MANIFEST DISTILLING is downtown Jacksonville’s only full-scale organic distillery, located in the heart of the Sports District. Manifest focuses on celebrating American master craftsmanship, from the American-made distillation equipment to the carefully selected farms from which it sources grain. Using a copper pot-column hybrid still, Manifest takes the “hearts,” or the best, of each run to make sure that what goes in the bottle is of the purest form. We use detailed distiller’s notes, or Batch Manifests to document each step of our cooking, fermenting and distilling, which are indexed and searchable by our consumers. We spoke to the Master Distiller/Founder of the distillery, David Cohen, pictured below.
David, tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get into whiskey? Was it love at first “taste”?
DC: I grew up in and around the hospitality/food/bev industry with my grandfathers businesses in the Caribbean. Most of my adult professional life was spent in the entertainment and publishing industry. Around 4 years ago I sold my minority interest in a publishing and storytelling business and wanted to move away from intellectual property. When researching what might be next for me professionally I called on my family roots to find the creativity of distilling craft spirits. In doing more research and educating myself I found it to be a good business opportunity.
Give us some history of your distillery, Manifest Distilling. What was your vision for this project?
DC: Once I had my sights set on distilling I began assembling the team that is now Manifest Distilling. Having always been in the creative industry I was very comfortable assembling and working with largely collaborative teams to create a product. I wanted to bring that style of creativity to this industry. I also wanted to bring a fresh, classic and modern concept to what has long been marketed as something very traditional and historic. With all do respect to the history of this wonderful industry, I was excited to bring this modern brand concept forward.
What challenges did you see initially when getting this idea off the ground? What was your proudest moment?
DC: The biggest challenge was the amount of federal and state licensing required to just be able to legally distill. Two of my partners are attorneys who had experience with alcohol compliance, so they obviously played a huge part in overcoming that initial challenge. The second biggest challenge, which I’ve seen echoed over and over, is capital. Building a brand, especially one that relies on a prohibition era system of bringing products to the public, is inherently challenging. To date, one of my proudest moments was the first day we fired up the still and ran a batch. It marked a huge milestone for our business and I will always look back on that fondly.
Tell us about your day to day activities.
DC: Very quickly we realized we needed people in order to scale this business in a manner commensurate with how we were growing. When we first opened there were three to four of us doing everything. I think that’s incredibly important in running any business, being able to know every facet of operation. When we discovered how much help we needed in order to scale, we quickly brought on help to absorb some of that work load. My current day to day consists of 10-12 hour days mixed between financial back office reporting, production/distillation, tasting room management and off-site events. We have an amazing team that is growing with each of these facets and makes each week possible.
Does the geographic location and the weather affect the maturation process?
DC: There is very little historical data on aging whiskey in Florida. We have a tremendous amount of knowledge on the differences between Kentucky and Scotland. I’ve heard, roughly, one year in Kentucky equates to three years in Scotland. By that metric, we are slightly hotter for many months longer in Florida vs Kentucky. So we have set up our maturation schedule with respect to those data points.
What type of Whiskey Expressions do you currently produce. How are they different.
DC: The only evergreen whiskey project currently in production is Rye whiskey. We are using a wheated Rye mash bill, which is somewhat unique.
What are you currently doing to stand out in this market.
DC: I believe we are currently the only organic distillery in Florida and are producing the only Organic Gin to be made in Florida. Our Rye mash bill is unique and we have a host of products in development that we hope will set us apart in the ever growing market.
Is there a flavor profile that you aim to achieve when distilling? Do you select casks to achieve this flavor profile?
DC: Our Rye mash bill is tuned to generate a specific product profile. We are distilling that Rye fairly clean to give a pure expression of that wheated Rye mash bill. Since we have yet to release the Rye (October 2017) we haven’t had to select casks for release.
Do you source all the ingredients locally ?
DC: As much as possible, which isn’t that much. We had high hopes when getting into this, but being that we are an organic distillery, coupled with the fact that a majority of our fruit and vegetable crop being produced in Florida is exported, it makes it tough to get what we need.
In your opinion, what is the definition of a true American Single Malt Whiskey?
DC: Oohhh…this is a hot one right now. Personally, I think an American Single Malt is just that; A single malt whiskey distilled in the united states. I personally appreciate the lack of structure in that category right now. It gives the industry space to define it for future generations.
What are the most important factors affecting whisky distillation? How do you ensure that these are carefully balanced to produce a consistently high quality product?
DC: On a macro level, I think yeast, quality of grain, fermentation technique, and aging protocol make a product what it is. We have a fairly strict operating procedure that we follow to ensure a consistent product that lives up to what we are looking for.
Would you say your whiskey has a distinctive taste and character?
DC: I believe so, but it hasn’t released yet. So I’ll let the consumer decide this fall.
Where do you see your distillery 5 years from now?
DC: We hope to scale accordingly. In addition to our Rye, Gin, barreled Gin and Vodka production my hope is to have brought numerous other experimental product lines to market with success. I love being in downtown Jacksonville and as this district of the city continues to grow, I hope to contribute to its growth through our expansion.
Do you have any role models in this industry?
DC: I admire how St. George, Koval and Smooth Ambler have grown their businesses. I think they do a really good job, across the board, with their product lines.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with the Tastethedram readers?
DC: Thanks for the interest in Manifest, and if you ever find yourself in Jacksonville, Florida, swing on by for a visit.
For more information on the distillery, please visit the links below:
website: http://www.manifestdistilling.com/
facebook: @manifestdistilling
