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.
"Then it was a matter of supply chain, to ensure that now that we've hit upon the recipe that we wanted, to ensure that we had the highest quality for the right value getting out the door and figuring out where we fit in the market and who we were going to be as a bottle on the shelf," Beaupre said.
Beaupre is credited with multiple patents in chemical engineering and is the creator of many spirits recipes worldwide.
"I was called up with my guard unit down in Maryland, to spend seven-and-a-half months working COVID response as a medic, and finally when those orders ended, we decided, 'Now is the time, let's do this,'" said Matt Murphy.
"I wanted to tie the name of the distillery back to local history and folklore, so I went on Google and searched Hermon but really didn't find anything, and I went to Bangor and ended up reading along about the history of Bangor and how they had 142 saloons in 1890, and many of the saloons were located in a section of downtown known as the Devils Half Acre," said Larry Murphy.
Matt Murphy came up with the name for the gin after hearing about two legends of Northern New England back during the time of the Devils Half Acre. A businesswoman, Fan Jones, owned a brothel, Sky Blue House of Pleasure. Legend has it Jones painted the chimney of her establishment sky blue so sailors and lumberjacks could easily locate it.
Around the same time, a legendary lumberjack, Albert “Jigger” Johnson, is said to have caught bobcats alive barehanded, and perform this feat in front of audiences.
Jigger & Jones is a mix of the two names.
"We can only assume that at some point, Jigger Johnson and Fan Jones had to have crossed paths or known each other, so it just ties the whole history of that time," said Larry Murphy.
Despite challenges, the gin bottles hit the shelves last month, and they sold out twice.
"The label means something, the story means something, where the spirit comes from ... means something," Beaupre said. "If you don't like gin, this product is built with the mindset to be able to allow someone to rediscover gin."
Jigger & Jones American Gin is currently only available in Maine, but their goal is to expand and make their gin available in many other states.
Here is a complete list of where you can find a bottle of Jigger & Jones gin.
To learn more about this new small business in Hermon, visit the Devils Half Acre website.