Keeping your money local is a pretty big deal these days. This goes for everything from your shopping habits, to where and what you purchase for groceries to drinking your favorite spirit. We try our hardest to read labels and keep our money supporting local businesses, farmers and workers and stick with the American Made labels. Being as we own and run a small business ourselves, it makes sense to us to try and support others who work for themselves.

Drinking is one of those items you might not think about when it comes to supporting local, but it’s probably one of the easiest ways to do it and have fun while doing it. Considering that Cindy and I make our living from the gallery/bar, both photos and drinking is as local to us as it can get. When you look at all that is involved in creating craft cocktails, throwing back a locally crafted drink can be as American as it gets.

We recently visited Manifest Distillery in downtown Jacksonville Florida where we got to meet the Master Distiller David Cohen, and Sales Manager Todd Paschall.

From the outside, the distillery looks like a small, brick warehouse with simple, straightforward lettering. Once inside, it’s decorated very modern with clean sharp styling. Nothing over the top fancy, but not slapped together like some guys Man Cave. Side Note: They share the building with Intuition Brewery so you can knock out two birds with one stone if you come over to visit.

Once we made introductions, Todd poured us a drink of their Manifest Rye, which is one of my favorite sippers right now. Normally I shy away from Rye’s as they tend to be a bit spicy for my taste. I’m a huge fan of Wheated Bourbons because they tend to be more mild and smoother than their Rye cousins. When we first started carrying Manifest Rye in Bonish Studio, I sampled it, as we do everything that goes on our shelves, which is one of the perks of owning a bar, and I instantly fell in love. I didn’t find out till later that the reason I enjoyed this Rye Whiskey so much is its a 60% Rye recipe with the other 40% consisting of Wheat.

Todd on the left with Master Distiller David Cohen on the right

While Todd explained their distilling process, he introduced us to Jim Webb who talked to us about the National Association of Veterans & Families or NAVF. Jim was meeting with some folks but took a few minutes away from his meeting to come over and introduce himself and when we asked what the organization was about he explained “The organizations mandate is to advocate on behalf of veterans.  A veteran has a 75% chance of having their request for benefits denied by the VA.  Even legitimately earned benefits………..  Our organization acts on their behalf and we have a better than 93% success rate in getting the veterans their earned benefits.  We are very proud to be a part of this organization and we have several fund raising events during the year here at Manifest Distilling.” Both Todd and Jim work at the Distillery, but also work with the NAVF to help veterans get the benefits they deserve.

Remember the part about supporting local? This is what it is all about. A local business that has veterans on their staff, helping other veterans who come back from foreign wars getting jobs, benefits and working locally. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Manifest has a few products that are available all the time like their Vodka, the Gin and the Rye. They also have a few products that are experimental that you want to keep your eyes peeled for. We were lucky enough to get one of their Bourbon’s back in 2016 that was delicious. Unfortunately it did not last long and was a limited release so we no longer carry it at the bar in our Studio. Those limited releases are like finding treasures at the end of the rainbow.

Their Potato Vodka, is carefully crafted utilizing 100% non-GMO Idaho potatoes. Since potatoes don’t include gluten, neither does their vodka. It’s amazingly smooth with a hint of sweet finish. You wont be disappointed.

Florida enjoys close to 9 months of summer weather. What goes perfect with warm weather? Gin! It’s a warm weather drink to sip on the beach, the boat or at the BBQ. As a bar owner, I know to stock up on Gin around the end of March when the weather starts to heat up. Clear through till October when the weather starts to cool back down, Gin will be one of my top sellers.

Manifest uses an organic wheat neutral spirit as the base for their Gin. To make it unique they choose to use dried lemon and orange peel to create that crispness. Not wanting to alienate all that makes gin a gin, though, they braced the spirit with juniper berries and angelica root, in addition to other traditional gin botanicals. This provides a wonderful balance of crisp and dry. This on the rocks with a splash of fresh squeezed lemonade and you can sit back with a big smile on your face.

While sampling their tasty spirits and talking, I asked about their Barrel Aged Gin they offer. Todd explained that back in history, he thinks barreled gin was probably the norm. When ships would be sent out to sea, the spirits would be stored in wooden barrels. So our forefathers were probably used to drinking their gin aged in wooden barrels. Not until a town could be set up with a distillery added could the gin be distilled, then bottled right at the source to produce the clear gin that most of us associate with drinking the product.

Manifest Barreled Gin – Find It, Drink It, Thank Me Later

The barreled gin they offer is smooth, mild and amazingly tasty as it draws some of the whiskey notes out of the wood. I like to pour a sample for people without telling them what it is and watch as they taste it. There is almost always a surprised look on their face that grows into a big smile.

Their Citrus Vodka that Todd explained is not one specific type of citrus like other companies but a mix of Florida Citrus of all types. Oranges, Lemons, Limes sourced from a citrus grove here in Florida. Todd said “You should be here on the days that we juice all the citrus. The place smells intoxicating!” Another fact I found interesting is he said they juice all the citrus, then puree the rinds and peels which has the strongest amount of flavor. It’s the puree that they use, not the juice they extract. The Citrus Vodka over ice with a splash of seltzer water is an amazingly refreshing drink and one I’ve been sipping on for the last few days since our visit.

Ginny the barrel house cat stretching while waking up from sleeping between some aging barrels

While Todd was walking us around the section of the distillery that houses the barrels of their product they’re again, I saw something move in-between the stacked barrels. I looked closer to notice it was a calico cat that was stretching after waking up from it’s afternoon nap. Apparently our walking around had awoken the sleepy kitty and it crawled out from the barrels looking for a scratch behind the ear. Todd said Ginny was a stray they had found which is now the resident cat that keeps the place feeling like home.

Once woken up, Ginny demanded a rub from us for the rude awakening

When you hear of the growers they work with to insure their products are Non-GMO, American grown and of the purest variety, you swell up with pride thinking of keeping our money here in our own area. The barrels crafted here in America with American White Oak. To see the stills, pots and shiny stainless steel equipment with the big stamps on the side proclaiming they were made in the United States it makes you think of how many different trades worked to bring you this product.

If there is one thing you can do to keep your money here in the United States and support local businesses, it’s to Drink Local. Do your research and see which distilleries are keeping as much of their money here at home like Manifest is, then do your best to support those brands.

If you’re visiting Jacksonville, be sure and stop by the distillery and taste for yourself. If you see one of their products on the shelf, be sure and bring it home, you wont be disappointed, I promise you. Thanks for the tour Todd, and thanks for what y’all do.

Downtown Jacksonville at night. Manifest is only a few blocks from the stadium and most of what downtown has to offer