Seacrets Breaks Ground on New Distillery in Worcester County

On Monday, Oct. 26, Seacrets: Jamaica USA in Ocean City, Md. broke ground on their long awaited distillery.

According to Seacrets Marketing Manager Jackie Miller, local and state officials joined investment and development partners to celebrate the ground breaking of the Seacrets Distillery – Maryland’s first microdistillery. Leighton Moore, owner of Seacrets, kicked off the ceremony by thanking those who have helped with the process.

Last year, Seacrets launched their own line of spirits, including spiced rum, blood orange vodka, coconut rum, white rum, vodka and gin, that is currently being distilled in Delaware.

“I  go to Delaware where I distill my liquors now, and it takes time away from my day and it just proves to be inefficient,” said Leighton Moore, owner of Seacrets, back in March 2015.

In March, Moore entertained the idea of having Seacrets’ very own distillery on their property which is when a senate bill was drafted to establish a class nine craft distillery license in Worcester county.

The bill passed and Seacrets received the final green light from the Town of Ocean City to move forward with it’s addition of the distillery in July 2015.

“It’s huge, it’s the first one in the state, it was a big hurdle to get over and we didn’t have too much complication in getting it done which is surprising,” Moore said.

This bill allows businesses with eligible licenses to distill more than 100,000 gallons of spirits on their properties. This new bill will allow Seacrets to distill their liquors on the south side of their fourty-nineth street property.

“I’m proud this was one of my first bills – an economic development bill right here for Ocean City,” Delegate Mary Beth Carozza said.

Carozza has been a major supporter of the distillery at Seacrets from the start.

This new distillery is said to bring jobs to Worcester County as well as act as a large attraction for the town.

According to Miller, the distillery will be two stories with a total square footage 12,000 feet. Miller says the distilling operation will take place on the first floor including a mashing tank, five fermentation tanks and stills.

Miller says the exterior esthetics of the building will be made of brick, exposed steel and the face of the building will consist of mostly glass, allowing for the public to view the operation from the outside.

Part of Moore’s plan is to offer guided distillery tours and tastings. Construction on the distillery has officially begun with hopes to open the distillery by spring of 2016.

Archived video from WBOC.