Tuthilltown Spirits in Gardiner warms mark and lynn up on a cold spring day....

Me on the left

After wanting to visit for many years Lynn and I finally got to to visit the first distillery to open in NY in over 80 years namely Tuthilltown Spirits upstate in Gardiner, New York.   We had tried some of the initial offerings on Long Island like the Baby Bourbon Whiskey and were suitably impressed with the flavor which was smooth but with a subtle, pleasant burn that many of the commercial whiskeys unfortunately lack.

We liked Luz

On that cold day, we found the tasting room was appropriately rakish and resembled a backwoods speakeasy with its exposed wood floors and Colonial ambience.  A very charming young woman named Luz, walked us through our tasting explaining some of the techniques that the distillery employees to distinguish their spirits from run of the mill offerings.

We were not surprised to find the whiskeys outstanding (particularly the Hudson Manhattan Rye Whiskey which we got and later found perfect for drinking straight-not something we always like to do with a rye).  We were surprised to find that the Distillery had recently produced its first gin called Half Moon Orchard which employees wheat and apples as part of the process of creating this particular concoction.  The result of this is a fragrant gin with (among other things) traces of  nutmeg, bergamont and (of course) apples.  Interesting to drink straight but smashing in cockail when it richocets around with other mixers (we got one of the gin as well).