The Independent Spirits Expo was held in New York City on June 12th and was held at the Penn Club, an old school Ivy League club located at 30 West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan.

It was a gathering of “small, independent, family-owned hand-crafted spirits and the distillers, importers, bottlers, distributors and representatives” for a walk around tasting of the products that they were selling.

For the most part they were small, off the radar producers, with a couple of familiar names thrown in but for the most part small, not widely distributed producers. There was a good selection of white and brown spirits, cordials and a nice selection of artisanal Amaros.

A couple of interesting outliers that were poured included Trä-KáL, a clear spirit from Patagonia and Myris, a nutmeg liquor (better than it sounds) from Zanzibar.

I decided to focus my time on brown spirits and sampled some very nice French brandies, American whiskies and dark rums.

Amaros, Bitters and Vermouths from Fred Jerbis, Chiot, Cocchi and Cappelletti.

Cognac, Armagnac and Calvados from Cloque Pepin, Dartigalongue and Chateau di Kontambere.

Whiskey from Koval, Garrison Brothers, Few and Dad’s Hat.

Dark Rum from Chairman’s Reserve and Holme’s Cay.