With our catamaran, Yachta Fun, moored in St Augustine we have a lot of opportunities to be a tourist while awaiting radar installation. One of those “must see” tourist spots is the St Augustine Distillery.
To paraphrase / borrow some of their web site’s information- they create super premium, small batch spirits. They use locally grown sugar cane, wheat, corn, and citrus.
By aging the spirits in barrels within a non-climate controlled area, the area’s temperature and humidity yield a uniqueness to the result.
The tour is very personable
The Historic FP&L Ice Plant was St. Augustine’s first power and ice complex. The Ice Plant is a contributing building to the Lincolnville Neighborhood on the National Register of Historic Places and was the first of it’s kind to make commercial block ice in Florida over 100 years ago.
They invite you to “Take a free tour of our distillery and watch as we mix, mash, cook and distill small batch vodka, rum, gin and whiskey in a historically renovated ice manufacturing plant from 1917. You will learn about the history of ice and distilling in Florida, see our products being made, and then taste our small batch spirits for yourself in our tasting room.
There’s no charge and tours are every 30 minutes. Y’all come on by!” The tour is as down-home as that invitation.
The distillery is in comfortable walking distance from the St Augustine Municipal Marina complex. It is only a couple of blocks from the San Sebastian Winery, which offers another tasting opportunity. Diann and I did both in succession.
The story / blog of Yacht A Fun, a Gemini catamaran sailboat, traveling the ICW and east coast with insights to the extended cruising life. St Augustine Distillery