Short Path Distillery sits in an industrial corner of Everett, Massachusetts, about five miles north of Boston, where founders Ariel Warshall and Paul Silva turned a former auto repair shop into the city’s first craft distillery. Warshall, a former software engineer with a background in chemistry, and Silva, who worked in construction, opened their doors in 2016 after spending three years navigating Massachusetts licensing requirements and converting their 3,000-square-foot space. They started with a 220-gallon copper pot still from Portugal and a clear mission to make quality spirits without cutting corners on ingredients or process. The duo met through mutual friends and bonded over homebrewing before deciding to tackle distilling professionally. Warshall handles the technical side of production while Silva manages operations and the business end. They spent months researching grain suppliers and ended up sourcing most of their corn and wheat from farms in western Massachusetts and New York. The name “Short Path” comes from a chemistry term for a distillation process that minimizes molecular travel distance, reflecting Warshall’s scientific approach to spirit making. What you’ll find here is a working distillery that feels more like a craftsman’s workshop than a polished tourist destination. The tasting room occupies one corner of the production space, so you can see the fermentation tanks and still while sampling their bourbon, rye, and gin. They produce about 1,000 bottles per month across their product line, focusing on small batches that let them experiment with different mash bills and aging techniques. It’s the kind of place where the founders are usually around to explain their process and you might catch them in the middle of a distillation run.