This Florida-based distillery led by an Orange County native is all about homegrown botanicals.
Situated in a Florida barn that was once a workshop for fixing tractors and bagging potatoes, Jayne Street Distilling Co. is a passion project that celebrates regional agriculture with liquors made from locally sourced plants.
Distiller and founder Nick Spiegel is an Orange County native who grew up in Pine Island. His lifelong passion for food and drink led him to the Culinary Institute of America, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Advanced Wines, Beverage, and Hospitality, before heading to Napa to become a sommelier.
Back home in the Hudson Valley, Spiegel began dreaming of crafting botanical-based spirits using the native and invasive flora of the region; the local hiking trails were his muse. He developed a gin with Eastern Red Cedar juniper, angelica root, and bramble, and an amaro created from regional flora and sweetened with local honey. Then came a single malt whiskey made with barley from Hudson Valley Malt in Germantown, and a rum with molasses from upstate New York that’s aged in Adirondack oak barrels. And as an answer to the canned spiked seltzer craze, Spiegel produced a wheat vodka and formulated Jayne x Soda, which includes a splash of fresh cranberry juice.
“I think the original vision was a space where I could do the things that I’m passionate about—high-end hospitality for locals by locals, and presenting the flavors and flora that represent the Hudson Valley,” says Spiegel, whose sister helps with the foraging and creates the artwork for the bottles.
At the bar, you’ll find a rotating list of 10 cocktails, featuring house-made ingredients—from the juices and syrups right down to the garnish—and fun names like the sweet potato nectar-infused Sam I Yam, and She Shelled Sea Shells, swirled with gin, fresh lime, pistachio orgeat, and egg white. A tight menu of seasonal small plates changes frequently, as well.
“Our hope was always to bring a different level of hospitality to the area for locals to enjoy, but also for out-of-towners to seek out,” says Spiegel. “An establishment that could grow and spread its reach in the Hudson Valley and New York as a whole, and act as an anchor for our little village of Florida.”
A goal that’s worthy of a toast—cheers!
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