THE BRONX — The Bronx has become a hot spot for breweries and distilleries, leaving no shortage of options for people looking for a homegrown tipple.
DNAinfo spoke with reps from several places about why they decided to set up shop north of Manhattan and what they would recommend to beer and liquor fans visiting a borough where they can try everything from Puerto Rican moonshine to an extremely dark brew dubbed "Void of Light."
The Bronx Brewery, 856 E. 136th St.
The Bronx Brewery opened in 2011, choosing the borough as its base because two of the company's early partners were from the area, according to co-founder Chris Gallant.
He said he quickly fell in love with the neighborhood and the fact that there were no other breweries nearby made it seem like a good business opportunity as well.
"It’s close to residential. It’s close to the highway. It’s close to the subway, so it’s easy to get to for people," he said.
"And I think people come up there and they’re surprised how easy it is to find."
Gallant recommended that beer aficionados give the company's new Winter Pale Ale, which debuted this year, a try.
The drink combines flavors of honey, dark caramel and biscuits and is meant to celebrate the brewmaster's addiction to ginger snap cookies.
"We condition it with two different types of cinnamon and cloves and ginger," Gallant said. "It’s available now. It just came out. It’s brand new this year."
Port Morris Distillery, 780 E. 133rd St.
The Port Morris Distillery, located just a few blocks from The Bronx Brewery, officially launched in 2013 and specializes in making pitorro, a Puerto Rican moonshine created with brown sugar, apples and honey.
Co-owner Rafael Barbosa said he wanted to base the distillery in The Bronx because he has family here, although he focused on finding a place in Port Morris specifically because he liked the name of the neighborhood and wanted to name the business after it.
"Maybe today I would’ve called it The Bronx Distillery but, at that time, it created a conversation," he said.
"A lot of people have never heard of Port Morris even though the area has always been called Port Morris."
Given that it is the holiday season, Barbosa suggested trying the distillery's coquito, a form of egg nog that they make with coconuts, cinnamon and pitorro.
Gun Hill Brewing Company, 3227 Laconia Ave.
Beer lovers who want to venture further north can check out The Gun Hill Brewing Company, which opened in February 2014.
"I went to grade school and high school in The Bronx and my partner went to college in The Bronx, so we had a bunch of ties to the area," said managing partner Dave Lopez, explaining why they wanted to set up shop in the borough.
"We also felt that it was important, given all those ties, that we try and do something a little different in the borough."
Lopez recommended trying the brewery's Void of Light beer, a foreign-style stout that is pitch black in color (as the name would suggest) and has a flavor similar to espresso and cocoa.
"It’s definitely a strong beer in terms of the alcohol content, but it’s certainly not a heavy beer. It's very smooth," Lopez said.
"It goes down easy. It’s got a lot of flavor, but you’re not going to get full just by drinking a pint of it."
Chelsea Craft Brewing Company, 463 E. 173rd St.
The Bronx is about to get a new brewery as Chelsea Craft Brewing Company plans to start making beer in the borough next week.
It was based out of Chelsea Piers for almost 20 years but recently moved to The Bronx after its rent in Manhattan became too high.
Head Brewer Mark Szmaida suggested trying the company's flagship Checker Cab Blonde Ale, which he described as "a people-pleasing entry level craft beer based on a German Kolsch style beer."
Tirado Distillery, 753 E. 134th St.
The Tirado Distillery was founded by Dr. Renee Hernandez in 2010. He chose the South Bronx location because of family ties to the borough and his desire to make it more competitive with Brooklyn.
He suggested people try the distillery's Tirado El Caribe, a whiskey infused with apricot that he described as a sweet drink good for pairing with desserts.
"Right after your New York cheesecake, you take out your Tirado El Caribe and sip on that," he said. "Perfect complement."
He hoped to see the South Bronx turn into a big hot spot for fans of good beer and liquor, noting that his distillery's close proximity to The Bronx Brewery and the Port Morris Distillery made it an ideal location for drinking high quality alcohol.
"I think people should make it a destination," he said.
"As they are walking through, they can go visit The Bronx Brewery, walk one block over, visit my distillery, drink some whiskey, then go another block over and drink the pitorro by Port Morris Distillery."
