The owners of The Devils Half Acre claim to be Maine s only veteran-owned and -operated distillery. Author: Hannah Yechivi (NEWS CENTER Maine) Published: 3:19 PM EST January 24, 2021 Updated: 6:17 PM EST January 24, 2021
HERMON, Maine If you are not participating in Dry January, a new distillery in Maine might have something for you: a unique gin.
After five years in the works, The Devils Half Acre distillery opened last year with their Jigger and Jones American Gin. The liquor is made in Hermon with Juniper berries harvested right there.
The recipe was crafted by a University of Maine engineer, James Beaupre, and two veterans, Matt Murphy and Larry Murphy.
North Hampton family launches gin distillery in Maine
Angeljean Chiaramida
When Larry Murphy
got the call from his son, Matthew, asking him to join in a new liquor distillery in Hermon, Maine, near Bangor, it gave the North Hampton father pause for thought.
“To tell you the truth, I thought my son was crazy,” said Murphy, a sales specialist and Air Force veteran. “Then I started to do some research on gin and I found it’s having a resurgence. Gin is outselling vodka. We’ve come into the perfect storm. ”
The result is the founding of The Devil’s Half Acre Distillery and its limited first distillation of Jigger & Jones Gin, that only recently hit liquor shelves in Maine. But from all accounts, the upstart gin is doing well.