Brooklyn Gin started in 2010 when two former Bacardi brand directors, Joe Santos and Emil Jattne, decided to make something they could actually stand behind. The result is a small-batch gin distilled one batch at a time using fresh, hand-cut citrus peels and hand-crushed juniper berries - each run yields just 300 bottles and takes three days to complete. The gin itself is distilled at Warwick Valley Winery upstate using a copper pot still, but the brand's home base is a tasting room and bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in the waterfront space previously occupied by Van Brunt Stillhouse. You can stop in any day of the week, starting late afternoon through midnight, and try the gin straight or in cocktails. The Red Hook location has an easy, neighborhood-bar feel, sits in a converted industrial building near the water, and draws a crowd that skews local and LGBTQ+ friendly. If you want to see where the brand is headed next, they're also building out a full production distillery at 316 Douglass Street in Gowanus - but for now, Bay Street is where you go to drink the gin.