Happy Hour with Old 4th Distillery

Jeff and Craig Moore, and Gabe Pilato have brought distilling back to Atlanta. Their Old 4th Distillery operates the first legal still here in more than 100 years and started pouring forth Atlanta-made vodka last October. O4D vodka can now be found in more than 300 bars and 100 shops. Currently, the team is working on a gin and a bourbon that will age in barrels for four years before it sees the light of day. You can tour their tiny Edgewood Avenue distillery every Thursday or Saturday. We recently caught up with the O4D owners to find out how their first year as an Atlanta distillery was going.

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Your vodka has been on the market now since December. Any particular highlights so far?

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CM: Definitely being chosen as the sole vodka of Kimball House, and also being part of the Fernbank Museum’s Martinis and IMAX program. Kimball House came on early and supported us as a local producer, and that really helped give us credibility. We recently got an email from someone who had a martini at Kimball House and said it was the best they had ever tasted! They specifically asked the bartender what it was made with and emailed us to ask where they could buy it. 

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Word is you’ll soon be selling gin as well?

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CM: For the gin, we’ve always targeted our one-year anniversary, which is December 14. The recipe is done, now we’re just waiting on TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) approvals. Developing our gin has definitely been a deliberate process. We first started using our homemade neutral cane spirit that is our vodka base, but found that the slight sweet finish and aroma of the spirit were interfering with the botanical flavors we were trying to impart. We decided to move to a more neutral organic Italian wheat that allows unimpeded access to the flavors of our ingredients. We purposely started with a large number of botanicals and began to pare down. We made literally dozens of recipes and asked bartenders, gin enthusiasts, and anyone willing to give us an honest opinion to try out the various samples.

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What are some things you guys are digging right now, things that make Atlanta special?

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GP: Proof Bakeshop’s monkey bread? 

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JM: Seriously, that monkey bread is pretty delicious. 

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GP: We love One Eared Stag... 

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JM: O4W Pizza, Staplehouse... 

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CM: MF Sushi is back in the neighborhood. The things that are happening around the Beltline and the O4W in particular are really making Atlanta cool as a live/work community where you can actually walk, and it’s getting better and better.

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Do you have a favorite O4D vodka cocktail?

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GP: At the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival this year, we kegged up one with fresh lemon juice, basil, and cracked pink peppercorn.  It was such a refreshing and delicious drink and became a sensation at the festival — hard to top that!

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Old 4th Distillery’s Pink Peppercorn & Basil Lemon Fizz

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- 2 oz Old 4th Distillery vodka
?- 0.5 ounce basil pink peppercorn simple syrup*
?- 0.75 ounces fresh lemon juice
?- Soda water
?- Fresh basil leaves

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Mix vodka, simple syrup, and lemon juice. Pour over ice and top with soda water. Garnish with pink peppercorn crushed between fingers and torn basil.

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• Basil pink peppercorn simple syrup: Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup pink peppercorns, and a handful of fresh basil. Cover with 1/2 cup boiling water, then let cool and strain. Will keep for two weeks refrigerated.