Walk-ins, no reservations. That is the only policy John Pawluk needs posted on the door of Twisted Cow Distillery, because the rest — the craft, the community, the handcrafted spirits distilled from Long Island’s own heirloom grains — does all the talking the moment you step inside. Hewitt Square, East Northport’s unassuming commercial center, is not a destination most people would associate with Long Island’s most awarded distillery. But that disconnect is exactly the point. Pawluk, a former CPA and CFO who traded Wall Street for a 2,000-liter copper still, has built something quietly extraordinary here: a distillery that won the 2025 Bethpage Best of Long Island Award without ever once worrying about what the competition was doing (Northport Patch, 2025).
Twenty-five years behind the counter at The Heritage Diner have taught me that the best local businesses don’t announce themselves. They earn your attention through consistency, community, and an uncompromising standard of quality. Twisted Cow Distillery is one of those places.
From Wall Street to the Still House: The Origin of Twisted Cow
John Pawluk’s story follows a familiar Long Island arc — the drive into the city, the years of professional ascent — and then a deliberate turn back toward home. After a decade researching distillation as a passion project beginning around 2019, Pawluk found himself ordering stills rather than spreadsheets. The Hewitt Square location, a former Four Star Home and Variety store, became the canvas for an entirely new chapter (Greater Long Island, 2022).
The name itself carries a chapter of its own. Twisted Cow Distillery launched in November 2022 as Tipping Cow Distillery, only to receive a trademark infringement challenge shortly after opening. Mid-frustration on a call with his attorney, Pawluk blurted out he was “all twisted up” — and stopped himself mid-sentence. Twisted Cow was born. “Things happen for a reason,” he told Northport Patch. “I actually like it better now.”
It is the kind of origin story that suits the brand perfectly: equal parts grit, humor, and improvisation under pressure.
The Craft: Technology Distilling Tradition
Pawluk’s operating philosophy lives in his motto: Technology Distilling Tradition. What he means by it is precise and technical — his equipment was reverse-engineered around the chemistry and physics of distillation itself, designed to extract exactly what the distiller wants rather than simply running grain through a standard industrial process (Greater Long Island, 2022).
The grain supply begins at the source. All heirloom grains are sourced from Sagaponack farms on Long Island’s East End, grown in salt air and sun — provenance that matters in every sip. Twisted Cow currently produces rye vodka, wheat vodka, an apple pie cider spirit, agave-based spirits, and whisky. A bourbon release has been a primary focus through 2025, with Pawluk committing the early months of the year to building barrel inventory before pivoting to distribution.
What elevates Pawluk’s approach beyond standard craft distillery positioning is his embrace of élevage — a French cognac technique in which two dissimilar barrels are blended in varying ratios to achieve complexity unavailable from any single barrel alone (Northport Patch, 2023). It is not a method associated with American whisky production. That he applies it here, on Long Island, in a former variety store, says everything about the intellectual seriousness behind what looks like a casual neighborhood tasting room.
One of the distillery’s most distinctive expressions, the “Twisted Richter’s,” is a rum-based vodka created in collaboration with a local farm — a category so unusual that Pawluk himself noted he has never seen another producer attempt it. The American craft spirits market, now valued at over $13 billion annually and growing (Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, 2024), rewards exactly this kind of genuine differentiation over imitation.
The Tasting Room: Where the Spirits Live
The space at 13 Hewitt Square is what reviewers consistently describe as “cozy and inviting” — and they mean it in the best sense. The tasting room is meticulously maintained, the bar well-stocked with Twisted Cow’s own productions alongside wine and beer, and the staff operates with the easy fluency of people who genuinely love what they’re pouring. Seating encourages conversation. The owner is frequently present, moving between tables, explaining the distillation process, engaging with the room the way any craftsman enjoys discussing their work with a receptive audience.
Walk-in culture is intentional here. Reservations create distance; Twisted Cow is designed for the spontaneous stop, the unhurried Saturday afternoon, the group that decides to extend the evening because the next drink was better than the last. Live music runs regularly throughout the week, with local bands turning the tasting room into a proper community venue. The distillery also partners with local restaurants for food — an arrangement that keeps the experience genuinely local without forcing Pawluk’s attention away from the still house.
Private events are available, and the space handles them well. Birthdays, corporate gatherings, distillery tours — the tasting room accommodates the full range without losing its neighborhood character.
Awards, Recognition, and Community Footprint
The 2025 Bethpage Best of Long Island Award for Best Distillery arrived less than three years after Twisted Cow’s doors opened. For Pawluk, the recognition landed differently than standard industry accolades. “It’s acceptance,” he told Northport Patch. “It’s a little, ‘Hey, we’re doing something right.'” The vote-based award requires community participation — the kind that doesn’t happen without genuine affection for a local business.
Pawluk’s charitable commitments extend the community relationship further. The distillery regularly hosts fundraising events supporting veterans’ organizations, mental health initiatives, animal shelters, and first responders — causes that reflect a deliberate decision to treat the tasting room as a civic space rather than simply a commercial one (Northport Patch, 2025).
An alcohol day permit — obtained to allow Twisted Cow to sell at fairs and festivals across Long Island — signals Pawluk’s ambition to carry the brand beyond Hewitt Square. A mobile truck is part of the longer-term vision. Where other craft producers consolidate around their tasting room, Twisted Cow is building momentum toward becoming a recognizable presence across the island.
What’s Coming: Bourbon, Distribution, and the Road Ahead
The bourbon program represents Twisted Cow’s most significant near-term milestone. Unlike vodka or agave-based spirits, bourbon requires patience — federal regulations mandate a minimum of two years in new charred oak containers, and most serious expressions age considerably longer (Beverage Dynamics, 2024). Pawluk committed the first months of 2025 to maximizing barrel fills, understanding that what he puts away now defines the distillery’s premium tier two or three years forward.
Distribution into retail accounts is the parallel priority — moving beyond direct tasting room sales, which New York’s spirits laws currently make the primary revenue channel for small-batch producers. Getting Twisted Cow into local restaurants and specialty bottle shops would represent a meaningful expansion of reach without sacrificing the craft standards that earned the brand its reputation.
For those of us who have watched the North Shore evolve across twenty-five years, Twisted Cow Distillery is exactly the kind of enterprise this corridor does best — rooted, principled, quality-obsessed, and stubbornly local in an era when every market force pushes toward consolidation and sameness.
Visiting Twisted Cow Distillery
Address: 13 Hewitt Square, East Northport, NY 11731 Website: twistedcowdistillery.net Instagram: @twistedcowdistillery
Hours: Monday — Closed Tuesday–Thursday — 4:00 PM–10:00 PM Friday–Saturday — 2:00 PM–11:00 PM Sunday — 1:00 PM–7:00 PM
No reservations required. Walk in and own your spirit.
Parking is available on site at Hewitt Square. The distillery is accessible, welcoming, and worth the drive from anywhere on the North Shore or beyond.
The best craft producers share a quality with the best long-running institutions: they are not trying to be anything other than what they are. Twisted Cow Distillery, voted Long Island’s finest, sits inside a shopping center in East Northport without an ounce of pretension and every ounce of intention. John Pawluk left Wall Street not to escape discipline but to apply it somewhere that matters — to heirloom grains, copper stills, and a community that showed up and voted. That is a story worth raising a glass to.
