Milk Street Distillery, or Two Brothers Making Rum in a Barn

You can tell right away that Gordon and Mike, of Milk Street Distillery in Branchville, NJ, are brothers. It's not so much in how they look as how they flip each other off when I ask them to pose for a picture. (Thankfully, they strike a hands-in-pockets pose soon after). Even if they weren't related, these guys would have to love each other, for the amount of time they spend together. Before deciding to devote their lives to making delicious spirits, the two were contractors for twenty-three years. The slowdown in housing construction, and a single article about a change to New Jersey's craft spirits laws, sent them on their journey. A quick restoration of a nineteenth century barn later, Milk Street Distillery is now the life of Branchville. I show up 10am on a Tuesday, when things are a bit sleepier. The drive out to Branchville takes me through scenic forests, valleys and farmland. I don't have to stop and read the historic markers dotting the highway to