The Spirit of Brooklyn: How Fort Hamilton Distillery Revived New York Rye

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Inside Brooklyn’s Industry City, where steam pipes run overhead and the buildings smell faintly of oak and saltwater, Fort Hamilton Distillery is making some of the most interesting bottles in New York. You don’t need to be a whiskey connoisseur to enjoy it. Most visitors come for the spirits and cocktails, stay for the experience, and leave with a bottle that becomes a staple on their bar cart.

Co-founder Alex Clark isn’t new to New York spirits. Before building Fort Hamilton, he helped launch Widow Jane, one of the city’s most recognizable distilleries. At Industry City, he’s doing something more personal — dialing in recipes, aging barrels, and giving rye whiskey the attention it lost when bourbon took over American bar shelves. What was once the country’s leading spirit faded after corn subsidies reshaped the industry, but Fort Hamilton Distillery treats that history as inspiration rather than nostalgia.

But Fort Hamilton Distillery isn’t just Alex’s world. The operation runs on the warmth and rhythm of co-founder Amy Grindeland, a Texas native with deep hospitality roots and an instinct for creating spaces people want to return to. She oversees the tasting room, cocktail development, private events, and the day-to-day choreography that keeps the distillery humming. The result feels less like a traditional tour and more like stepping into a living workspace — one where someone is always bottling, barreling, labeling, or peeling fresh citrus for the next gin distillation.

Visitors get a front-row seat to all of it. When Nakhra’s founder, Nishka Dhawan, and I first stepped into the distillery and tasting room, we were met with barrel-lined walls, trays of drying citrus peels, and the seductive drift of rye spirit, malted barley, and toasted oak in the air. Every bottle of Fort Hamilton Distillery is filled here, whether it began its life in the Hudson Valley, where Alex and Amy source locally grown ingredients, or right in Industry City. The space feels part workshop, part neighborhood hangout, with staff offering tastes, sharing stories, and sliding over samples with an easy “you’ve gotta try this.” The whole experience feels approachable and personal; it also sets the stage for the best part of any visit — tasting through the lineup.

Once we settled in at the bar, Alex began taking us through the lineup — bottle by bottle, mash bill by mash bill — with the kind of enthusiasm that you'd expect from someone giving their first tour, knowing that he has done this hundreds of times.

Fort Hamilton Distillery’s Double Barrel Bourbon: $26.99+

The tasting began with Fort Hamilton’s Double Barrel Bourbon, an approachable blend built from two bourbon mash bills — one high-rye, one more traditional — married together to create something round, warm, and easy to enjoy.

I admitted that I had always assumed a “double barrel” meant something more premium, maybe even twice the effort and aging. Alex couldn’t help but laugh. “You’d think a double barrel would be the more expensive one,” he said. “But it’s really just two different mash bills blended together. It’s a bit of a trick of the mind.”

In the glass, the Double Barrel Bourbon opens with soft notes of vanilla and caramel, followed by hints of orange peel and honeycomb that keep it lively without ever overwhelming the palate. It has a plush, warming texture and a soft sweetness that makes it incredibly easy to sip. “Double barrel sounds fancy, but it’s actually the more approachable one. It’s two mash bills blended together, and people love it.”

As a neat pour, it’s welcoming — the kind of bourbon you’d use to introduce someone to whiskey without intimidating them. But where it really shines is in cocktails. The blend’s rounded flavors and mellowness make it ideal for a Mint Julep or a Sazerac. And while the next whiskey in the lineup might be better suited for a spirit-forward Old Fashioned, if someone handed me one made with the Double Barrel, I’d never say no.

Fort Hamilton Distillery’s Single Barrel Bourbon: $54.99

In the bourbon category, if the Double Barrel is Fort Hamilton’s crowd-pleaser, the Single Barrel Bourbon is the showstopper. Anything labeled single barrel — whether bourbon or rye — falls into what Alex calls their “unicorns,” rare and unblended bottles selected only when a barrel is so exceptional on its own that altering it would feel like a sin.

“Single barrel means literally one barrel,” Alex said. “When a barrel tastes complete, we bottle it as is. Distillers put their best work into these. It’ll never be repeated.”

Unlike the softer, more mellow Double Barrel blend, the Single Barrel Bourbon has a deeper, more complex profile. In the glass, it’s warm and rich, showing notes of honey, toasted oak, dried apricot, and a touch of dark caramel. It’s layered without ever feeling heavy or intimidating — a mature whiskey that still feels inviting. It is the Old Fashioned bourbon, a neat-pour bourbon, the bottle you pull out when you want to impress someone or savor something when everyone else has gone to bed.

Fort Hamilton Distillery’s Double Barrel Rye Whiskey: $39.99

Next in the lineup came Fort Hamilton’s Double Barrel Rye, the spirit that represents the heart of the distillery’s mission. Rye was once the dominant whiskey in America, especially across New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, before corn subsidies shifted the country’s palate toward bourbon. Fort Hamilton is part of the small but growing movement bringing that style back, and the Double Barrel Rye is the most approachable way into it.

Alex explained that the whiskey comes from a blend of two mash bills, both entirely corn-free. Rye can be notoriously sharp or aggressive, but this one lands far gentler than expected. It opens with warm baking spice, orange zest, and a peppery lift that softens almost immediately into a rounder, subtly sweet finish. “Most people brace for impact with rye,” Alex joked. “But this one doesn’t hit you the way you think it will.”

Like the Double Barrel Bourbon, I’d never turn down a spirit-forward cocktail made with this rye. That said, it really shines in drinks like a Manhattan or New York Sour, where its spice and citrus don’t compete for the spotlight when mixed with other ingredients.

Fort Hamilton Distillery’s Single Barrel Rye Whiskey: $29.99+

Then came the star of Fort Hamilton’s rye program — the Single Barrel Rye, the bottle that most clearly reflects what the distillery stands for. Unlike the Double Barrel Rye, which blends two mash bills for balance and approachability, the single barrel expression is exactly what it sounds like: one barrel, selected only when it shows extraordinary character.

This rye opens in an entirely different register from its blended counterpart. The first wave is warm and rich — dark chocolate from the malted barley, deep rye spice, and a soft sweetness that comes from barreling at a lower proof. There’s a hint of dried fruit, a touch of toasted oak, and a roundness that almost makes you pause. How could a single barrel produce something this complete on its own?

What stands out most is the balance. The rye’s natural pepper and spice are present, but they’re sculpted rather than sharp. It doesn’t come in bracing or aggressive — it’s elegant and expressive. This is a rye meant to be savored neat or with a single ice cube.

Fort Hamilton Distillery’s New World Dry Gin: $21.99+

With a complete 180, Alex set a clear bottle on the counter. For a split second, I thought he was ending the tasting with a pour of white lightning. Then something unexpected happened — he opened the bottle, and the room filled with bright citrus, fresh botanicals, and the unmistakable scent of summer. It was the Watermelon Gin, the distillery’s most talked-about curveball.

“We wanted to make a gin you could drink at room temperature and actually enjoy,” Alex said. “Most people taste gin neat and immediately make a face. This one shouldn’t.” Fort Hamilton’s Watermelon Gin isn’t a novelty. It’s a serious, meticulously built spirit that just happens to be fun. Distilled with fresh citrus, herbs, juniper, and a surprising amount of watermelon rind, it was designed to be sipped neat — something almost no gin dares to attempt.

If only I had known about this gin earlier in the year. My summer would have been filled with watermelon-gin spritzes and bright, effortless cocktails. Still, nothing is stopping me from carrying those flavors into the colder months. Cheers.

From late-night experiments to spirits that demand years of patience, Fort Hamilton Distillery now marks its twentieth year. The work keeps evolving, but the philosophy stays the same. As From late-night experiments to spirits that demand years of patience, Fort Hamilton Distillery now marks its twentieth year. The work keeps evolving, but the philosophy stays the same. As Alex put it, “This isn’t about ego. It’s about making something damn delicious and doing it the right way.”

Visit them at Fort Hamilton Distillery,

68 34th St., Building 6, 2nd Floor

Brooklyn’s Industry City.
https://www.forthamilton.com/