PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Stephen Grasse, the owner of the once-popular craft spirit tasting room, Art in the Age, has returned to Philadelphia with a new business plan.
“Pennsylvania for craft distillers is the land of milk and honey,” he said in a recent interview after unveiling two new spirits that are available now at a number of local watering holes.
The first spirit is Dunce Bourbon Whiskey, a five-year-old bourbon Grasse calls “easy drinking.”
“Stupid good,” he continued.
The second new offering is a spiced rum called “Siege of Wolves,” an homage to the lore of the town where the first production plant is located in Tamworth, New Hampshire. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the spirit will also go towards wolf conservation.
Last year, Grasse had to close Art in the Age after it unexpectedly had its license revoked.
“It took us about the last 12 months to get our own distilling license,” he said of what came next. “We now have that license. We have a manufacturing plant in Ambler, PA.”
The license also allows Art in the Age to sell products through five retailers. Grasse said the goal right now is to continue getting into bars and restaurants.
“We will also start ramping up doing things like farmers markets, street festivals, all those things because our PA license is gonna allow us to do all those things,” he said.
Below is the current list of bars and restaurants that sell Dunce Bourbon Whiskey and Siege of Wolves:
A.bar
Bar Hygge
Broken goblet
Glory Beer Bar
Hopscotch
Johnny Brenda’s
Prohibition Tap Room
Say no more
Tannery Run Brewing
The Keep Easy
The Morris