All Points West Distillery Brings Liquor Production Back to the Ironbound

June 8, 2018June 12, 2018 newjerseyisntboring

All Points West Distillery is a craft distillery in Newark’s Ironbound that opened to the public in September of 2017.

Founder and Head Distiller Gil Spaier, who lives just blocks from the distillery with his wife and daughter, makes small batch hand crafted gin, vodka, and whiskey at their location at 424 Mulberry St in Newark, NJ. While I visited the distillery during their off hours I was given a tour by Gil who is very knowledgeable about the distilling process and Newark’s history with liquor.

With 35,000 Acres of protected watershed in the Appalachian foothills, Newark New Jersey had by 1920, 26 operational breweries. Today none of these breweries remain. All Points West Distillery has brought back alcohol production to the city using the colloquial name of the old Jersey Central Railroad that connected the Atlantic Ocean ports of New Jersey to the rest of the continent.

Their Bone Black Vodka is made from 100% wheat and distilled in 150 gallon stills, designed for a high level of purifying copper interaction. Bone Black is a charcoal made from burnt bones and is historically the deepest available black pigment. Bone Black Vodka is either bottled at 104 proof, balancing viscosity for perfect mouth feel, or at 80 proof for accessibility.

Their Cathouse Gin new Mid-Atlantic style of gin. Using a traditional ratio of Juniper to Coriander to our eleven third-order botanicals, including Elderberry and Rose Hip, Cathouse Gin intensifies the richness of the botanicals through a long maceration followed by a distillation deep into the thick and jammy gin tails.

Their newest venture, whiskey, was released on June 1st, 2018. All Points West Malt and Grain Pot Still Whiskey is distilled from Irish malt, corn, German malt, and water from the protected Newark Watersheds in the Appalachian Highlands. Deemed “too American” the distillery revived this orphan trans-Atlantic whiskey style. They are then aged in virgin American white oak barrels and distilled in small 150 gallon pot stills.

I was lucky enough to taste the whiskey before it debuted to the public. It’s very smooth!

Proud to be in Newark, All Points West Distillery is open to the public for tours, tastings, cocktails and bottle sales. You can also book tours in advance here. The tour also includes samples!

In addition to their tours, the distillery is open to customers looking to grab cocktails as well. They make Old-Fashioneds, Moscow Mules, Gin and Tonics, Spiced Tom Collins, and more. They also make all the syrups for their cocktails too!