naturally), Jersey sweet-corn bourbon, and whiskey will begin hitting liquor store shelves sometime in 2015. [NJNR]

New Jersey Issues Its First Distillation License Since Prohibition