Kings County Distillery is New York City’s premier craft distillery and among the most acclaimed small distilleries in the United States. Focused exclusively on whiskeys, Kings County has made a name for its Bourbon, Peated Bourbon, Empire Rye and other creative whiskeys. We only distill whiskey and we never sell whiskey made from any other source.
Kings County’s whiskeys have won numerous awards from the American Distilling Institute, the American Craft Spirits Association, and the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and have been praised by the New York Times, the New Yorker, Whiskey Advocate and many other sources. Kings County’s whiskeys are always mashed, fermented, distilled, and aged onsite in Brooklyn.
First located in a 325 square-foot room in East Williamsburg, Kings County began as the smallest commercial distillery in the country, with five 24-liter stainless steel stills making whiskey seven days a week, 16 hours a day. In 2012, the distillery moved into the Paymaster Building in the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard, just steps from legendary site of the Brooklyn Whiskey Wars of the 1860s and the former distillery district of the waterfront.
Kings County blends distilling practices from a variety of cultures into creative whiskeys that remain traditional while defying convention, using Scottish copper pot stills, open fermentation, and local grains to make American whiskeys that expand the category. One of the preeminent craft distilleries in the United States, the American Distilling Institute named Kings County Distillery of the Year in 2016 and then again, named Distillery of the Year in 2023 by the New Orleans Spirits Competition..
Sure. Our food is in the snacks zone: nuts, cheese and crackers, but many visitors come for drinks and flights and skip the tour.