It took over 70 years after the prohibition had ended for the distilling industry to return to New York City. New York had a flourishing distilling industry by the early 19th century, however things changed during the Civil War, when President Lincoln taxed spirits to fund the military. This resulted in many distilleries going underground before the end of the century. The fatal blow for the legal distilling industry in US came in 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment came into effect making the production of alcohol illegal. It was only in the 21st century that small distilleries started resurging in New York. The New York Distilling Company, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is one of the oldest distilleries in the city, and was founded in 2011 by Tom Potter, a co-founder of the Brooklyn Brewery, and Allen Katz, one of the nation's leading experts on distilled spirits and cocktails. The distillery specializes in gins and rye whiskeys and has been one of the pioneers of the city's distilling renaissance that builds upon the pre-prohibition heritage. Gin distilling in New York began in the 17th century, when Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam (as New York was then called) started making a version of the Dutch spirit genever. However, it wasn't until the early 19th century when the first commercial gin was produced in the US. Gin was a popular drink during the prohibition, as it was simple to make. American gin is a bit different from London and other European gins as a result of using other botanicals. Perry's Tot is a navy strength gin named after Matthew Calbraith Perry, who served as a Commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the 1840s. Navy strength means that if this 57% ABV American gin was accidentally spilled over some gunpowder, the gunpowder would still ignite. The first navy strength gin produced in the US in over a century is made using 10 botanicals juniper berries, lemon peel, orange peel, grapefruit peel, coriander, angelica root, cardamom pods, sweet cinnamon, star anise and wildflower honey, which are sourced locally and from across the globe.