My Role

As Marketing Specialist at Fort Hamilton (Feb 2024–Feb 2025), I led the development and execution of marketing strategies to promote programs and services, helping reach target audiences and strengthen the brand’s presence both online and offline.

My Key Responsibilities:

  • Develop, implement, and monitor marketing campaigns across various channels.

  • Conduct market research to identify trends and audience preferences.

  • Design promotional materials and - coordinate with external vendors as needed.

  • Manage social media platforms—primarily Instagram and TikTok—by creating engaging content and actively responding to community interactions.

  • Analyze campaign performance and generate reports on key metrics.

  • Collaborate with internal teams to ensure brand consistency.

  • Attend events and represent Fort Hamilton at community gatherings.

Overview

Fort Hamilton is a family-owned craft distillery based in Industry City, Brooklyn. Inspired by the Revolutionary War and Alexander Hamilton’s “Hearts of Oak” militia, the brand is committed to reviving New York-style rye—a traditional whiskey lost after Prohibition. All spirits are made with 100% New York-grown ingredients, supporting local agriculture and heritage. In their tasting room, guests enjoy expertly crafted classic cocktails in a friendly, community-driven setting that honors America’s cocktail legacy.

Marketing Specialist at Fort Hamilton

Understanding the Challenges

Fort Hamilton Distillery is backed by an incredible team, a strong product lineup, and a compelling brand story rooted in New York history. However, like many growing craft businesses, it faced a few key marketing challenges. Founders Alex and Amy brought me on board to help address these issues and build a stronger presence for the brand.

Below, I’ve outlined three of the core challenges we tackled together.

1. Location & Visibility Challenge


One of the first challenges I identified was the distillery’s physical location.

Although the space itself is beautiful, it’s situated on the second floor of Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn—making it hard to spot from the street and not in a high footfall area. Additionally, for many potential visitors (particularly those based in Manhattan) the journey out to Sunset Park wasn’t top of mind for a weekend plan.

However, co-founders Alex and Amy shared a key insight that shaped our approach: when visitors do make it to the distillery, they tend to stay, engage, and spend. Once guests experienced the tour, learned about the rich brand story, met the team, and sampled the exceptional spirits, they were far more likely to purchase a bottle, enjoy cocktails on-site, and return as loyal customers. I saw this firsthand—Fort Hamilton consistently converted visitors into fans.

2. Standing Out in a Competitive NYC Market


With at least five similar distilleries and nearly 2,000 bars in the city, we needed to amplify Fort Hamilton’s unique differentiators:

  • A brand story deeply rooted in New York history, inspired by the Revolutionary War and Alexander Hamilton’s “Hearts of Oak.”

  • All products are made using 100% New York ingredients, and the core spirits are also kosher-certified—a rarity in the craft whiskey space.

  • An approachable, authentic vibe that stands apart from more polished or luxury-focused competitors. Fort Hamilton feels warm, inviting, and family-run—because it is.

3. Doing the Above with a $0 Marketing Budget


As a relatively young, family-owned brand in the whiskey market, Fort Hamilton had limited resources allocated specifically for marketing.

With investment rightly prioritized toward production, operations, and growth, the marketing budget was lean—and my role accounted for a significant portion of it. I understood this from the outset, which shaped our approach: it was about working smart, being resourceful, and focusing only on high-impact strategies. As a team, we were intentional with every decision, avoiding waste and emphasizing content, partnerships, and organic community engagement that could deliver strong returns without heavy spend.

Marketing Strategy, Aims & Objectives

Before starting my role at Fort Hamilton Distillery, I developed and presented a detailed marketing plan to the founders, outlining how I would address the brand’s key challenges. The plan focused on clear, measurable goals designed to drive awareness, engagement, and sales. In this plan, I outlined a set of marketing aims, along with specific objectives that would be used to achieve those aims.

Marketing Aims:

  • Increase brand awareness and engagement for the whiskey distillery.

  • Drive traffic to the distillery's website and increase foot traffic to the physical location.

  • Drive product sales.

Marketing Objectives:

  • Grow Instagram account to 10k.

  • Increase overall awareness of the brand (in the industry circle which will lead to word of mouth).

  • Increase social media engagement.

  • Increase sales for clicks.

Strategic Approach

My marketing strategy at Fort Hamilton centered on consistency, community-building, and strategic collaboration. To effectively achieve the aims and objectives I set, I:

  • Scheduled 3 posts per week using Metricool and posted daily Instagram Stories to maintain engagement

  • Maintained a consistent visual aesthetic in line with Fort Hamilton’s brand identity

  • Shared user-generated content to build trust and authenticity

  • Featured founders Alex and Amy to highlight the brand’s personal, founder-led narrative

  • Executed contests and giveaways to increase reach and audience interaction

  • Responded promptly to comments and messages to nurture a strong community connection

  • Used targeted hashtags to improve discoverability

  • Secured influencer collaborations through complimentary tours and tastings in place of paid fees

  • Partnered with bartenders and local businesses for cross-promotional opportunities

  • Engaged with tourist audiences via local tourism platforms

  • Shared press coverage to strengthen brand credibility

  • Created all content—social media posts, reels, videos, flyers, posters, and email campaigns—ensuring everything was on-brand, visually engaging, and shareable

Examples of My Work

Streamlined Fort Hamilton’s Instagram by creating product-specific story highlights, maintaining consistent brand colors, and pinning key videos that best told the brand’s story.

Streamlined Fort Hamilton’s Instagram by creating product-specific story highlights, maintaining consistent brand colors, and pinning key videos that best told the brand’s story.

Proactively secured influencer collaborations through email and Instagram outreach. The most notable was with The Whiskey Boys (208k Instagram, 115.6k TikTok), whose visit generated high-quality content and significantly boosted brand exposure.

Proactively secured influencer collaborations through email and Instagram outreach. The most notable was with The Whiskey Boys (208k Instagram, 115.6k TikTok), whose visit generated high-quality content and significantly boosted brand exposure.

Regularly shared press coverage on Fort Hamilton’s social channels to showcase brand success, including prominent posts of Forbes features highlighting key achievements.

Regularly shared press coverage on Fort Hamilton’s social channels to showcase brand success, including prominent posts of Forbes features highlighting key achievements.

Created imagery and copy for social media posts that highlighted Fort Hamilton’s historical narrative, emphasizing its Revolutionary-era New York roots.

Created imagery and copy for social media posts that highlighted Fort Hamilton’s historical narrative, emphasizing its Revolutionary-era New York roots.

Designed and ran giveaway competitions—such as for Fort Hamilton’s bourbon launch—encouraging tagging and sharing to increase visibility, engagement, and community connection.

Designed and ran giveaway competitions—such as for Fort Hamilton’s bourbon launch—encouraging tagging and sharing to increase visibility, engagement, and community connection.

Highlighted our support for local bars and restaurants by showcasing venues pouring our spirits and coordinating cross-promotion to boost visibility.

Highlighted our support for local bars and restaurants by showcasing venues pouring our spirits and coordinating cross-promotion to boost visibility.

Frequently featured founders Alex and Amy in social posts to strengthen connections with followers and emphasize Fort Hamilton’s authentic, founder-led approach.

Frequently featured founders Alex and Amy in social posts to strengthen connections with followers and emphasize Fort Hamilton’s authentic, founder-led approach.

Focused on creating shareable Reels to boost reach and engagement. One Reel gained over 100,000 views, significantly increasing traffic to the Instagram page.

Focused on creating shareable Reels to boost reach and engagement. One Reel gained over 100,000 views, significantly increasing traffic to the Instagram page.

Designed Instagram posts with creative, seasonal content tied to key moments throughout the year.

Designed Instagram posts with creative, seasonal content tied to key moments throughout the year.

Consistently posted high-quality images from our assets to showcase Fort Hamilton as a professional brand that takes great care in everything it produces.

Consistently posted high-quality images from our assets to showcase Fort Hamilton as a professional brand that takes great care in everything it produces.

Personally replied to every comment to reinforce Fort Hamilton’s warm, family-oriented vibe.

Personally replied to every comment to reinforce Fort Hamilton’s warm, family-oriented vibe.

Created and executed monthly email campaigns to promote events, product launches, and brand updates.

Created and executed monthly email campaigns to promote events, product launches, and brand updates.

Helped execute a collaboration with Virgin Experiences to attract more NYC tourists to Fort Hamilton Distillery.

Helped execute a collaboration with Virgin Experiences to attract more NYC tourists to Fort Hamilton Distillery.

Created posts that highlighted Fort Hamilton’s historical narrative, emphasizing its Revolutionary-era New York roots.

Created posts that highlighted Fort Hamilton’s historical narrative, emphasizing its Revolutionary-era New York roots.

Designed and executed the marketing campaign for Fort Hamilton’s first ‘Battle of Brooklyn’ cocktail competition.

Designed and executed the marketing campaign for Fort Hamilton’s first ‘Battle of Brooklyn’ cocktail competition.

Promoted Fort Hamilton’s event space with Instagram Reels and an email campaign, boosting the reel to target audiences using engaging visuals and clear messaging to drive interest.

Promoted Fort Hamilton’s event space with Instagram Reels and an email campaign, boosting the reel to target audiences using engaging visuals and clear messaging to drive interest.

Promoted Fort Hamilton’s event space via Instagram Reels and an email campaign, collaborating with Industry City to boost reel views.

Promoted Fort Hamilton’s event space via Instagram Reels and an email campaign, collaborating with Industry City to boost reel views.

Created a new Private Events Packages Deck to clearly present Fort Hamilton’s event offerings, pricing, and add-ons to prospective clients.

Created a new Private Events Packages Deck to clearly present Fort Hamilton’s event offerings, pricing, and add-ons to prospective clients.

Designed a poster to promote Fort Hamilton’s Friday events, strategically placed around Industry City and at the base of the distillery stairs to boost visibility and drive foot traffic.

Designed a poster to promote Fort Hamilton’s Friday events, strategically placed around Industry City and at the base of the distillery stairs to boost visibility and drive foot traffic.

Outcomes Report

Marketing Impact at Fort Hamilton Distillery.

During my time at Fort Hamilton Distillery (Feb 2024–Feb 2025), I implemented a marketing strategy that led to significant growth across the brand’s digital presence, customer engagement, and sales performance. The results below reflect a year-over-year comparison, highlighting the impact of my efforts compared to the previous 12 months.

Instagram Performance Summary

Profile Overview:

  • Followers grew from 5,000 to 8,337 — +66.74%

  • Total views: 492,960

  • Total profile views: 18,890

  • Website clicks from Instagram: 3,150

  • Average daily reach: 908

  • Total content shared: 807 — +1,052.86%

Organic Summary — Posts:

  • Total views: 108,090

  • Interactions: 8,440 — +51.72%

  • Likes: 7,210 — +41.21%

  • Saves: 144 — +23.91%

Organic Summary — Reels:

  • Total interactions: 4,430 — +36.95%

  • Average reach per reel: 3,290 — +176.93%

  • Total reel views: 121,700 — +243.83%

  • Saves: 164 — +241.67%

  • Shares: 1,190 — +765.22%

Organic Summary — Stories:

  • Average reach per story: 140.83

  • Impressions: 100,330

  • Total stories posted: 698

Website Performance Summary

  • Website visits: +31%

  • Unique visitors: +29%

  • Page views: +30%

  • Online sales & revenue: +61%

  • Units sold: +51%

  • Checkout conversions: +73%

  • Orders placed: +67%

  • Conversion rate: +31%

  • Revenue per visitor (RPV): +54%

  • Form submissions: +29%

  • Button clicks: +26%

These results reflect a marked increase in brand visibility, audience engagement, and direct sales—demonstrating the effectiveness of the marketing approach I helped implement at Fort Hamilton Distillery.