Black-Owned Spirits Brands to Support

Although Black distillers have significantly affected the world of spirits, their contributions have largely been written out of history. The story of Nearest Green is one of the most prominent examples—the first known Black distiller in the U.S. and the man who taught Jack Daniels how to make whiskey, wasn’t widely known until 2017, when Fawn Weaver launched the Uncle Nearest brand to honor his legacy.

We’ve compiled a working directory of Black-owned spirits brands as a resource for those looking to support Black-owned producers, large and small, particularly those located within their home states. From traditional spirits like whiskey and rum to cordials like hibiscus liqueur and Haitian cremas, our goal is to join others in using our platform to help create an easier way for consumers to find new producers to try and products to enjoy.

This list will be continually updated. If you’d like to share additional brands to be added, please reach out to contact@liquor.com.

Arkansas

Delta Dirt Distillery

This family-owned distillery makes spirits and liqueurs using local ingredients from its own farm, including sweet potatoes and corn for vodka and wheat for its gin.

California

Bender’s Whiskey Co.

This producer makes three small-batch bottlings: a double-barrel rye, a 100% corn whiskey, and Batch #5, a blend of five-year rye and eight-to-nine-year corn whiskey.

Carbonadi Vodka

This vodka is said to be filtered through black diamonds, also known as carbonados, to impart a cleaner flavor.

Common Ground Spirits

This producer makes two gin bottlings: one infused with basil and elderflower and one with black currants and thyme. Its bourbon bottling is scheduled to be released in 2024.

Loft & Bear Vodka

Made from white winter wheat, this Los Angeles-made vodka is distilled four times, and described by the owner as more akin in profile to gin than typical vodka.

Shadow Ridge Spirits Company

This producer specializes in ultra-small batch spirits, including single-malt whiskey, rye whiskey, bourbon, gin, and dark rum.

Sukurai Spirits

This “hybrid spirit,” a fruit-infused vodka, is distilled and filtered six times.

Colorado

Rising Sun Distillery

This producer makes multiple spirits, including an oaked gin, bourbon, rye whiskey, whiskey aged in stout barrels, corn-based vodka, and flavored liqueurs.

Delaware

Painted Stave

This producer makes multiple spirits from local ingredients, including wheat-based vodka, a botanical dry gin, bottled-in-bond corn and rye whiskeys, and flavored liqueurs.

Plush Vodka

This brand offers plum-flavored vodka and a neutral vodka, both distilled eight times.

Idaho

44 North Vodka

This vodka is distilled from 100% Idaho-grown potatoes or winter wheat blended with Rocky Mountain rainwater. The producer also offers flavors with local ingredients including huckleberry and cherry.

Florida

AsLegacy

This producer makes a vodka that is distilled six times, crafted from a base of U.S.-grown grapes.

Balt Vodka

This corn-based vodka is distilled six times and infused with local strawberries.

Blackstorm Vodka

This Jacksonville producer creates small-batch corn-made vodka that’s distilled and filtered six times before bottling.

Coconut Sky Creme Liqueur

The flagship liqueur from this producer is made with a blend of coconut water, gin, and light cream.

DuBlase Premium Whiskey

Founder and CEO Darrin Eakins worked with a master distiller to develop this proprietary whiskey blend in his home state of Florida.

Duke & Dame Salted Caramel Flavored Whiskey

This blended corn whiskey includes a two-year-old bourbon, which contributes slightly charred orange and toffee notes. Caramel flavor is introduced in the blending process.

IslandJon Vodka

This vodka from a father-son team of Levi and Kevin Jon, is inspired by Levi’s upbringing in Trinidad and Tobago. Made with yellow and sweet white corn, it is distilled six times and filtered through charcoal and coconut husks.

LS Cream Liqueur

Myriam Jean-Baptiste and Stevens Charles based this Haitian crema off Charles’s grandmother’s family recipe. It’s made with a blend of fresh cream, neutral grain spirits, and aromatic ingredients such as vanilla, cinnamon, coconut, and nutmeg.

Mon Rey Rum

Intended to be mixed into drinks or served over ice, this light rum is infused with apple pie flavors.

Phoenix Spiritz Pineapple Coconut Vodka

This Miami-based producer creates a corn-based flavored vodka that’s distilled and filtered six times.

Riventé Cognac

This VSOP is a blend of three eaux-de-vies from Cognac, France, made in partnership with the Raclie family. Founder Algen Albritten launched the brand specifically with cocktail creation in mind.

SAJ Gin

Founded by mechanical engineer Danielle Petterson, and named after her grandmother, this gin is infused with botanicals including lemongrass and lavender.

Toast Vodka

This unflavored, corn- and coconut-water based vodka is distilled six times, and produced in Miami.

Victor George

This producer says its vodka relies on a combination of filtration and oxidation to purify the spirit and creates a smoother profile.

Georgia

Bomade Vodka

A portmanteau of “the bomb lemonade,” this lemon-infused vodka evokes vodka lemonade but doesn’t contain any additional sugar. The company was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, but now partners with Pritchard’s Distillery of Keslo, Tennessee.

Original Irving Whiskey

Founder Timothy Irving Jr. was inspired by his family’s history of making moonshine, and now produces this 90-proof straight bourbon, which is aged for two years in American white oak and filtered through slightly toasted oak chips to add depth.

Oui Oui Rum Liqueur

These passion fruit and pineapple fruit liqueurs use a base of Caribbean rum.

Illinois

Halo 7 Rum

Intended as a flavored sipping rum, this bottling is infused with coconut, vanilla, and caramel to mimic the rich notes of an aged rum.

Jon Basíl Tequila

This Chicago company’s blanco, reposado, and añejo expressions are made with 100% blue agave that is grown in the Highlands and Lowlands of Jalisco, Mexico.

Indiana

18th Street Distillery

This Hammond, Indiana-based distillery makes rye whiskey, wheated bourbon, vodka, rum, bourbon, and gin, among other bottlings.

Tom Bullock’s

Inspired by Tom Bullock, the Black bartender who wrote the seminal 1917 manual The Ideal Bartender, this company (owned by former NBA player Alan Henderson’s Henderson Spirits Group) makes a burnt orange bourbon that is intended to be mixed into an Old Fashioned. The brand also imports a sweet lime-infused Old Tom gin from a 200-year-old London distiller.

Iowa

Bleu Vodka

This producer is known for its blueberry-flavored vodka-based liqueur, made from grain vodka and wild blueberries. It also makes a citrus liqueur.

Kentucky

Brough Brothers Bourbon
Made with a mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley, the producer states its bourbon offers a medium body and fruity notes of green apple and pear.

Fresh Bourbon

This producer’s bourbon is bottled at 95 proof and introduces specialty grains to the mash bill, including honey malt.

Rivulet Artisan Pecan Liqueur

This liqueur is made with a base of slow-distilled brandy, which is aged in small oak casks and infused with pecans.

Louisiana

Exclave Spirits

This producer makes a rye whiskey and a high-rye bourbon that features 36% rye in the mash bill. The brand “was created to pay homage to the lost stories and contributions of Black people who have advanced distilled spirits.”

River Basin Distillery

This New Orleans producer’s rich rye whiskey, made with a 95% rye mash bill, is stated to offer finish of vanilla, cinnamon, caramel, and cloves. It’s aged for more than two years.

Michigan

Anteel Tequila

Headquartered in the Detroit area and produced in Mexico, this twice-distilled tequila is said to be made with a blend of Highland and Lowland agave that are harvested between six and seven years. In addition to blanco and reposado expressions, the producer offers flavored coconut lime blanco and blood orange blanco bottlings.

Minnesota

Du Nord Social Spirits

This producer makes multiple spirits, including a barreled gin, London dry-influenced gin, vodka, blended whiskey, and coffee and apple liqueurs.

Montana

Birdie Brown Plain Hooch

Named for a Black businesswoman who created a thriving alcohol enterprise at the height of Prohibition, this unaged whiskey is distilled in small batches from oats, wheat, and barley.

New Jersey

Striped Lion Distilling

This American-made rum is fermented from organic American molasses and pot-distilled in New Jersey. The producer also makes citrus, cocoa and cinnamon rum bottlings that are vapor-distilled through citrus peels, cacao nibs and cinnamon sticks. A reserve collection of rums are finished in cognac and red wine casks.

New York

Abisola Whiskey

This blend of bourbon and malt whiskey is stated to have an aroma of apricot and almond cream with a malted chocolate finish. It’s aged in three types of oak, ranging from light to medium toast.

Black Momma Vodka

Founder Vanessa Braxton is the first African-American master distiller and master blender in New York State. Her flagship vodka bottling is distilled and filtered five times, and also comes in flavors like green tea, soursop, and chai.

Cremas Absalon Creme Liqueur

This cream liqueur has a sweetened condensed milk base with hints of nutmeg and vanilla. Other bottlings include crème brûlée and chocolate-almond.

Devil’s Reef

This cinnamon-spiced rum is aged for three years. Cinnamon and sugar at the bottom of each bottle is meant to evoke sand.

Den of Thieves

This straight bourbon is stated to have notes of vanilla and a caramel finish. The producer also makes ginger-vanilla and chocolate-infused bottlings.

Harlem Haberdashery Bespoke Spirits

Inspired by the style of the Harlem Renaissance, this producer makes an updated take on London Dry gin that’s infused with botanicals including lavender, rose hips, and plum. Its vodka is crafted primarily from a corn base, while a blend of aged rums made with molasses are aged in new American oak and ex-bourbon casks.

Sorel

Based on the Caribbean liqueur that dates to the 1600s, this hibiscus liqueur from owner Jackie Summers is made with Moroccan hibiscus blended with Brazilian clove, Indonesian cassia, and Nigerian ginger.

North Carolina

PurCellos 1789

This small-batch straight bourbon is aged for 30 months in charred new American white oak. It’s named for owner Tomeka Lynch Purcell’s hometown, Winston Salem, which was founded in 1789.

Redd Rose Vodka

This corn-based strawberry lemon-flavored vodka was developed by Charlotte bartender Taylor Redd.

Ohio

Col Bleu Vodka

Made in partnership with a Florida-based distillery, this producer (whose name translates to “blue collar”) creates 100% corn vodka that is distilled eight times.

Rayon Cognac

Distributed in the U.S. by Black-owned Lowe Imports, this XO cognac is made in partnership with the Godet Reserve in France, which employs a unique cellaring environment that is influenced by the humidity and salty air of the Atlantic Ocean.

Oklahoma

Greenwood Whiskey

At one time, the Greenwood District of Tulsa was home to more than 600 Black-owned businesses, and this company aims to pay homage to “Black Wall Street.” Its rye whiskey is aged for three to four years with a mash bill of 51% rye and 49% corn, bottled at 42% ABV.

Success Vodka

Using a wheat base, this vodka is distilled six times and also comes in a peach flavor.

Oregon

Royalty Spirits

This producer makes Rex Whiskey, aged in charred Bordeaux and Burgundy wine barrels, and Miru Vodka, which comes in black cherry and pear flavors. They also offer a selection of ready-to-drink canned cocktails.

Pennsylvania

Diggs Boys Bourbon

With a mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% barley malt, this bourbon is stated to offer hints of vanilla, caramel, and toasted oak.

Mishka Premium Vodka

Mishka’s quintuple-distilled corn-based vodka comes in regular, as well as cranberry and honey, bottlings that contain no added sugar.

South Carolina

Fou-Dré Vodka

Founded Chanel Turner was 25 when she launched her flavored vodka brand, which is infused with flavors that include pomegranate and ginger.

Tennessee

Disbelef Tequila

This Memphis-based brand’s aged tequila is made with 100% blue agave grown in the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. The liquid is double-distilled and ages for at least 60 days in oak barrels.

Guidance Whiskey

This American whiskey includes a blend of corn and rye with a touch of malted barley. It’s aged for two years, which the producer says imparts notes of burnt caramel along with a smoky finish.

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey

This brand is named after the country’s first African-American distiller, Nearest Green, who taught Jack Daniels how to make whiskey. Founded by Fawn Weaver, the producer celebrates Green’s history with bottlings including its flagship 100-proof aged whiskey and a 100% rye whiskey. Nearest’s great-great-great granddaughter, Victoria Eady Butler, serves as Master Blender for the brand today.

Texas

Deception Honey-Flavored Whiskey

This honey-flavored whiskey is described by the producer as offering smoky wooden undertones.

Hera Tropical Rum

This Austin-based tropical white rum is infused with banana and coconut flavors.

Highway Vodka

This vodka is said to be made with a mash bill of hemp and locally-sourced corn. It is distilled six times.

Legendaire Peach Tea Rum

This bottling blends Texas tea leaves and ripe peaches to evoke a staple Southern beverage.

Liv Rums

For this white rum, the producer states that sugar cane molasses is fermented for up to one week. The liquid is then distilled three times in copper pot stills. The producer also makes a spiced rum and navy-strength variation, among other offerings.

Noble Wolf Vodka

This vodka is distilled from 100% Florida grapefruits. Distilled eight times, it also comes in flavors like pink lemonade and green apple.

Saint Liberty Whiskey

This producer celebrates famous female bootleggers from the Prohibition era. Bertie Brown is the inspiration for a cask-strength Texas bourbon, for example, while a Tennessee rye whiskey is a nod to Josephine Doody.

Serpiente

Under the umbrella of Mayo Akindele’s Houston-based Nomad Spirits Company, this tequila is distilled in Jalisco, Mexico, with 100% blue agave. Its plata, reposado, añejo, and cristallino offerings all come in serpent-shaped bottles.

Tequila with Friends

This Dallas company’s blanco and reposado expressions are made with 100% blue agave that is harvested for seven years, slow-roasted in brick ovens, and double-distilled in copper pots.

Timeless Vodka

Made with Iowa corn, this vodka is distilled four times and purified with coconut carbon.

Virginia

Tusk Spirits

This producer makes hemp seed-infused spirits, including 100% corn vodka, and a molasses-based rum.

Washington, D.C.

Blackleaf Organic Vodka

Founded by Washington D.C. resident Kevin Larkai, this wheat-based vodka is distilled five times in the Cognac region of France, produced in partnership with Maison Rene Laclie.

Sankofa Bottling Company

This producer’s flavored gin is infused with citrus and berries, bottled at 100 proof.

TCapri Tequila

Produced in the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, at Tepozán Distillery, this blanco tequila is made from 100% blue agave that’s been roasted in traditional brick ovens. CEO Tiffani Capri Hainesworth was the first Black woman to solely own a tequila brand.

Wisconsin

Somrus Liqueur

These cream liqueurs—including coffee, chai cream, and mango flavors—are made with a base of quintuple-distilled rum, which is blended with local Wisconsin dairy.

Global

Adaka Vodka

The flagship bottling of this British vodka brand is infused with spices inspired by founder Chris Adaka’s Nigerian upbringing. He also offers a vodka-based toffee-flavored liqueur.

Araceli Marigold Liqueur

Handcrafted in Tequila, Mexico, this floral liqueur is inspired by the flowers that are used during Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico.

Bayab

This London-based gin uses Africa-sourced botanicals from the baobab tree. Its bottlings include classic African Dry, burnt orange and marula, and African rose water.

E. Cuarenta

Named after owner and recording artist E40, who works with a Tequila distillery, this 100% blue agave tequila comes in blanco, reposado, and añejo expressions.

Equiano Rum

This light rum, a collaboration between two distilleries, is a blend of barrel-aged molasses rum from the Caribbean and sugar cane rum from Africa.

Grand Leyenda Tequila

This tequila comes in blanco, silver, reposado, and añejo expressions. Agave plants sourced to create it are grown for 10–12 years in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Kind of Blue Whisky

This blended Scotch whisky is made with a blend of malts from Islay, the Highlands, and Speyside.

La Boca Tequila

Owned by rapper Erik Simmons, also known as E Sosa, this tequila is available in blanco and reposado expressions.

Lassere Liqueur

Made by a Louisiana entrepreneur in partnership with a French distiller, this cognac-based liqueur is infused with honey.

Matugga Rum

These rums are produced in Scotland using Africa-sourced ingredients. Its Golden expression is distilled in copper pot stills and matured in ex-bourbon casks, while its spiced offering is infused with a masala chai blend.

Mascota Tequila

This brand, which comes in dog-shaped bottles crafted by artisans in Pachuca, Mexico, aims to raise awareness for pet adoption, and donates a portion of proceeds to non-profit animal shelters. Its blanco, reposado, and añejo expressions are made with 100% blue agave distilled at Vinos y Licores Azteca in Jalisco, Mexico.

Monita Tequila

This 100% agave blanco tequila is named after the late mother of founder Serita Braxton. It is distilled by Tequila Mexico Spirits in Tequila, Mexico.

Nyac Cognac

This producer offers VS and VSOP bottlings that are distilled in France.

Revel Spirits

Made with 100% local agave, this producer’s blanco, reposado, and añejo expressions are triple-distilled at the Morales distillery in the south of Mexico.

Sephina Spirits

Imported from France, this craft spirit is made with a blend of VSOP cognac and fortified wine.

Ten to One Rum

This Caribbean producer makes a dark blended rum that is aged in American white oak ex-bourbon casks, and an unaged white bottling that blends column-still rum from the Dominican Republic with a high-ester Jamaican pot still rum.

Vusa Vodka

This London-based vodka is made from South African sugar cane and distilled in small batches using copper pot stills.