Widow Jane Distilleries, LLC

Widow Jane Distilleries is the Red Hook, Brooklyn craft whiskey operation that built itself around an unusually specific brand and production hook: the use of limestone-mineralized water from the Widow Jane Mine — an abandoned cement mine in Rosendale, New York, in the Hudson Valley — as the foundational ingredient in every bottle the brand releases. Founded in 2012 by Daniel Prieto Preston (the Brooklyn-based founder who also runs the Cacao Prieto chocolate operation in the same Red Hook facility), Widow Jane occupies a converted historic warehouse building at 218 Conover Street in Red Hook, near the Brooklyn waterfront with Statue of Liberty views.

The Widow Jane Mine water source is genuinely unique in American whiskey. The mine produced the limestone that built Grand Central Terminal, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, the United Nations headquarters, and large portions of historic NYC infrastructure — the mineral-rich, naturally limestone-filtered water that pools in the mine today has roughly the same chemistry that limestone-filtered Kentucky spring water has, which is the foundational source water profile that Kentucky bourbon production is built around. Widow Jane trucks the mine water from Rosendale to Brooklyn for every batch — a logistical commitment that adds meaningful per-bottle cost in exchange for the limestone-water chemistry the brand's editorial framing is built on.

The flagship Widow Jane 10 Year Bourbon — a sourced-and-blended bourbon proofed with the Widow Jane Mine water — became one of the most sought-after small-batch American whiskeys of the mid-2010s, with secondary-market pricing routinely running at 2-3x MSRP. The expanded range covers Widow Jane 10 Year Heirloom Wapsie Valley Corn Bourbon (using single-cultivar heirloom corn), Widow Jane Decadence (aged 10+ years), Widow Jane Lucky Thirteen (a 13-year aged release), Widow Jane Devil's Mile (the unusually high-proof variant), the Black Sands Rye, the Bourbon Outlaw, and a rotating range of single-barrel and limited bottlings. Cacao Prieto's overlapping chocolate operation also produces a small range of Widow Jane–related cacao-aged spirits.

The Red Hook visitor experience makes Widow Jane one of the most distinct cultural-and-craft stops in Brooklyn. The Conover Street facility houses the Cacao Prieto chocolate operation, the Widow Jane distillery, an on-site tasting room and cocktail bar, and a small retail program. Tours move through the working production floor, the small on-site rickhouses, and the chocolate-making side of the same building — a single-stop experience that combines two distinct craft food-and-beverage categories in one facility. For NYC visitors building a Brooklyn craft trip that includes Red Hook's waterfront and food-scene character, Widow Jane is the natural craft-spirits anchor.