For the past nine years, some of New Jersey\u2019s most acclaimed craft spirits have been distilled in Newark\u2019s industrial fringe.<\/p>\n
Gil Spaier and his team at All Points West Distillery make award-winning whiskey, gin, rum and vodka out of a small space in the city\u2019s Ironbound neighborhood. It\u2019s an operation that Spaier takes great pride in, holding his business up as the current torchbearer in Newark\u2019s centuries-long legacy as an alcohol production hub.<\/p>\n
But that will all soon end as All Points West plans to relocate its operation out of Brick City and out of New Jersey entirely. The distillery\u2019s next chapter will be set in Kingston, New York, bringing another tourist attraction to the Hudson Valley town.<\/p>\n
Craft distillers in New Jersey say state regulations are holding back their businesses, limiting their adaptability at a time when the industry faces serious headwinds nationally. Their wish list includes being able to ship spirits directly to customers and to serve food in their tasting rooms \u2013 things that other states allow. They\u2019ve spent years making their case to state leaders, but calls for reforms have yielded few results.<\/p>\n
Spaier and his business partner Kate Zuckerman say New Jersey\u2019s regulatory landscape has simply become untenable, and they believe moving to New York is the best plan for the business.<\/p>\n
Spaier, a Long Island native who lived in Newark for 20 years before recently moving away, opened All Points West in 2017.<\/p>\n
Today All Points West holds one of 18 full licenses in the state, according to the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Another 19 distilleries are operating under temporary permits, mostly issued after 2019. Allison Inserro, an ABC spokesperson, said the state is now working to convert the temporary permits into full licenses.<\/p>\n
All Points West is housed inside a single story cinderblock building, in the shadow of the railroad viaduct that carries trains in and out of Newark. NJ Transit and Amtrak passengers passing by can easily spot the vivid mural painted on the distillery.<\/p>\n
Inside, most of the space is dedicated to a pair of stills making the spirits, and the barrels in which those spirits are stored for aging. A small tasting room can serve about 20 people.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aWhen we started we looked at industry averages, and craft distilleries were doing 20% to 30% of their revenue through the tasting room. The tasting room was not the main revenue driver. The tasting room was how to create awareness, how to create an experience, how to get access to customers,\u201d Spaier said. \u201cThat’s what we aimed for, and that’s what we achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n
That remains the model today. All Points West offers tours by reservation on weekends, with 16 spots available on each tour. Spaier said they regularly sellout, with customers coming from across New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Gil Spaier, founder of All Points West Distillery<\/p>\n
Ian Peters Photography for Gothamist<\/p>\n
National challenges, local restrictions<\/p>\n
The greater alcohol industry is having a hard time. Supply chains disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic have remained unsteady amid international conflicts and President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs.<\/p>\n
But a generational threat has taken shape. More people, especially young people, are turning away from drinking<\/a>. A Gallup poll<\/a> last year found just 54% of Americans said they drink alcohol, a record-low. The poll found that Americans appear increasingly concerned about alcohol\u2019s health effects.<\/p>\n National brands are experimenting with more and more product variety to try and win back customers. That means the big players are demanding more shelf space in liquor stores, making it harder for craft makers to keep the spots they have or find new retailers to take them on.<\/p>\n Consolidation among distribution companies is stifling competition according to John Granata, the president of the New Jersey Craft Distillers Guild and co-founder of the Jersey Spirits distillery in Fairfield.<\/p>\n New Jersey allows craft distillers to self-distribute, but only in-state. Getting their spirits in out-of-state stores means working with a distributor, and there are fewer potential partners than ever.<\/p>\n All Points West has seen its wholesale revenue drop roughly 20% since 2022, Spaier said.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aYou can go in and sometimes count 30 to 40 bottles from the same distillery on a single shelf, and that’s something that didn’t really exist when we opened,\u201d Spaier said. \u201cWe didn’t see how fake craft would crowd out real craft.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s all made it more critical, Zuckerman said, for All Points West to find ways to get more customers on premises.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aIf you don’t invest in that kind of communal space, you’re not going to survive,\u201d Zuckerman said. \u201cWe can’t survive in the wholesale market.\u201d<\/p>\n But their current physical space and location makes any sort of expansion difficult. And state rules in New Jersey bar craft distilleries from serving food or other types of alcoholic beverages, making the type of investment Zuckerman envisions impossible.<\/p>\n All Points West Distillery will move from Newark to the Hudson Valley in New York next year.<\/p>\n Ian Peters Photography for Gothamist<\/p>\n Calls for reform<\/p>\n These problems are not unique to All Points West or New Jersey. The Biden administration in 2022 released a report<\/a> about the national challenges facing alcohol producers, and called on states to take a hard look at their own regulations and become more flexible.<\/p>\n New Jersey has made some changes, including allowing distilleries to sell at farmers markets, which Granata said has been a big help. But recent state reform efforts have largely benefitted craft breweries over distilleries.<\/p>\n That includes a law signed by former Gov. Phil Murphy<\/a> in 2024 which allowed both breweries and distilleries to host special events, collaborate with food trucks and sell nonalcoholic outside beverages. But it went farther for breweries<\/a>, increasing their production limits and easing restrictions on how they can distribute their beer.<\/p>\n Granata said he knows his guild and its small membership simply doesn\u2019t have the political cache of the larger Brewers Guild of New Jersey.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWe’ve gotten some scraps that beer has fought for, but nobody listens to us no matter what we say or fight for,\u201d Granata said. \u201c\u200aIt’s discouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n At least a half-dozen bills to change craft distillery rules are pending in Trenton. They include measures that would allow distilleries to ship directly to customers; allow distilleries, breweries and wineries to sell each other’s products in their tasting rooms; and expand production limits for distilleries.<\/p>\n But Granata notes that many of these bills have been floating around for years, introduced session after session only to languish.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThey’re never going to see the light of day,\u201d Granata said.<\/p>\n Of all the reforms New Jersey distillers say they want, the ability to ship spirits directly to consumers tops the list. Spaier says the industry is trending that direction around the nation, and warns the Garden State is being left behind.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aDirect-to-consumer shipment is what saved the wine industry 20 years ago, and it’s presumably what can change the craft spirit industry today,\u201d Spaier said.<\/p>\n State Sen. Kristen Corrado, a North Jersey Republican whose district includes Granata\u2019s business, is a primary sponsor on the direct distribution bill<\/a>. She said the measure was first proposed in 2018, and she\u2019s frustrated it’s not gotten traction yet.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWe’re not reinventing the wheel with this bill. It’s based on a bill that is now a law in Kentucky, and they call it Bourbon Without Borders<\/a>,\u201d Corrado said. \u201c\u200aWe’re just doing what other states are doing, and we want our local distilleries to stay here and continue to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n Also critical, Spaier said, would be allowing distilleries to offer local beer and wine and to serve food in tasting rooms.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aYou can’t really [grow on-site sales] if you’re not allowed to have food. You can’t do that if you’re not allowed to offer a wider selection, such as local beers or local wines,\u201d Spaier said. \u201cYou can only get people into your tasting room who want to drink spirits without food, which is a very small subset of the consumer base.\u201d<\/p>\n