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R 
alph Erenzo and Brian Lee don’t have to dodge swarmso bees anymore when they make apple vodka in NewYork’s Hudson Valley. In a micro-distiller’s world, that’s asign o progress. The two ounders o Tuthilltown Spir-its are just a ew o those riding the American crat wave. Nowmore than 155 strong, these indie distillers have been spurred byconsumer thirst or handmade products, the classic cocktail trend,an easing o restrictions on in-store sampling, sel-distributionand sales o their own wares and even by the “locavore” move-ment. This new generation o artisans has been building buzz anda market by making moonshine, absinthe, gin and rye–anythinginvention and innovation allows.
  p   h  o   t  o  g  r  a  p   h  s  c  o  u  r   t  e  s  y  o   f   B  e  n   S   t  e  c   h  s  c   h  u   l   t  e
by jack robertiello
beautiful
small is
industry trend
The distillery and workers fromTuthilltown Spirits, Gardiner, NY
 
So today there’s whiskey coming romColorado (Stranahan’s), Iowa (Templeton)and Virginia (Wasmund’s); gin made inIdaho (Bardenay), Oregon (Aviation), Ken-tucky (Corsair Artisan) and Pennsylvania(Bluecoat); rum rom Massachusetts (Tri-ple Eight) and Tennessee (Prichards); andvodka, it seems, rom everywhere. Only re-cently has micro-distiller success story Tito’sHandmade rom Texas exploded, surpassing250,000 cases in 2008, up rom only 58,000in 2004, according to Beverage InormationGroup data. Most small distillers put outonly a raction o Tito’s volume, but the pos-sibilities, say observers, are unlimited.It’s been a hard road since Prohibitionand Repeal. Twenty-some years ago, only ahandul o modern crat distillers, like JorgRup at St. George Spirits and Ansley Coaleand Hubert Germain-Robin at Germain-Robin, were taking their chances at the still.As Clear Creek’s Stephen McCarthy, whoollowed soon ater, remembers, “We justcame out o the bushes then, inspired in mycase by the little Oregon wineries that wereshowing such promise. I thought i theycould do it, so could I.”Rup and Coale went on to jointly cre-ate Hangar One’s widely respected avoredvodkas, while the Germain-Robin Calior-nia brandies are still considered equal orsuperior to many more expensive Cognacs.McCarthy’s Oregon-made pear
eau de vie
and liqueurs are served at many fne diningrestaurants. But aside rom Fritz Maytag, thepioneer Anchor Steam crat brewer whostarted making his own gin and whiskey in1993, ew new distillers jumped on board.Yet in the last ew years, the same im-pulse that gave rise to the start–up o smallproduction American wines in the 1970sand micro-brewers in the 1980s has encour-aged start–up distillers. In some cases theyconvinced legislatures to lower the entrybarriers or them, and soon the race was on.
The Real Thing
As some o these distillers started up, nu-merous entrepreneurs simultaneously eyedthe vodka market and fgured they could dobetter. Some buy bulk vodka and redistill oradd avor, while others have their recipescustom- made by industrial distillers. ToKevin Settles, owner o the three-unit Ida-ho restaurant-distillery Bardenay, they don’tcount as crat distillers. “For someone who’srectiying by saying their product is hand-crated is a bunch o hooey – that’s like say-ing you made a scratch cake that came roma Betty Crocker box,” he points out.Settles has a point, but good productscan come rom neutral grain spirit producedelsewhere – or instance, by law all gin mak-ers in England must start with someoneelse’s distilled spirit. And some say the at-tention entrepreneurs have attracted helpssmall distillers. As long as the products arewell made, it will only continue to do so.Either way, or retailers, carrying at leastsome o the new handmade products is a no-brainer, says Stephanie Moreno, spirit buyer orAstor Wines & Spirits in Manhattan, whichhas expanded its range o artisan products.“We’re happy to promote and supportthem,” notes Moreno. “They’re a bit o ahand sell, but in some cases they alreadyhave a ollowing. I think perhaps some o the‘buy local’ movement is sinking in and somepeople like to support an American distillerthat doesn’t have the dollar o the big guys.”Retailers depend on Internet sales andwhatever local ollowing the products haveestablished, but all the better i distillers trav-el and promote their own product, she says.
In Their Best Interest
Making a consumer connection is essentialto success, say industry veterans. “Major in-dustrial players can put out million dollar ad-vertising campaigns which the smaller guysobviously can’t,” says Scott Leopold o Col-orado-based Leopold Brothers. “But i youcan open a bottle in ront o someone roma crat distiller that they may not have triedbeore you’re lowering the barrier and creat-ing a level playing feld. They otherwise maynot be willing to spend $35 on a bottle roma distiller they never heard o beore.”For Tuthilltown, its products are cur-rently sold in seven states and Europe, and“everything we put in a bottle gets sold,”says Gable Erenzo, distiller and brand am-bassador or the company. Hudson BabyBourbon, made rom local heirloom corn
Hudson Four GrainBourbon combinesNew York corn, rye,wheat and mulledbarleyThe stills atClear Creek Distillery,Portland, OR
In the last few years,the same impulse thatgave rise to the start-up of small productionAmerican wines in the1970
s
and micro-brewersin the 1980
s
has encour-aged start-up distillers.
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