Local Distilleries Are Now Serving On Premise Drinks

Going locavore with your Gin & Tonic is becoming much easier.

There was a time when, if you wanted to sip a drink under the same roof where the liquid was made, you had to head for the nearest brewpub or wine country. But with the revival of craft distilling (not to mention a little licensing needle-threading), it's now possible to sit at a bar and order a martini made with gin from the bar's associated distillery.

In Seattle, Sun Liquor Distillery long ago established its craft-cocktail cred with a popular pair of bars. Last fall, Sun Liquor began serving drinks made with Hedge Trimmer Gin and the distillery's eponymous vodka, prepared in the small pot still displayed behind the distillery's Pike Street bar.

More recently, Brooklyn-based New York Distilling Co. introduced two new gins–Dorothy Parker American Gin, and Perry's Tot Navy Strength Gin–into liquor stores and bars, including its own venue in Williamsburg, The Shanty. Like Sun Liquor, the Shanty is a full-service bar, serving familiar brands alongside spirits distilled just a few yards away. We got the recipe for one of their signature cocktails (see it here), which illustrates this happy marriage.

Now, if only these bar-distilleries would plant their own citrus groves, the quest for a locally sourced Tom Collins would finally be complete.