hudson valley – the still trippers

Visit #19, March 19, 2016

The Hudson Baby Bourbon first made me aware of the craft distiller movement in the Hudson Valley and New York State region. I purchased a bottle for my father-in-law many years ago as a gift and we definitely enjoyed sampling it. How they called it “bourbon” surprised me and made me do some research online. The myth of bourbon only being made in Kentucky turned out to be… a myth!! Since Tuthilltown Spirits was one of the pioneers of distilling in the Northeast, it was high on my list of distilleries to visit. It made for a great day trip.

Located directly on the Wallkill River in Gardiner, NY, the history of the property of Tuthilltown Spirits goes back to the 18th century. One of the buildings that is currently used as the on-site restaurant was once a grist mill that started in 1788. The grist mill lasted over 200 years and it was only in 2002 that it stopped production. The property was purchased in 2001 by Ralph Erenzo with the intention of creating a rock-climbing ranch since the site is located not far from the famous rock-climbing cliffs called the Gunks. What started out to be a rock-climbing camp changed directions and became the 1st distillery in New York State built since Prohibition using the newly created farm distillers license. Brian Lee, Ralph’s partner at Tuthilltown, came from Connecticut with technical expertise. For 10 1/2 years now, Tuthilltown Spirits has been distilling gins, vodkas and whiskies.

Our tour for the afternoon was led by Lyon, an enthusiastic guide who was very good and knowledgeable on all things Tuthilltown. Here are some notes from our tour:

started with a 150 gallon still from Germany
started producing vodka in 2005 and Baby Bourbon in 2006
first batch of Baby Bourbon ever was 128 bottles and they used 3 gallon barrels that aged the whiskey for only 3 months, the whiskey was sold using medicinal bottles
since William Grant & Sons acquired the Hudson Whiskey brand in 2010, its production has increased to 1 million bottles of the Hudson Baby Bourbon made in 2015
now 10 to 60 gallon barrels are used for the Baby Bourbon and the whiskey is aged from 2 to 4 years
90% of the grain is sourced within New York state with the exception of malted barley that comes from Montreal
corn, wheat and rye are all sourced 45 minutes west in Cochecton, NY
apples sourced from Tantillo’s Farm in Gardiner, NY
1600 lbs of grain (or 32 bags) are used in each mash
a 1930’s roller mill is used to mill grain, found on eBay
a 900 gallon pasta sauce cooker is the cook tank
1000 gallons of mash is mashed for 1 hour and a heat-exchanger cooling system takes only 5 minutes to cool mash
they started with one 500 gallon fermentation tank, now they have eight 2500 gallon wine fermentation tanks from California
fermentation takes between 3 to 4 days
Pot to column stills, three stills 330 / 650 / 850 gallons
90 gallons of liquid produced from the stills, only 40 gallons is considered the “hearts” or the spirit that is kept and aged, the “heads” are only 3% and the “tails” is the rest
4% of the total mash ends up in the “hearts”
for vodka, a 21 column fractional still is used, comes off at 160 proof
water used comes from a deep well on the property that is triple-distilled
production times are Monday to Friday in shifts
they use a couple of cooperages for barrels – the Kelvin Cooperage in Kentucky and the Black Swan Cooperage in Minnesota
cotton micro filters are used when dumping barrels for bottling
their new bottling line has tripled the speed of their bottling process
all bottle are hand-waxed
2500 bottles a day are produced as a minimum (3 pallets)

Cooling device — Heat-exchange cooling system

Overall it was a very informative tour and a beautiful property. They have obviously grown tremendously over the last 10 years and with William Grant & Sons they will continue to gain both domestic and international recognition and distribution. They seem to be the first distillery that I visited in the Northeast that had merged with a larger entity and you could tell that the scaling is an ongoing process. Lyon was a great guide!

The tour ended and it was time for our tasting. We were able to choose four of the following spirits:

Half Moon Orchard Gin (92 proof) – NY State wheat and apples distilled with eight botanicals
Hudson New York Corn Whiskey (92 proof) – a blend of locally grown corn, unaged whiskey
Hudson Baby Bourbon (92 proof) – aged New York Corn Whiskey in a first-use charred American Oak barrel
Hudson Four Grain Bourbon (92 proof) – corn, rye, wheat and malted barley make up this small batch whiskey
Hudson Manhattan Rye Whiskey (92 proof)
Hudson Maple Cask Rye Whiskey (92 proof) – Hudson Whiskey barrels sent to Woods Syrup, a maple syrup producer in Vermont that ages syrup in the barrels, barrels are then used to age a small batch of rye

The tasting was a nice way to end the tour before having lunch at the restaurant on site called the Tuthill House at the Mill. The restaurant was a great place to unwind after the tour and they had a number of great craft beers on tap at the bar and the food was very good. There was a wedding party being set up in the upstairs part of the restaurant which contained some of the old grist mill pieces. What a great venue for a party!

The bar at the Tut Hill Restaurant — The bar at the Tuthill House Restaurant

Charles’ Notes: This was an interesting visit. I wasn’t sure what to expect in size and modernity. It turned out to be a combination of the old and the new. I had always thought that the bourbon was good, but it was hard for me to buy much of it at the price that was asked for a 375 ml bottle. But it seems like the Hudson whiskey line is now coming more into range with a lot of the other craft products that are available these days. They even have larger bottles now which are at a good price point. The tour experience was excellent. We got to see the whole production area and were able to take photos. Lyon was very good and took his time explaining to the group how everything was distilled. It was fun seeing some of the older equipment that they kept on site as a reminder of where they started. This is very important to have this perspective. The tasting was good and it was nice to have a choice of what to taste. They also had a lot of swag in the gift shop and other products that make for some good gifts. The restaurant was a great way to end the day. Overall, it was a very fun day trip. Highly recommended.

Visit #12, October 17th, 2015

Only three weeks after returning from our amazing 11-distillery adventure in Scotland, the itch for experiencing another distillery was high on our minds. The Hillrock Estate Distillery was our first choice and what a gem we found in Ancram, NY. Driving to Ancram is a treat, in and of itself, through the beautiful rolling hills between the Hudson Valley and the Berkshires. It was a perfect fall day with the leaves changing colors and a crisp air signalling colder temps on the way. The Hillrock House, overlooking the barley fields and the distillery, was restored in 2006 and stands as a sign of history as it was built by a Revolutionary War Captain back in 1806.

Our guide for the afternoon was Tyler, one of the distillers we met during our visit. Hillrock is very proud of its “field to glass” production and with good reason since there are very few found in the United States. All of their corn, barley and rye is sourced within 15 miles of the distillery. In fact, 36 acres of grain is grown on site. The tour started in the Malt House, the first malt house built since prohibition. It was here that we saw some of the ingredients that are used for making their whiskies. The only non-local item was the peat that they import from the Speyside region of Scotland.

Upstairs in the Malt House is a room that contains the steeping tank and the floor where all of the barley is raked while germinating. The grain is left in the steeping tank for approximately 3 days before it is taken out and spread across the floor and raked before going into the kiln which is located on the first floor. They do about 1 ton of barley per week and typically use last year’s harvest. The barley is raked every 6-8 hours or 3 times a day to prevent clumping. Once ready, the barley is sent down a chute below to the kiln to stop germination where most of their regular single malt barley gets about 8 hours of peat smoke. We were able to climb up and stick our heads in the kiln. Matt, our Islay fan, was ready to jump in and get smoked. It is a very impressive building and well laid out in its planning.

Their still room is located in a separate building. Here there is a mash tank (tun), 5 fermenting tanks and a pot still mixed with a kettle still. The still and operation was set up by master distiller, Dave Pickerell, who previously spent 14 years at Maker’s Mark. It takes about 1 day to make the mash using temperatures between 110 and 160 degrees. The five fermentation tanks hold approximately 250 gallons and fermentation takes 4 to 5 days. One run through the still is made with about 20 minutes of head, 8 hours of heart and another 20-30 minutes of tail. 30 gallons is made in one run.

The barrels, made of Virgin American White Oak, are produced by the Kelvin Cooperage in Louisville, KY. They primarily use 25-gallon barrels and they store over 2,500 barrels of spirit.

Our tour ended with a tasting. We tasted their bourbon, rye and single malt. The bourbon uses the Solera process (adding and removing whisky over time creating more complexity) and is finished in Oloroso sherry casks. The double cask rye is double matured in traditional oak casks and then in charred American white oak barrels. Lastly we tasted various single malts with different levels of peat. Their standard single malt uses 8 hours of peat smoke, but they also had a 14-hour and 20-hour bottle available. It was great that they were trying out different lengths and techniques with all of their whiskies. This will help them find the right balance moving forward.

Charles’ Notes: Overall, our visit to Hillrock Estate Distillery was excellent. The facility and location are outstanding. We enjoyed our 1-hour tour and tasting and looked forward to revisiting for a special event or when they are introducing their next revision or spirit. Everyone was very friendly and willing to share their stories and successes. It brought back certain memories from Scotland that you just cannot find here in the United States when visiting distilleries.

	CG on Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery
	Whiskey Nut on Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery
	Tuthilltown Spirits… on Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery
	Mad River Distillers… on Mad River Distillers
	Eric Meyer on Springbrook Hollow Farm D…