Dead of Night Distillery
Our Story
Dead of Night Distillery works out of a small production space on the southern edge of Los Angeles's Arts District, with DSP-CA-20185 printed on every bottle as the only credential they lean on. The lineup reads less like a typical craft distillery's and more like a bar's back shelf: two gins built from entirely different botanical stacks, a prickly pear amaro, an English-style sloe gin, a caraway-forward aquavit, an absinthe verte. "Make one thing well" was never really the goal here. Everything is hand-run in small batches, and the produce comes from the farmers markets a few blocks over, often the same day it's picked.
The Founders
The story the distillery tells about itself starts nowhere near a distillery at all. A handful of friends gathered around a campfire somewhere past the edge of the city, talking through, half seriously, what they'd actually put in a bottle if they ever built one themselves. Whichever idea was still standing by the time the fire burned down is the one that made it back to Los Angeles and became real. It's a fitting origin for a lineup that spans gin, amaro, aquavit, and absinthe: the kind of range that comes from people arguing about what's worth making, not from a single business plan.
How We Make It
Every step is done by hand, in small batches, with no separation between the people who own the place and the people running the still. Botanicals lean local and seasonal: herbs and citrus sourced from nearby LA farmers markets, sometimes going into a batch the same day they're trimmed, which shapes a recipe more than most drinkers realize. The range spans a 12-botanical London-style gin, a jasmine-and-rosemary counterpart, an amaro built on prickly pear and gentian root, and a sloe gin macerated for three months. Different enough from each other that the real "signature technique" here is just patience and a willingness to make things the slow way.
Details
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA
- Founded
- 2013
- @dead_of_night_distillery
Gallery
Meet the Team
Aaron Rokjer
Founder
Aaron Rokjer transformed his New England fine art background into a hands-on obsession with craft distilling in the Los Angeles Arts District. As the solo creator behind Dead of Night Distillery, he designs everything from the brand's identity to the spirits themselves.
Cocktails
12 recipesAlpinyon Spritz
Made with
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 oz Alpinyon
- 3 oz sparkling wine
- 1 oz soda water
- Orange twist, to garnish
Directions
Fill a wine glass with ice. Add the Alpinyon and sparkling wine, top with a splash of soda water, and stir gently. Garnish with an orange twist.
Amaro & Soda
Made with
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 oz Desalto
- 4 oz soda water
- Lime wedge, to garnish
Directions
Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the Desalto, top with soda water, and stir gently. Garnish with a lime wedge.
Amaro Spritz
Made with
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 oz Bitter Bloom
- 3 oz sparkling wine
- 1 oz soda water
- Orange slice, to garnish
Directions
Fill a wine glass with ice. Add the Bitter Bloom and sparkling wine, top with a splash of soda water, and stir gently. Garnish with an orange slice.
Our Spirits
12 expressions
Barrel Aged Aquavit
Limoncello
Desalto
Bitter Bloom
Navy Strength Gin
Alpinyon
Absinthe Blanche
Absinthe Verte
Aquavit
