City Gate Spirits sits right in the heart of St. Augustine’s historic district on St George Street, making it one of the most accessible craft distilleries you’ll find in Florida. Founded by husband-and-wife team Steve and Cheri Howell in 2017, the distillery occupies a charming space that fits perfectly into the nation’s oldest city. Steve brings decades of experience in the spirits industry, while Cheri handles the business side of operations, and together they’ve created something that feels both authentically local and professionally crafted. The Howells didn’t just stumble into distilling—this was a calculated move after years of planning and research. Steve’s background in the beverage industry gave him the technical knowledge, but it was their shared love of St. Augustine that made them choose this specific location. They wanted to create spirits that reflected the character of their adopted hometown, and that philosophy shows up in everything from their product selection to their tasting room atmosphere. What you’ll find is a compact but thoughtfully designed operation that focuses on quality over quantity. The production facility is small-batch by design, with Steve handling much of the distillation himself using custom copper stills. The tasting room doubles as a retail space where you can sample their spirits and learn about their process directly from people who actually make the stuff. It’s the kind of place where you might end up in a lengthy conversation about mash bills or barrel aging, and that’s exactly how they like it.