September 10, 2012 8:17am | By Alan Neuhauser, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

RED HOOK — Cacao Prieto celebrates the launch of its latest bourbon at a free block party at its factory in Red Hook on Friday, Oct. 19.

The event, which marks the debut of the distillery’s Widow Jane seven-year bourbon, will feature live music and free tastings of Cacao Prieto’s rum, bourbon and alcohol-free chocolate bars, plus cocktails and food at the Botanica event-space next door.

“This is becoming the epicenter for New York State whiskey,” owner Daniel Preston said. “New York is becoming the epicenter of the craft-food world. And I think we fall into that.”

Two thousands bottles of Widow Jane, made from Kentucky bourbon and water drawn from the former Widow Jane limestone mine in upstate New York, will hit store shelves next month, each selling for about $50, Clark said. The spirit is a follow-up to Cacao Prieto’s five-year Widow Jane bourbon, which debuted last month with 1,500 bottles and has nearly sold out.

Owner Dan Prieto Preston “owns a piece a property on top of the mine,” Clark explained. “We thought the name was pretty spectacular.”

The distillery is also preparing a new whiskey and a coffee liqueur. The whiskey, named Widow Jane Organic Wapsi Corn Whiskey, still needs to be aged — “at least six months or more,” Clark said. The liqueur, developed with Brooklyn Roasting Company, is expected to arrive in stores in October or November.

Walk past the glass front of the red brick building on Conover Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and the first thing you notice is the cute little chocolate shop.  If you look a bit closer, you can see the vats of molten chocolate, and you know that Cacao Prieto is not just a chocolate store but is in fact a chocolate maker.  Once you step inside, you can smell that there’s something else going on here.  As you look around, you notice that some of the machines you assumed were part of the chocolate making process look quite a bit more like copper stills. And who barrels chocolate, anyway?

Cacao Prieto is simultaneously one of the most unusual artisanal chocolate makers and unusual distilleries.  Of course, this is a great thing.  In addition to the fine dark chocolate bars and candies (most of it 72% cocoa), Cacao Prieto uses its chocolate in both a chocolate rum (Don Rafael Cacao Rum) and a chocolate liqueur (Don Estaban Cacao Liqueur).  Both are excellent.  A coffee liqueur made specially for Brooklyn Roasters is coming soon, and we can’t wait to try it.

Then, of course, there is the Widow Jane Bourbon.  We can’t say enough good things about, so we had to offer it to our members on Caskers, starting Friday.  This limited edition (only 1,500 bottles) bourbon begins life in Kentucky.  After the folks at Cacao Prieto select the best barrels they can find, they bring them over to Brooklyn, where the whiskey meets with water from the Widow Jane Mine in upstate New York, the very same mine whose limestone is found in the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge and the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.  This mineral-rich water infuses the whiskey with incredibly interesting, uncommon and uncommonly delicious flavors.  Widow Jane is an experience to be savored.

There are some interesting things happening in Red Hook these days, and a whole lot of them are happening at Cacao Prieto.

http://blog.caskers.com/cacao-prieto/

Just five years ago, there was no such thing as Brooklyn-made liquor (at least not legally—we can’t speak to what people do in their own bathtubs). But much-welcome changes in prohibition-era laws have opened the doors for local craft distillers, and it turned out the doors were more like floodgates.

With a dozen Brooklyn distilleries now in operation, stretching from Red Hook to Greenpoint, we decided that is was time to test them out. Brooklyn Based assembled a willing team of tasters and tried all of the Brooklyn-made liquors currently on the market (tough job, but someone’s gotta do it).

Since opening in 2006, Fort Greene’s Stuart & Wright (85 Lafayette Avenue, 718-797-0011) has become a magnet for stylish residents of the borough (Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams are frequent shoppers), thanks in no small part to the store’s excellent men’s and women’s designer roster. But owners Alec Stuart and Celeste Wright aren’t happy to just rest on their laurels; as Stuart explains, “There’s something building—we don’t know what it is, exactly, but it’s good to feel like we’re moving forward.” That something he’s referencing includes an expansion to start carrying home goods and books, a renovation in August, and an under-wraps plan to collaborate with some of the biggest Brooklyn creative-types over the course of the next few months (we can’t divulge the names just yet, but trust us when we say that the line-up is major). “You always hear people talking about lifestyle stores, and we’re really, authentically becoming a lifestyle store in a way that hasn’t been intentional,” notes Stuart. While we wait for the shop’s grand re-opening—Stuart & Wright will be closed for two weeks in August to make changes—we had Stuart, a longtime Fort Greene resident, share a few of his Brooklyn favorites in the first of a regular Brooklyn Magazine column.

Best Coffee: Bittersweet (180 Dekalb Avenue, Fort Greene, 718-852-2556), because it’s my morning staple.

Best Pizza: Not Ray’s (690 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, 718-855-8206). I usually get the straight-up plain slice.

Best Place to Spend a Rainy Afternoon: The Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Parkway, Prospect Heights, 718-638-5000). It always gets a rap for being the underdog [museum] in New York, but it’s amazing. They do great shows. And a rainy day in Brooklyn is a bummer, there isn’t that much to do.

Best Place to Break-Up: I’m such a foodie and my life revolves around food, so I’m going to go with Roman’s (243 Dekalb Avenue, Fort Greene, 718-622-5300)—because you’ll never leave unsatisfied no matter what the context of your meal is….Is that cheesy?

Favorite Store (That Isn’t Stuart & Wright): Erie Basin (388 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, 718-554-6147) is always an amazing trip. Red Hook in general—there’s the new chocolate store, Cacao Prieto (218 Conover Street, Red Hook, 347-225-0130), and their factory is in the front. It’s unbelievable; you feel like you’ve been transported back 100 years. You can spend an afternoon sampling chocolate there!

Best Place to Buy a Last-Minute Gift: Saipua (147 Van Dyke Street, Red Hook, 718-624-2929) —their home products are great, or you can get a beautiful arrangement.

Best Place to Get a New Wardrobe: If it’s not at Stuart & Wright, all I want is vintage, and I love [10 Ft. Single by] Stella Dallas (285 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, 718-486-9482). The back room is filled with every vintage treasure I didn’t even know I’m looking for.

Best Place to Outfit Your Apartment: Brooklyn Flea (176 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene). I found a guy there that has amazing vintage Japanese indigo textiles—I have no idea what I’m going to use them for, but he brings me back every week. There’s [also] the garages on Grand Avenue and Greene Avenue; it’s four garage doors that this guy opens and it’s all amazing architectural salvage ripped out of brownstones. It’s amazing stuff, but it’s hit-or-miss if he’s going to have his doors open. I haven’t [bought anything yet] just because I don’t need a marble mantel in my life right now, but some day I hope!

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