The United States has a long history of making whiskey-- a kind of alcohol. Many people across the country made the drink before theage of Prohibition. Prohibition was a 13-year period in the early 20th centurywhen the government banned people from producing and selling alcoholicdrinks.

New York Helping Small Distilleries

The government ended Prohibition in the early 1930s. Now, over 80 yearslater, the state of New York has eased its rules and even taken steps tosupport people who want to make whiskey. Businesses called distilleriesmanufacture and sell alcoholic products. Some distillers have set upoperations in New York City. And they are using crops from New York areafarms.

Any cocktail -- an alcoholic mixed drink -- starts with a great spirit, like the ginand rye whiskey from the New York Distilling Company. That is the opinion ofAllen Katz, who set up the company.

“Finally, after 80 years post-Prohibition, we are reclaiming our taste buds inmany ways.”

The New York state government has made it legal for small distillers not onlyto operate, but also to sell their products and have tasting rooms. Mr. Katz’sNew York Distilling Company is one of more than 30 manufacturers in thestate.

“It’s absolutely, resoundingly a win for us and for the New York DistillingCompany because it allows us to enter the marketplace at a more reasonablecost to set up a business like thisfrom scratch.”

Nationwide, the number of small or craft distillers has grown from 250 in 2009 to over 700 today. A trade group, the Distilled Spirit Council of the UnitedStates, says small distillers earned more than $400 million from sales andservices last year.

Bill Potter is the head distiller for the New York Distilling Company. He saysNew York rye has been used in local alcohol for centuries.

“…the oldest distillery in North America was actually on Staten Island. It was aDutch distillery there in 1640.”

Another business, Breuckelen Distilling, works with local farmers to create aregional flavor – a taste found only in the New York area. It and othercompanies operate under a specialty Farmer’s Distillery License. The licenserequires at least 71 percent of local grains in the products they make.

Brad Estabrook set up Breuckelen Distilling.

“…we’ve been working with the same farmer since we started, and we did thefirst distillation in 2010.”

He says small-batch spirits are successful because people care where theirdrink comes from and who makes it. The public’s interest in local products ispart of what he considers the hostile reaction to large internationalmanufacturers.

Daniela Schrier reported on this story from New York. George Grow adapted it for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.

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Words in This Story

spirit – n. an alcoholic drink

absolutely –adv. with no restrictions or limits

resoundingly –adv. completely or totally

from scratch– phrase from the very beginning

regional flavor– n. local taste