Astoria Park Wine & Spirits
July 3, 2014 My Michael Florio
Astoria residents will now have the chance to purchase a bottle of gin with the name of the borough plastered on it.
Astoria Park Wine & Spirits, located at 28-07 24th Ave, will be the first retail store to sell Queens Courage, an old-fashion gin that is the first product put out by The Astoria Distilling Company, which is operated by Chris Murrilo, a local resident.
The liquor store will be hosting a free tasting of Queens Courage tonight, July 3, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
Queens Courage is an “Old Tom gin,” which was popular in the 1800s, and is known for being sweet. Most companies no longer produce it.
The product has been generating a lot of interest in recent weeks, with Murrilo holding a free tasting session last week as part of a neighborhood pub crawl. More than 250 people tasted Queens Courage, he said, with most of the feedback being positive.
Furthermore, the product has received a lot of media attention.
Astoria Park Wine & Spirits decided to stock it have receiving a lot of interest from the community.
“A lot of customers had been asking us if we were going to add it [Queens Courage] to our shelves,” said Amanda Allensworth, co-owner of Astoria Park Wine & Spirits.
A 750-milliliter bottle for $37.
Currently, Queens Courage is available at Bourbon & Vine (36-05 30th Ave) as well Bowery Bay, located at 19-33 Ditmars Blvd. However, it is sold by the glass—not by bottle.
Murrilo is working on getting his product into more Astoria bars and liquor stores in the coming weeks.
Allensworth is excited that Astoria Park Wine & Spirits is the first retail store to offer the product.
“We are happy to support a local business,” she said.
