New York Distilling Co. was founded in 2011, in the middle of Brooklyn’s craft-beverage revival, by two people who knew exactly what they were doing.
Cocktail people making spirits for cocktails
Allen Katz
Co-founder, and one of the nation’s leading experts on distilled spirits and cocktails. Allen is renowned for public and professional seminars on America’s food and cocktail heritage, previously hosted The Cocktail Hour for Martha Stewart on SiriusXM, and has directed spirits education at the highest level of the New York trade. The spirits are the argument; his palate is the editor.
Tom Potter
Co-founder. Tom co-founded Brooklyn Brewery in 1987, serving as CEO and Chairman, and co-authored “Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery.” He helped found the NY State Distillers Guild and serves on the board of the American Craft Spirits Association. He has built a beloved Brooklyn craft brand into a national one before — he brought the blueprint, and the patience, to do it again.
Bill Potter
Chief Blender & Distiller. After a decade in fine dining, Bill took the helm of the stills and the barrel program — he is a member of the American Sommelier Association and a Certified Spirits Specialist. Every barrel that becomes a Single Barrel, a blend, or more time in the dark goes through his glass first.
Urban attitude, heirloom roots
We make great gin and great rye, deliberately and well. The grain comes from New York State farms; the rye program reaches back to a 1630s heirloom we spent thirteen years rebuilding. In 2025 we joined Scotland’s Loch Lomond Group, a whisky house with roots reaching back to 1814 — old-world tradition, new-world rye. The roots are agricultural and historical. The attitude is entirely Brooklyn.
Jaywalker
In June 2026 we opened Jaywalker — a 3,000-square-foot cocktail bar and event space inside the Bushwick distillery, named for Jaywalk Rye. Cocktails by Jane Danger and Jamie Gordon, guided tastings, and events on the calendar. Come see it.