Speciale Atlantic City
Inside Atlantic City's Only Legal Distillery on Baltic Avenue
Atlantic City's first and only legal distillery pours a walk-in flight four days a week on Baltic Avenue, and you drink it in sight of the production room behind the glass.
Di Sanne de VriesBeyond the casino floor
A stainless-and-copper pot still runs behind glass in a low red-brick shed on Baltic Avenue, charred-oak barrels stacked along the wall beside it. The flight is $12 at the door. Little Water Distillery (807 Baltic Avenue) opens four days a week, Thursday to Sunday.
What you see inside the distillery
The shed is part factory, part lounge. The still sits behind glass at one end, the barrels run the length of the wall, and the long bar holds bottles labelled Liberty Rum, Rusted Revolver Gin and 48 Blocks Vodka. Out the back, a walled cigar patio occupies the plot of the old Tumble Inn speakeasy.
This is Atlantic City's first and only legal distillery. The tasting is a walk-in flight during public hours, and nothing about it is timed. You work through the pours with the still in view, then order cocktails or a bottle if the flight is not enough.
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The door price and booking ahead
$12 buys the flight at the door, and cocktails and bottles are charged on top. Table reservations are taken online, and a booked 45-minute session starts from $15 per person with instant confirmation. Book if you want a seat held at a fixed time. Otherwise walk in during public hours and pay at the bar.
Groups, private hires and access
Parties of more than 10 must message ahead. The room also takes private hires and group spirit sessions, so confirm it is open to the public before you cross town for it.
Best time to go
Public hours are 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Saturday gives the longest run at the bar. Sunday closes at 6 p.m., so arrive by mid-afternoon that day.
A Thursday or Friday flight lands before dinner, with the Tennessee Avenue kitchens still ahead of you. The cigar patio is outdoors and walled, so save it for warm weather.
Is it worth going
It suits a drinker who wants to see where the rum, gin and vodka are made and does not want a guide running the clock. Give it an hour. The walk to the next bar is two blocks.
Two blocks away on Tennessee Avenue
Rhythm & Spirits (129 S Tennessee Avenue) sits two blocks from the distillery, and its tall back bar holds the original Albany Avenue Iron Room whiskey collection. A wood-fired pizza counter does the food, and a courtyard strung with lights sits behind the dining room. Hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., with happy hour from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. After dinner the room turns into a cocktail club with DJs and live music. $$$
The Iron Room + Bar 32 Chocolate (121 S Tennessee Avenue) runs two front doors under one operator. Bean-to-bar chocolate and a marble dessert bar come first, and Chef Kevin Cronin's tasting-led dining room is hidden behind it, dim and low-lit, with a wall of micro-distillery whiskey bottles and framed rock posters nodding to the 32 Woodstock bands. Both rooms are small. Reserve for a party of more than four, because walk-in groups wait. $$$
Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall (133 S Tennessee Avenue) is the easiest place on the street to park 10 people. Long communal tables run under exposed ductwork, the chalkboard lists more than 40 taps, and a smoker-and-brisket counter handles the cooking. The fenced outdoor yard has a stage for cover bands. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 11:30 a.m., closed Mondays. $$
Live music and the late bar
Anchor Rock Club (247 S New York Avenue) is a black-painted hall capped at 650, with a low stage, clear sightlines from anywhere in the room, a bare industrial ceiling and a side bar pouring craft beer and cocktails. Gigs are general admission, and the independent 2026 to 2027 calendar is full. Buy the tickets together, since the capacity is fixed. $$
Ducktown Tavern (2400 Atlantic Avenue) opens daily until 3 a.m. and runs three happy hours. The room is a horseshoe bar with TVs over the bottles, vinyl stools, neon in the windows and an attached package store. There are no reservations and no dress code, and big groups spread along the bar. Almost nothing else nearby is open that late. $
Coffee on New York Avenue
Hayday Coffee (155 S New York Avenue) is Atlantic City's first independent coffee shop, now on its New York Avenue corner after leaving Tennessee Avenue. Pour-over kit and a single espresso machine sit on a pale wood counter, with a pastry case, a handful of two-person tables and locals standing at the window. Open seven days, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., which makes it the stop before the drinking rather than after. The room fits four or five of you, not a coach party. $
Beer, 1912 dining and the Prohibition story
Tun Tavern Restaurant & Brewery (2 Convention Boulevard) stands beside the rail terminal, its brass-and-copper brewhouse tanks behind glass at the end of a dark-wood dining hall hung with Marine Corps insignia and colonial tavern imagery. Atlantic City's first brewpub is the beer counterpart to the distillery. Hours swing hard by month and the kitchen is often shut Tuesday and Wednesday, so phone before you walk. Private parties run from 30 to 300 people, with custom menus and beer tastings led by the head brewer, and parking across the street is free and validated. $$
Knife & Fork Inn (the fork of Atlantic and Pacific Avenues) opened in 1912 and was an exclusive dining room by the eve of Prohibition. The Flemish-gabled brick-and-stucco landmark holds steep multi-level dining rooms in dark panelling, old prohibition-era photographs and an oyster-and-cocktail bar on the ground floor. Dinner runs nightly from 4 p.m. Smart-casual dress is enforced, with no men's hats and no beachwear. The building has no elevator, so call ahead about access needs. Private dining rooms are available on request. $$$$
The Atlantic City Experience at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall is free and needs no ticket. The exhibits ring the renovated marble lobby of the 1929 hall, with nostalgic timeline panels, Boardwalk Empire props, a Mr Peanut costume and a sand sculpture, and the vast arena doors behind them. The Prohibition material is the backstory to a distillery built over a speakeasy plot, and this is where the old Garden Pier historical museum and art centre went. Open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Exhibit areas occasionally close for arena events, so check before you bring a group.
Daytime at Gardner's Basin and the Inlet
Atlantic City Aquarium at Historic Gardner's Basin (800 N New Hampshire Avenue) reopened in 2025 after a five-year closure and a full refit. The two-storey bayfront building stands inside a working marina, with a touch tank of rays and small sharks, floor-to-ceiling tanks of local species, and fishing boats and the back-bay skyline through the windows. Open seven days year-round, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. outside summer, with last admission 45 minutes before close. It shuts on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. $
Back Bay Ale House (Gardner's Basin) is the Inlet's long-running local, a weathered shingle building with a wraparound timber deck on pilings over the back bay. Masts and trawlers are moored a few feet from the tables, and the sun goes down over the marshes behind. Open daily, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., indoors year-round, with the deck and its group tables in warm months. Go while there is light. $$
Absecon Lighthouse rises straight out of a residential Inlet street corner, a 171-foot black-and-yellow banded brick tower with 228 cast-iron spiral steps inside and a replica keeper's cottage and small museum at the base. New Jersey's tallest lighthouse gives the free-standing view over the 48 blocks the distillery names a vodka after. Admission is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and students, and $6 for ages 4 to 12. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday to Monday from September to June, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily in July and August. The last climb is half an hour before closing, and the stair is single-file, which is why school and tour groups book ahead.
The Boardwalk wheel and a free gallery hour
Steel Pier (1000 Boardwalk) juts into the Atlantic opposite Hard Rock, dominated by the 227-foot observation wheel and its 40 enclosed glass gondolas, with a go-kart track and midway games lit over black water. The wheel is climate-controlled, the rotation lasts 10 minutes, and it runs a longer season than the rides. Fall weekends open Saturday from noon and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m., with the wheel itself 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Pay per ride or buy a wristband. No reservations are needed, and one gondola seats a small group together. $$
Noyes Arts Garage of Stockton University (2200 Fairmount Avenue) is the ground floor of a multi-storey municipal car park converted into white-walled galleries, with eight open artist studios showing work in progress, small shops and a café counter under raw concrete ceilings. Entry is free, tours can be arranged, and rotating 2026 shows run through October. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Keep it for rain.
A guided tasting at Renault Winery
Renault Winery & Resort (72 N Bremen Avenue) is 25 minutes inland in the Pine Barrens, an 1864 stone-and-timber winery with a vaulted cellar of old oak casks, an antique glass collection, and vine rows and a golf course outside the tasting-room windows. Tours run at noon and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, each ending in a guided three-wine tasting with charcuterie. It has been making wine for more than 160 years, and it is the structured counterpart to a walk-in flight. Coach and group bookings are taken, and the resort absorbs larger parties. $$
Practical notes
Little Water opens Thursday to Sunday, the Beer Hall closes Mondays, the Boardwalk Hall exhibits run weekdays only, and Tun Tavern wants a phone call before you set out. Reserve the Iron Room for a party of more than four, and message the distillery if more than 10 of you are coming. See the Atlantic City guide and the Atlantic City hotel search.
Prima di partire
Do you need to book the spirits tasting at Little Water Distillery?
No. The flight is walk-in during public hours. You can book a table online if you want a seat held at a fixed time, and parties of more than 10 need to message ahead.
How much does the tasting cost?
A flight at the door is $12. Cocktails and bottles cost extra, and booked sessions start at $15 per person.
What days and hours is Little Water Distillery open?
Four days a week. Thursday and Friday 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
How long does the tasting take?
A booked session runs 45 minutes. Walk-in visits during public hours have no time limit, so you can stay as long as you like.
Can a large group do the tasting?
Yes, with notice. Parties of more than 10 must message ahead, and the room also hosts private hires and group spirit sessions, so check it is open to the public before you arrive.
