Entering St. Augustine Distillery is a neo-vintage experience of sorts. Old farming tools adorn exposed brick walls along the entrance, providing for visitors a glimpse into the agricultural origins of the craft.
Visitors then watch an intro video, then take a craft spirits tour. Gleaming earthen floors and state-of-the-art copper distilling equipment serve as modern contrast. The distilleries in Florida make vodka from the state's sugar cane. A small-batch bourbon, gin and rum are in the works. McDaniel works with local farmers for his ingredients.
After the tour visitors are served samples at an old-timey bar by a gent in suspenders, heralding to a bygone time when farmers drove much of the spirits-making in this state and cocktails were strong and simple.
“The terroir,” McDaniel said, is what distinguishes Florida’s craft spirits from other regions. “The terroir is the combination of the geographic elements that dictate how things will taste.”
“We have so many things that make fantastic spirits,” he said. “Great corn, sugar cane…”
Sugar cane is king at Florida Cane Vodka in Tampa.
Pat O'Brien, owner of Florida Cane Vodka and his partner Lee Nelson utilize the crop to make their small-batch artisanal vodka, which comes in about a dozen flavors, including Miami Mango to Key West Lemon.
“We're surrounded by all these great resources in Florida,” O’Brien said. “We decided to use sugar cane. Most vodka is made from grain or potatoes. We sourced our sugar cane from South Florida and keep it local.”
Cane Vodka has a sweet finish, and is smooth enough to drink straight.
All the Cane Vodka flavors are made with natural fruit from nearby locales, including strawberries come from Plant City and blueberries from Hernando.
“We're trying to market something that when people go on vacation down here they can take a part of Florida back with them,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien and his group offer tours twice a week at their Brandon, Fla. distillery. You can see the vodka being made from the adjoining tasting room.
Back at Palm Ridge Reserve, Dick passed around a sampling of corn, rye and barley found right here in Florida to explain his ingredients. He dumped a heap of the blend into a 60-gallon copper still heated by propane. When done the whiskey will go into oak barrels to age for about 9 months and then be bottled by hand.
It’s a very slow and old-fashioned way of distilling, Dick said.
“Everything old is new again,” he said.
Located in Tampa, the FCSA serves as the voice for the Florida handcrafted distilled spirits industry, dedicated to the meticulous hand-crafting of every individual product. You’ll find member distilleries all over the Sunshine State, each promising utterly unique concoctions that you can sample in tastings or discover on tours.
One is Suncoast Loaded Cannon Distillery in Bradenton on Florida’s Central East Coast, welcoming visitors with premiere spirits that include Margoza’s Gin, a refreshing masterpiece that’s touched with a hint of citrus and finished in a hibiscus bath; Kaminari Rice Whiskey, which is a buttery pleasure that fittingly translates to “Thunder and Lightning” in Japanese; and a variety of rums, carefully balanced with just the right measure of dark sugar and molasses.
But these offerings are just the beginning. You can sample and purchase all of Loaded Cannon’s spirits in its Tasting Room, rugged and beautiful with a copper bar top and massive, reclaimed wood beams. While you’re there, make sure to peek into the large window of the production room. Tours and classes round out the attractions.
Another FCSA member is the Islamorada Brewery and Distillery, which holds bragging rights as the only brewery and distillery in the Florida Keys. You can sip free samples of its award-winning rums, vodka, and gins in the distillery, which provides a backdrop of a 100-gallon still and striking oak barrels brimming with aging spirits. Then make tracks for the bar for a cocktail showcasing your spirit of choice, from a Barrel Aged Rum on the rocks to the Distillery’s signature Perfect Key Lime Pie Martini. Food trucks, the brewery, a beer garden and swag shop add to the fun.
You’ll find Distillery 98 nestled in tranquil Santa Rosa Beach in Northwest Florida, established with the goal of connecting people to the place. Their distinctively distilled spirits are made by hand in small batches from locally-sourced, natural ingredients and crops from local farms – which, as they so elegantly state, “carry the spirit of the Panhandle from Santa Rosa Beach, Florida to wherever good times flow.”
