That's the Spirit!

Randy Pratt’s wife wouldn’t let him get a dog, he says, so he started making gin instead.

Randy Pratt’s wife wouldn’t let him get a dog, he says, so he started making gin instead. “I’ve always liked gin, and I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to do something different,” says the 55-year-old school administrator.

Pratt quickly discovered that, unlike beer and wine, spirits are “heavily regulated.” And he spent more than a year obtaining the required federal and state permits before creating the first batch of gin bearing the Great Notch Distillery label this past March. (Great Notch is a place in Passaic County where George Washington stationed his troops in 1780.)

The Oakland resident also spent more than a year perfecting his gin recipe. “It was trial and error, mixing and matching the different botanicals to get the formula right,” he says. The result is Garden State Dry Gin, distilled in Wyckoff. It has a light undertone of juniper and pleasing floral and citrus flavors. Pratt’s first sale was to J&N Liquors in Pompton Lakes. “I felt awesome!” he recalls. “But I felt even better when they reordered. That’s when I knew I had a really good product.”

Want to pick up a bottle for the summer gin-and-tonic season? (Pratt makes a nice Devil’s Legend Moonshine too.) Head to Beekman Wines & Liquors in Glen Rock, Hawthorne Liquors, Oakland Wine & Liquors or Ramsey Liquors. You may spot Pratt making a delivery. “Some friends help me bottle, but other than that it’s a one-man show,” he says. “I make it, sell it and deliver it—on nights and weekends.” How does his wife feel about this new venture? “She looks back now and says we should have gotten two dogs.”