Inside the Revolutionary Philadelphia Distilling

The Philadelphia-born Bluecoat that consumers learned to love wasn’t inspired by anything particularly patriotic. Instead, the idea came from south of the border.

“Honestly, we were thinking about brands like Corona and how people customarily add a lime to their beer, and consumers’ interest in products like lime-flavored Doritos,” owner Andrew Auwerda said. “The more we thought about, the more we realized that Americans really liked limes and citrus.”

“That got us thinking about how consumers add a lime to their gin and tonics,” Auwerda said. “Our head distiller at the time, Robert, was critical of things like that. 'Why do they need to do that step? Why don't we infuse citrus right there?'”

“Obviously we didn't go with lime. We instead went with sweet orange peel and lemon peel as our citrus infusions, but that’s where the idea for American Dry Gin came from.”

Even with the decision to make Bluecoat a citrus-focused gin, it was decided there was still the need for consumer and trade feedback on early product developments.

“We narrowed all of our trails down to three favorites, and then sent those three samples out to literally everyone we knew,” Auwerda said.

“Out of the three, there was one that was unanimously the favorite. It got all the love, and we knew right then that this was it. This was Bluecoat.”

In 2017, Philadelphia Distilling opened the doors to a brand new, state-of-the art distillery and tasting room. It was created with two clear purposes in mind. The first, was to produce spirits at the highest quality and efficiency.

Head Distiller Aaron Seyla was involved in the planning from day one. To Auwerda, it made sense to have Seyla lay out the production side of the distillery, as he’d be the one working in it the most. As a result, Seyla was able to build out the distillery of his dreams.

“It’s been kind of surreal working in the space that I helped to lay out and build,” Seyla said. “That said, if something doesn’t work or goes wrong, it is my fault. I’ll happily accept the blame. It's better than working in a space that somebody else designed and laid out. Now, when I’m frustrated at something I’m working on, I can’t scream 'Why would they do this?' Instead, it’s 'Why did I do this?'”

Throughout the distillery, there are artifacts of Philadelphia scattered about. While some stand out, others go almost unnoticed, even though they are rather striking.

“All four of those wooden water tanks were built by hand by Hall-Woolford Tank Company right here in Philadelphia,” Auwerda said. “They’ve been making tanks like these for more than 164 years. The tanks sit on roofs and buildings across New York City’s skyline, but since no one in Philly has water tanks on their roof anymore, nobody knows about them.”

The second purpose of the new facility is to be an educational hub, cocktail lab and multisensory experience of the Bluecoat gin brand.

“It has been a huge benefit for us to have this facility,” Auwerda said. “It allows us to tell our story in an immersive way. Bartenders, distributor reps, and salespeople can come in and introduce customers to Bluecoat in a way that cannot be replaced outside of this room. They can sit here, try the product, while at the same time watch it being made right behind the bar.”

“We have a lot of people coming into the distillery,” Auwerda said. “Even if a tour is full, they can still sit and have a cocktail and feel like they’re a part of the distilling experience.

“We also get a lot of people that just come in here thinking that we're a cocktail bar, not knowing that we're a distillery. The look on their faces the first moment when they walk from the retail room into the cocktail room and then realize how big the space is and that it’s a full production facility… it's great to see.”

There’s one more use of the new facility, one that recalls secret meetings of underdog like-minded individuals who were looking to create change back in 18th century Philadelphia.

Every Presidents’ Day weekend, Philadelphia Distilling inducts new members into its not-so-secret society, the Sons and Daughters of Independence.

“Our goal is to highlight bartenders that are both great ambassadors of our brand, as well as advocates for the greater good of the community and industry,” Auwerda said. “Many of them are USBD chapter presidents who actively give back to their communities and are creating noticeable change in the lives of those they work with. We’ll bring them in and give them recognition, leadership training and help them further develop their tools.”