The Oldest Distillery in Every State [MAP]

Since its founding, the United States has seen its fair share of distilleries open and evolve. European settlers brought brandy– and whiskey-making practices to the area well before the Declaration of Independence was signed, and distillers were exposed to new grains on American soil, hence the first recorded run of rye whiskey occurring in Salem, Mass., in 1648. But for a long time, distilling in America was an uphill battle.

The English Malt Tax of 1725 forced most of the distillers to move production underground and led to the uptick in bathtub liquors like moonshine. Then Prohibition hit and killed the momentum any distilleries had before the 1920s, if not causing them to shutter completely. Unlike many breweries that switched up their business models during the American dry spell, some distilleries — like Buffalo Trace and Laird & Company — were granted a federal license to continue producing spirits for “medicinal purposes,” though much of that alcohol fell into the hands of gangsters and bootleggers. For all these reasons, the “oldest”-running distilleries in most states weren’t actually founded — or licensed — until the early aughts. Hell, Alabama’s first legal, commercially available whiskey didn’t hit liquor store shelves until 2015. It’s shocking, but somewhat promising: The best could be yet to come for American distilling culture, and we’re looking forward to what’s on the horizon.

Here, we’ve rounded up the oldest distillery in every U.S. state. That title isn’t necessarily straightforward: Many distilleries have shut down, been eaten up by larger companies, or had long periods of dormancy only to be revived by a younger, enthusiastic generation of distilling family lineage. All this change makes each state’s “oldest” distillery tough to calculate, so for clarity, each of the distilleries below is currently active and has been since the year listed without any periods of inactivity.

The oldest distillery in every state:

*Image retrieved from Reiseuhu via Unsplash.com