It’s no secret that Delaware is home to some incredible breweries. The flourishing craft beer scene in the First State thrives at street festivals, local bars and restaurants and the countless brewery tasting rooms packed tightly into the small state. Yet recent years have brought the emergence of a new trend in Delaware’s drinking scene: local craft distilleries.
Local distilleries provide not only a tasting experience, but also room for creativity by inspiring new cocktail ideas for patrons to try at home and adapt to their tastes. These distilleries across the First State are hubs for unique and high-quality spirits that are always worth a sip.
Painted Stave
Coming up on its 10th year of serving Delawareans, Painted Stave crafts high-quality, unique spirits alongside a seasonal craft cocktail menu at the distillery’s Smyrna tasting room. This local distillery crafts premium spirits using ingredients sourced from regional farms. Painted Stave is known and loved for the most “Delaware” of spirits: Off the Hoof scrapple-flavored vodka. The distillery recommends this vodka in a bloody Mary, with OJ in what they call a “Scrapple Driver,” or in a dirty martini.
Painted Stave’s line of liqueurs garners an equal amount of popularity. Craft your own cocktails with campfire chai, cocoa, ginger and vanilla liqueurs or visit the tasting room to see what the distillery team is mixing up.
106 West Commerce Street, Smyrna | 653-6834 | paintedstave.com
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EasySpeak Spirits
EasySpeak Spirits is the perfect blend of a distillery tasting room experience and a full-service restaurant. Enjoy pub fare alongside hand-crafted spirits and cocktails. Snacks and shareables like loaded fries, jalapeno poppers and buffalo chicken dip are the perfect complement to the tasting experience.
With so many deliciously-crafted cocktails on the menu, it’s hard to choose just one. Take a few weekend afternoons to taste your way through the menu. Enjoy spiked seltzers, crushes and rum punch along with some unique creations like the Orange Creamsicle made with EasySpeak orange vodka, house-made vanilla syrup and fresh-squeezed orange juice.
586 Milford Harrington Highway, Milford | 503-3313 | easyspeakspirits.com
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Dogfish Head Distilling
Great IPAs are just the beginning of what Dogfish Head has to offer. The distillery not only stocks delicious spirits like Compelling Gin and Analog Vodka, but also thoughtfully crafted canned cocktails. The cocktails with fruit juice and Dogfish Head spirits can be found at local liquor stores.
A local favorite from the distillery is Sonic Archeology. With Dogfish Head whiskey, rum and brandy, honey, lemon and pomegranate juice, this spirit blend is perfect for evening sipping. Just open the bottle, pour over ice and enjoy. To Find Dogfish Head spirits near you, use the online Fishfinder tool.
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Feebs Distilling
This Milford distillery boasts a lineup of spirits made with 100% locally-sourced fruit and no artificial flavors or additives. Known for fruit brandy and dark liquor, Eric and Stacey Fibelkorn craft delicious brandy in flavors like Apple, Blueberry, Blackberry, Peach and Strawberry. Along with the mouthwatering brandy lineup, you can find aged whiskey and bourbon as well as Unaged Korn Whiskey.
733 McColley Street, Milford | 682-8422 | feebsdistilling.com
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Beach Time Distilling
After seven years of service work at Dogfish Head and five years of life in East Tennessee learning all about distilling, Greg Christmas founded Beach Time Distilling. Now, the Lewes distillery crafts spirits and cocktails perfect for sipping at the Delaware beaches.
Along with the classic gin, vodka and whiskeys, Beach Time Distilling offers unique flavors like Beach Plum Rum and Beach Java rum made with beans from Notting Hill Coffee.
32191 Nassau Road, Lewes | 644-2850 | beachtimedistilling.com
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