Bx. doc brews up a biz

A city doctor has the prescription for a good time: booze he manufactures in The Bronx.

The rum, whiskey and maple liquor hand-crafted at the borough’s first microdistillery is the ironic brainchild of teetotaling M.D. Renee Hernandez.

“I don’t drink. I’ve never tasted it,” the 38-year-old internist said soberly.

But that doesn’t stop the private-practice doc from moonlighting as the owner and operator of Tirado Distillery on East 138th Street, where he bottles sweet, smooth libations and tinkers with their formulas based on suggestions from family, friends and patients.

He was inspired to launch his own label while visiting the Bacardi factory in Puerto Rico with his father-in-law.

“I fell in love with how something as simple as charring the barrel made them a legacy and an empire,” he said.

By state law, 80 percent of ingredients used by a local distillery must come from state producers. Because of this, Hernandez can only manufacture a small amount of rum, which is made from Caribbean or Arizona molasses.

Inside his aromatic South Bronx distillery, named after his mother, rows of plastic, 7-gallon tubs line the blue painted floor.

“It comes out at 80 percent” alcohol — or 160 proof — he laughed. “You could run a car out of that.”

Candice M. Giove