7 Things You Should Know About Widow Jane, the Beloved Brooklyn-Made Bourbon

First launched in 2012, Widow Jane is a brand that’s not even old enough to drink its own product. But that hasn’t stopped the whiskey maker from quickly standing out on the shelves alongside historic brands to become a top pick among seasoned bartenders and at-home Old Fashioned drinkers alike.

The Brooklyn-born brand was founded by Daniel Preston and Vince Oleson with a mission to make bourbon with a distinctly New York spin. Every element is carefully considered, from sourcing the best quality water to creating its own heirloom corn variety. From the brand’s flagship 10-year bourbon to small-batch, special releases like the Borough Blend, Widow Jane’s ever-expanding portfolio offers several expressions to taste the difference that thoughtful ingredient selection makes.

Before you pick up a bottle to try, here are seven things you should know about Widow Jane.

The brand’s name comes from a historic limestone mine with ties to New York City.

It may seem strange to take inspiration from a mine, but the Widow Jane Mine is something special. The famous limestone quarry in Rosendale, N.Y., supplied material to build many of the monuments that define America. In the 1800s, this town in the Hudson Valley produced half the cement used in North America and the material was used to build the foundation of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, and the 27,000-ton pedestal that the Statue of Liberty stands on. Grand Central Terminal, the Washington Monument, and even parts of the U.S. Capitol used Rosendale limestone, too. Upon hearing this great history, the brand decided to adopt the name for its own product to channel the titanic contributions this site’s material made across the country.

The water used to make Widow Jane’s whiskeys also comes from that mine.

It’s not just the name that Widow Jane borrowed; the brand also uses water sourced from the mine in its production process. Located just 100 miles north of the brand’s Red Hook distillery, the water has a similar flavor profile to the supply that powers Kentucky’s famous bourbons, so Widow Jane opted to source limestone-filtered water from this area to give its product a soft mouthfeel and subtle sweetness.

Widow Jane created its own corn variety.

Furthering the brand’s dedication to crafting top-notch whiskey, Widow Jane even designed its own variety of corn to serve as the foundation of its popular products. Dubbed Baby Jane corn, the heirloom variety is a proprietary product of Widow Jane. For this project, each original kernel was hand-selected and later planted, farmed, and harvested to dial in on the team’s desired flavor profile.

There’s a reason it has an intense flavor and rich color.

In addition to using the finest quality water and corn, Widow Jane also uses technique to set its product apart. While many whiskey producers chill-filter their products to finish, Widow Jane non-chill filters and proofs each product with mineral water from the upstate mine. This leaves the bourbon with a rich brown hue and intense flavor.

Many bottles are finished in rare wood.

While law requires each bit of alcohol to be aged in charred, new American oak barrels to be called bourbon, Widow Jane gets experimental with the wood it uses for finishing. The brand occasionally uses woods like cherrywood, applewood, and even old maple syrup casks to impart additional flavor. And for its special-release Black Opal bottling — made with a blend of rare whiskeys, each aged for a minimum of 20 years — the liquid is finished in Japanese mizunara oak casks.

Widow Jane blends whiskeys from many sources.

In addition to distilling in its Brooklyn facility, Widow Jane sources liquid from across the country to make its beloved blends. For example, the brand’s popular Widow Jane 10 Year Bourbon is a blend of barrels sourced from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana. So in addition to paying close attention to crafting its own whiskey, Widow Jane is committed to the art of marrying rare and unique whiskeys together into one harmonious bottle.

The brand’s Red Hook distillery has lived many lives.

Few spirits brands are made in major cities like NYC, but Widow Jane has carved out a home in Red Hook, an industrial neighborhood in south Brooklyn. Located on Conover Street, the building previously served as a parachute factory and a bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer before it shape-shifted into a distillery for the brand’s 2012 launch. Spirits fans can even visit the location for a tour of the facility, or pop by Widow Jane’s next-door cocktail bar, Botanica.

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