America’s Best Urban Distilleries

Housed in the 120-year-old Paymaster Building in Brooklyn Navy Yard, Kings County holds the record as New York City's oldest operating whiskey distillery—meaning this place's hooch must be pretty damn good. Its hand-made liquor includes favorites like chocolate whiskey, smooth bourbon, and a strong swash of moonshine. Head there Wednesdays–Saturdays for a 75-minute tour and tasting. Tours are $16 and also cover admission to the Boozeum, an exhibit on distilling history in NYC.

A faction of Celebration Distillation, Old New Orleans Rum was founded by James Michalopoulos, a celebrated local artist who originally knew more about consumption than production. But after two years of trial and error, he figured out how to channel the region’s sugarcane bounty into some seriously delicious draughts, graduating from a teeny 9th Ward kitchen to the Frenchmen Street warehouse where the company lives today. $15 will get you a tour of the grounds; be sure to sample their spiced rum and sweet tea, a NOLA favorite.

For anyone who’s spent time in SoCal, it comes as no shock that Los Angeles’ first distillery since Prohibition is entirely organic, operating under the creed “Organics hold the key to better-tasting spirits.” With seven different types of alcohol and their own collection of bitters, the Greenbar Collective’s line is made exclusively from certified organic products in a 14,000-square-foot facility Downtown. And in true eco-friendly fashion, the company uses 100 percent recycled labels and plants a tree for every bottle sold. Greenbar offers distillery tours Fridays–Sundays; the $15 price tag includes up to six sample tastes of organic spirits.

The youngest location on our list, Detroit City Distillery opened its doors in Eastern Market—a six-block public market dating back to 1891—in 2014. The distillery and adjacent tasting room are housed in a 2,700-square-foot former slaughterhouse on Riopelle Street, focusing on small batch gin, whiskey, and vodka. Local is the name of the game: many of their spirits are crafted with organic corn and rye grown in adjacent counties, part of the brand’s homegrown ethos. Tours are offered on Saturdays for $20 at the distillery's second location, The Whiskey Factory, between Downtown Detroit and Eastern Market.

Tito’s is surely the most mainstream brand on our list, often the vodka of choice at cocktail bars and hipster house parties. But it remains of note for maintaining its craft principles in spite of its clout. The company is still owned by founder Bert "Tito" Beveridge II (yep, his real last name) and located in Austin’s Mockingbird Distillery—the state’s first since Prohibition. While the corn-based vodka may not be made in the same small-batch, single-pot method it was once known for, Tito’s is the first urban micro-distillery to give the big companies a run for their bar money. Sample Tito’s cocktails at Péché and Opal Divine’s in Austin.