SPIRITS
SAVOR the State Discover FLORIDA’S homegrown craft distillers
By Mark Spivak If you want to visit a distillery, there’s no need to hop on a plane to Louisville and drive across the Bourbon Trail. Around 40 distillers currently belong to the Florida Craft Spirits Association, and they produce everything from rum and vodka made with local ingredients to aged expressions of whiskey. Here, we present a subjective list of the best. Florida Farm Distillers: Marti and Dick Waters craft their awardwinning Palm Ridge Reserve whiskey on a small cattle farm outside Umatilla. This bourbon-style spirit is handmade in small quantities, aged in charred-oak barrels, and bottled at 90 proof (“whiskey the way it’s supposed to be,” according to Dick). Despite the low production, Palm Ridge Reserve is available at select Florida retailers. (palmridgereserve.com) Manifest Distilling: Located in downtown Jacksonville’s Sports District, Manifest is a full-scale organic distillery producing regular and barreled gin, potato and Florida citrus vodka, rye whiskey, coffee liqueur, and fernet. The facility includes a bar and tasting room. Tours are offered, as well as a monthly Discovery Series that allows consumers to get hands-on experience in the blending and formulation of spirits. (manifestdistilling.com)
COURTESY OF ST. AUGUSTINE DISTILLERY
COURTESY OF ST. AUGUSTINE DISTILLERY
EAT + DRINK
Steel Tie Spirits (above) are crafted in a hand-built still. St. Augustine Distillery (left) is located in an old ice plant built by FPL in 1907.
Kozuba & Sons Distillery: Zbigniew Kozuba began making cordials and single malts in the Polish village of Jablonka. In 2014, he relocated the business to St. Petersburg with his sons, Matthias and Jacob. The family still makes cordials (ratafia, triple sec, quince, and cranberry) along with vodka, straight bourbon, and high-wheat rye whiskeys. Visitors may observe the production of spirits in the copper stills brought from Poland. (kozubadistillery.com) Loggerhead Distillery: Named for Florida’s endangered sea turtle species, this Sanford distillery draws on local sugarcane, citrus, grains, and botanicals to create three varieties of moonshine, regular and sweet tea vodka, a key lime gin, bourbon, rum, and single-malt whiskey. Visitors are welcome every afternoon except Monday. (loggerheaddistillery.com) St. Augustine Distillery: Situated in a historic FPL ice plant originally built in 1907, St. Augustine Distillery is committed to community preservation as well as sustainability: They source Florida-grown agricultural products to make their vodka, gin, bourbon, and pot-distilled rum. Free tours and tastings are available, and the distillery is a stop on St. Augustine’s Old Town Trolley Tours. (staugustinedistillery.com)
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