Bristow, Virginia-based MurLarkey Distilled Spirits will relocate to a much larger distilling and tasting room operation in Manassas, and will receive $500,000 in grant money from the state and county to help with the move.
Nine-year-old MurLarkey, a play on its founders’ names — brothers Mike and Jim Larkin and their cousin Tom Murray — will establish its new operations on the campus of Farm Brew LIVE in Innovation Park in Manassas, a 12-acre entertainment area that includes 2Silos Brewing, the Black Sheep restaurant and a live music venue.
It is an $8 million investment that is projected to create 42 new jobs over the next three years, according to a statement from Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin.
MurLarkey, which sources 100% of grains used for distilling from Virginia farmers, will increase production eight-fold over the next three years.
The company will receive a $250,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund and a matching grant from Prince William County.
MurLarkey uses Virginia-grown corn, rye and barley. It offers all its spent grain to local farmers for free for use as cattle feed.
MurLarkey’s spirits have won dozens of awards. It also received Prince William County’s 2020 Human Rights Award for producing thousands of gallons of hand sanitizer during the pandemic.
