Local Distillery Relocating to Future Fishtown Concert Hall

Pennsylvania’s first craft distillery since Prohibition will be relocating its headquarters to Fishtown this fall in a soon-to-be concert hall near the Delaware River waterfront.

Philadelphia Distilling will be moving into 13,000 square feet of space in the former Ajax Metal Co. building at 1000 Frankford Ave., which will reopen this fall as an entertainment complex called Penn Treaty Village.

The move is expected to take place around October.

“This is a game changer,” co-founder Andrew Auwerda told the Philadelphia Business Journal. “This will pole vault us from a small craft distillery to one with presence and exposure.”

The distillery, known for its spirits like the Bluecoat American Dry Gin, will be moving from its current location in Northeast Philadelphia, which it will continue to rent for storage, inventory and assembly purposes once it moves into its new space.

“We needed to expand,” Auwerda said. “We wanted to be closer to our current fan base, and give people an opportunity to understand what we do.”

The new headquarters will have a tasting room, event space, retail shop, an 80-seat restaurant, 80-seat outdoor patio and cocktail bar.

Tastings and guided tours will also be offered several times a week.

“It’s really exciting for us,” Auwerda said. “The customer can literally watch what happens with a sack of grain through the whole process until it’s a cocktail in front of them.”

The menu for the restaurant is not complete yet, but the cuisine would be American, farm-to-table, Auwerda said.

“We’re going to pair the food and the cocktails together,” he said. “My expectation is that the food will be excellent and world-class like the gin. The goal is set very high.”

Alcohol will be sold and served from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The Live Nation-operated Penn Treaty Village project is a $32 million redevelopment of the former factory building. It will include the 2,500-person-capacity Fillmore concert hall and a separate 450-person Foundry club.

Philadelphia Distilling will be leasing its new space for 10 years plus an option for another 10 years.

Written by Kenneth Hilario; Published by the Philadelphia Business Journal