Sugar Works Distillery

With their official Grand Opening only a week away, we spirited over to NSB’s coolest new business to get an inside tour of Sugar Works Distillery. The craft distillery presents a creative new diversion for New Smyrna locals. It’s the only place around with hand-crafted spirits, it has deep NSB roots, and it is about to take off.

A decade ago, craft beers were all the rage, and breweries popped up all over the country, including two nice options right here in New Smyrna Beach. The craft spirit business seems to be in the nascent stages of a similar boom, and our local distillery has seemingly mastered this burgeoning new industry.

The NSB Connection

The spirit crafters at Sugar Works love their local NSB roots. The water they use as their base? Yup, it’s that good old NSB Municipal water – filtered of course. All of their ingredients are natural and organic, and many are locally sourced. As an example, they are currently pairing their spirits with teas from Yaupon Brothers Teas, a growing local enterprise. (Hint: The green tea offering was pretty damn good.)

They are also toying around with two new concoctions from NSB craft brewers. We sampled interesting derivatives of New Smyrna Beach Brewing Company’s Eureka Double IPA and Half Wall’s Jefficus Stout, which may appear on the Sugar Works menu in the future.

Lifelong friends Thomas McPeek and Mike Gardner are the passionate minds behind Sugar Works Distillery. The name is a British derivative of the famed Sugar Mill that centuries ago operated just a few miles away. And all of their privately-labeled offerings feature names that locals will love.

The distillery currently offers three fantastic spirits: Turnbull Bay Silver Rum, Callalisa Creek Whiskey and New Smyrna Shine. The common denominator between all three were the distinctive flavor touches and the unexpected smoothness of each. All three libations are excellent sipping drinks, as well as delicious mixing options. We sampled the moonshine with pink lemonade, and it was a perfect beach drink… at a 100 proof, maybe too tasty…

The Craft Connection

The biggest surprise was learning how much craft actually plays into the creations here. McPeek and Gardner are mad mixologists, constantly honing their recipes. The result are tasty, easy to drink creations with a distinctive flair.

Aside from their three core liquors, we were lucky enough to catch a sneak peek of their forthcoming spiced rum, which is fantastically unique. We also tried out a revised recipe for their signature moonshine, which was even smoother than their current one.

Sugar Works offers free tours and free tastings any time that they are open, and we highly recommend doing both. They have also just begun offering classes where they pair some kind of libation creation activity with another fun diversion. We plan on being there for the upcoming Cupcakes and Cocktails class on February 23rd.

The Current Menu

We’re not experts on spirits, but can share a bit on what we tasted:

• New Smyrna Shine Moonshine: 100 proof with just enough bite to remind you of the rugged moonshine you sampled in the backwoods earlier in life. But this shine is so smooth…
• Turnbull Bay Rum: We are not rum drinkers, but this was so good we bought a bottle. It’s a silver rum with the slightest hint of banana. Smoothest rum I remember sampling, and it mixes wonderfully.
• Callalisa Creek Whiskey: It’s a whiskey in the bourbon family, aged in oak barrels, and again incredibly smooth. It was a sweet sample with just the right amount of burn.

You can grab a bottle of any of these offerings at the company store on Rte. 44. You can also order all of them at local NSB lounges, including The Bounty, Outriggers, Traders and Flagler Tavern, with more places on the way.

The official grand opening is February 2nd, 2019 from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The event features five hours of live entertainment from Reed Foley and Jason Lee, food from Uncle Chicken, and drinks. Ticket are free, but are highly recommended to assure you are able to get through the doors. You can register here: Sugar Works Distillery Grand Opening.

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Thanks! Your Neighbors at NSB Guide