Good things are happening at the former "bare bones" warehouse at Okie & Fairview Streets NE in Ivy City. The 12,000-square-foot space is nearly ready to open as One Eight Distilling, the second distiller in the District since Prohibition.
"We're getting tanks connected for the next week or so," cofounder Sandy Wood says. Then, it's just a matter of getting power hooked up and a few remaining certifications, and the distillery is good to go. "We'll run test batches for a little while, and then from start to finished product in the bottle, it's less than two weeks," Wood says. "We'll have spirits sometime in October, and then we'll be having an opening party."
Those spirits at first include an unaged white whiskey, and a vodka. Shortly after that, the two will begin making gin. "And we'll be barreling as fast as we can get our hands on them."
Wood says that he and cofounder Alex Laufer did a "very extensive renovation and retrofit" of their space, which includes not just production facilities and office space but also a tasting room. "We built out the tasting room using whatever materials we could reclaim from around the building."
Wood and Laufer will initially distribute their product themselves to local bars and liquor stores. "Most people are pretty interested," Wood says, but of course buyers need to taste the hooch for themselves before committing. They're also in informal talks with distributors who will be able to take One Eight's product to other nearby states.
New Columbia Distillers, makers of Green Hat Gin, is so far One Eight's only local competition, and that building is located just five blocks away. Distillery crawl, anyone?
Thanks to David Garber (@garberDC) for the photos.