Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went on an adventure to Jersey Artisan Distilling and were incredibly happy with our experience.
The tasting room, though small, is cozy and welcoming-- and opens up to the much larger distilling floor, so you can see exactly where the high-quality rum you're sipping is made.
To start off, the incredibly charismatic Joyce takes you through a flight of their craft rums. Can't imagine sipping on shots of rum? Think again. These rums are smooth and tasty. The silver boasts a natural sweetness that finishes clean without a trace of the burn that you associate with any alcohol. Next up: dark rum. Just as smooth as their silver, but has this great natural oakiness to the flavor and you can tell that Brant adds nothing to the batches to add any flavor or color-- it's all natural. To "finish" things off, we each got a choice for the final tasting: Morena or their new Sorghum Whiskey. Morena, their darkest liquor, gets its color and robust smell and taste from the whole coffee beans added at the final stage of the distilling and aging process. Coffee haters beware: this one isn't for you. It's got a strong, authentic flavor-- I could drink it straight with just a splash of milk. Perfect Sunday morning to me! The Sorghum Whiskey serves as further evidence of Brant's appreciation for fine quality and history. Sweetened with sorghum (a molasses and maple syrup replacement that has roots in the Civil War), this whiskey hits all the right notes. I was lucky enough to try both since my boyfriend and I happily opted to try one of each and shared our sips.
Then, Joyce and Brant had us try their rum in a sweeter way: hard ice! Smooth, delicious sorbets (available for sale in strawberry-- and soon in mango!) were perfection. I'm looking forward to going back with a cooler for these come summertime. They're great for just scooping up with a spoon-- but I want to try blending them with frozen strawberries, lime juice, and a touch more rum for what I'm sure will be everyone's favorite take on a daiquiri!
After that, I ordered a drink (I was the lucky non-driver for the day), and off to the distilling floor with Brant we went! His passion for his craft really showed through as he explained the entire brewing process as well as the process that he had to go through in order to open. He's the first craft distillery in NJ, and as such, he is the trailblazer who got legislation passed to make what he does a possibility. He is a wealth of knowledge on both the craft and the business side of what he does, and we learned a lot about the aging process and about what goes into each barrel of rum that he produces.
We didn't want to leave, but my boyfriend and I had dinner reservations, so we purchased a few bottles (okay, we really stocked up, especially since my gracious DD wanted to make sure that he could make some of the excellent cocktails at home when he could also enjoy them). But we also agreed: we're going back. We can't wait to talk with Joyce and Brant more, sip on more delicious rum drinks, and pack several sorbet containers into a cooler to take home. read more