Once the largest whiskey distillery in the United States, the Johnson's Sons’ Distillery occupied two blocks between 9th and 10th Avenues and West 15th and 16th Streets (where Chelsea Market, formerly the National Biscuit Company Building, now stands). Captain Johson of New Orleans opened the Chelsea Brewery. The distillery began one block to the north on 17th Street, but the Captain continuously bought real estate seeing the city's growth; with the expansion of his distillery, it became widely successful.

A close-up shows the different rooms of the distillery on the southern end of the campus between 10th and 9th Avenue.

Alexander Mc Lachlan's Brewery was located at Greenwich Avenue and West 12th Streets for over a decade. Mc Lachlan continuously altered the site by connecting buildings and replacing the roofs.

The Beadleston & Woerz Empire Brewery was established on the corner of Washington and West 10th Streets (West 10th was then known as Amos Street after Charles Christopher Amos, the same land owner who lent his name to Charles Street and Christopher Street)

The Beadleston & Woerz Empire Brewery operated as one brewing and malting house from 1845 until 1856 when it broke into separate breweries. The brewery occupied seventeen city lots. The site was originally the Old State Property or Newgate Prison, which was constructed in 1797.

During the 1850s, distilleries and breweries proliferated in this area and began to be seen as a nuisance industry. This forced many breweries to move uptown. This distillery at the intersection of Christopher and West Streets, sandwiched between homes, a lumber yard, and a slaughter house, likely served multiple shops and pubs.

By 1864, uptown neighborhoods between 34th and 46th Streets had grown to resemble Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and the East Village. Nuisance business, like breweries, distilleries, and slaughterhouses, were located amid residential areas.

In 1857, at 15 Barrow Street, you would find the Barrow Street Malt House. This Malt House was opened by Alexander Mc Lachlan, who also had a brewery only a few blocks away at Greenwich and West 12th Street. At that same address today, in a successor building constructed in 1896, you will find the Barrow Street Ale House.

This 1896 building served as a store and residence through Prohibition. In the early 1940s, it housed a cafe, which remained until the early 90s. In the 21st century, the ground floor space was renovated into an ale house.

Matthew P. Read's Brewery was located between First Avenue and Avenue A on East 14th Street. It stood on the site of an infilled pond. Read was on the commission for brewing companies of the United States. He traveled to England and Ireland and met with Mr. Guinness. Read's brewery held a patent for steam brewing.

The David Jones's Brewery, at the corner of East Sixth Street and Avenue C, operated at this location for over 20 years in the mid-19th century. This brewery was a powerhouse in beer production. As was common at the time, the brewery employees were all locals, undertaking everything from brewing the beer to delivering it. The brewery faced troubles due to a large fire in 1875, leaving the southernmost building on the block condemned after a wall collapsed. Luckily, no one was harmed.

The Coolidge & Young distillery on Sheriff Street differs from others in our neighborhoods because it was a rectifying distillery. One notable example of rectification is limoncello, likely made here to serve the large nearby Italian community centered along First Avenue. This distillery's purpose was to take distilled spirits like whiskey or rum and create a taste profile unique to the distributor. Not every whiskey seller, or pub, made their own whiskey, but some would commission their own.

On Clinton Street between Houston and Stanton stood the established and successful Clinton Brewery, opened by Henry Solm's. The lot was 100ft by 29ft and included artisanal wells and four buildings.

This small brewery on Avenue A between East 2nd and 3rd Streets was but a vehicle for a "sample room." A sample room came in place of a saloon for the men who did not want to sit in a saloon, pub, or tavern amongst the waves of German and Irish immigrants. The sample room was typically always in the middle of a block; unlike a tavern that would typically be on the corner, it would have a fruit stand or some guise outside and a small bar in the back.