Next up on my visit to Hudson Valley distilleries this summer is Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery. Tuthilltown is most noted for becoming the first post prohibition craft distillery in New York State.
History
It began in 2003 when Manhattan entrepreneur Ralph Erenzo had the idea of transforming his grist mill in Gardiner NY into a craft distillery. This is something that hadn’t been done since prohibition laws wiped out New York farm distilleries in 1920. While researching the feasibility of his idea, Erenzo stumbled upon the New York Farm Distillery license. This new law was placed on the books only a year earlier in 2002 but had never been used. This license allowed small scale distillers to obtain a reduced 3 year licensing permit, lowering the cost from $65,000 to $1,500 with a limited production cap of 35,000 gallons of product per year, stipulating they use 75% of their raw materials from New York agriculture. Unfortunately, this limited license didn’t allow onsite tastings or sales of your distilled products at the distillery. While not ideal this law made it possible for Ralph Erenzo and his new business partner Brian Lee to get Tuthilltown Spirits up and running two years later. Soon other local craft distillers popped up and helped Ralph lead the charge for two landmark legislation changes. First was the 2007 Farm Distillery Act which allowed onsite tastings and to sell spirits onsite at retail for off premise consumption. Followed by the 2014 Craft New York Act which further relaxed regulations, lowered costs and excise taxes, removed bureaucratic delays and established new farm distillery license categories. It also increased the previous manufacturing limit to 75,000 gallons of NY state labeled liquor annually. Though “farm” license holders aren’t required to be affiliated with a farm, they are required to use products locally sourced from New York farms as the primary ingredient. Other benefits included the addition of operating up to “one branch office” located away from the distillery, which allows the same activities as the primary location. The 2014 Craft Act also became the blueprint for many other states that followed suit. Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery was purchased by the Scottish whiskey firm William Grant & Sons (Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Drambuie) in 2010.
The Distillery Tour
After arriving at the gift shop/tasting room/cocktail bar we paid $35 each for the tour and tasting which includes 5 sample selections of your choice and a Hudson Whiskey rock glass. After a thorough distillery tour, we ended up back where we started and ordered 5 selections from the tasting menu. A few minutes later we were given a glass of water and a little square box that contained a rock glass with each or our selections in a quarter ounce tube. On the table and inside the box was a QR code that when scanned, has information and tasting notes for all their selections.
Taken: Neat in a Rock glass.
Proof: 92.
Age: 3 years.
Bourbon mash bill: 95% Corn, 5% Malted Barley.
Rye mash bill: 95% Rye, 5% Malted Barley.
Price: Retail starting from $49 to $65.
The Tasting
My selections were: 1. Bright Lights, Big Bourbon (straight bourbon whiskey), 2. This Is Your Favorite Whiskey (single barrel bourbon), 3. Do The Rye Thing (straight rye whiskey), 4. Short Stack (straight rye whiskey finished in maple syrup barrels), 5. Back Room Deal (straight rye whiskey finished in peated scotch barrels) and 6. Cider Cask Rye (straight rye whiskey finished in apple cider barrels).
Conclusion
There is a distinct grainy grassy/hay note that is in all of them to various degrees with not much oak present. The Cider Cask Rye was the best selection of the day because the apple cider barrels hid some of its flaws while adding more fruit notes. The single barrel bourbon (This Is Your Favorite Whiskey) was also an improvement over their main bourbon (Bright Lights, Big Bourbon), but that’s not saying much. By the way, those names make me cringe, given what I tasted. “Bright Lights” has a super thin mouthfeel and I had to work hard to get anything from the nose, with not much flavor on the palate either. The single barrel “This Is Your Favorite” was much better (than “Bright Lights”) with noticeably more stone fruit, caramel and baking spice coming through on the nose and palate. But it still suffered from the same ailment, that being young and grainy. The finish on all these whiskies are short. What I really wanted to try is “Four Part Harmony”, which is a 4 grain mash bill bourbon aged 7 years (still 92 proof) to see if more time in a barrel would make any significant improvement. Unfortunately, they ran out 2 weeks ago and won’t be back in stock until sometime later this year.
What you have to give Hudson Whiskey credit for the most is their marketing and promotion. Thanks to Ralph Erenzo’s relentless effort early on and William Grant & Sons established distribution network, Hudson Whiskey can be purchased nationwide and in 15 other countries. I’ve personally seen it in stores from Vermont to Virginia. The Hudson Whiskey website describe their whiskeys as “bold”, with “big flavor” and “artful and unapologetic”. That last one cracks me up. If you didn’t know any better, you might even believe it. This just proves there is a whiskey market for people who don’t know any better, folks who love young and grainy whiskey, people buying this as gifts and for tourists that buy it for the big white label that says, “Hudson Whiskey NY” in large bold letters. It’s sold in NY airport gift shops for this very reason. There are many whiskeys in the same price range or less that are so much better. I’m a big believer in supporting your local distillery but Tuthilltown is the only distillery I’ve visited so far, that I didn’t leave with a bottle of my favorite selection. I respect for Ralph Erenzo’s contribution in NY craft distilling history, but it’s a shame it didn’t lead to a much better product even after so many years later.
Rating: 2 to 4/10.
1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but better exists.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite.
10 | Perfect | Perfect.
