Springbrook Farm Distillery
Governor Andrew Cuomo has his shares of fans and detractors, but one thing almost everyone can toast to is his decidedly pro-hooch platform.
These days, grabbing a locally made gin, craft beer or wine sourced from the farms and fields across the Empire State seems pretty standard, but if the state hadn’t stepped in to loosen laws, the thousands of boozy options available to thirsty locavores wouldn’t exist.
“Without the tax breaks and looser legislation, there’s no way we’d be here,” says Matt Colucci, who co-owns Springbrook Farm Distillery in Queensbury with his partners and friends Dave Bannon, Mike Forcier, Tony DeSantis and Ken Rohne.
Until 2000, New York charged $65,000 just for a permit to make small-batch spirits, but no one even really noticed that it dropped to $1,500 until Ralph Lorenzo stumbled on the obscure law change, and founded the first post-Prohibition distiller in the state, Tuthilltown Spirits in 2003. Tuthilltown’s launch opened the floodgates with other small-scale spirits houses opening in the months and years that followed; the movement culminated in the 2007 Farm Distillery Act, which enabled farms to become distilleries.
More legislative and regulatory changes came down the pike, making it easier to open and grow craft businesses. The Capital Region alone added 62 new craft beverage manufacturers between 2012 and 2018, with a 1000% increase in the number of offsite tasting rooms, the highest increase in the state. The legislators who signed onto these changes weren’t merely trying to show New York’s citizens a good time but were aiming to help New York’s struggling agricultural industry.
Between 2014 and 2016, the acreage of hops in New York doubled, according to Cornell University, and the acreage of malting barley increased 374%, from 422 to 2,000 acres. To ensure that the producers gifted with such a low bar of entry into the brewing and distilling business actually used New York– grown products, requirements were put in place. Farm distillers had to use 75% New York–grown or –produced fruits, vegetables, grain and grain products, honey, maple sap or other agricultural products.
For the team at Springbrook, which opened its doors in 2014, thinking and using local is part of their DNA.
“Every single ingredient, from the label to the grains that we can get from New York, we do,” Colucci explains. “Corn, rye, malted barley, bottles, labels, produce, our apples and even our coffee for a liqueur, which comes from Kru, is sourced locally. We even use the Adirondack Barrel Cooperage in Utica for our barrels.”
Colucci wasn’t part of Springbrook’s launch team, but was lured over within its first year on the books.
“I worked for DeCrescente Distributing out of college, so they knew I could sell,” he says. “And these guys were all friends of mine, we went to school together. The whole project was started because Mike and Dave are bourbon fanatics, and Mike was engaged to Dave’s daughter [Maura Bannon Forcier]. Dave had a 200-acre property in the foothills of the Adirondacks that he used as a horse farm for years.”
The pair spent much of their free time geeking out on bourbon, and it dawned on them that they could use the fantastic setting and terroir to make something truly special themselves. The distillery is about five miles as the crow flies from Lake George, nestled in a valley teeming with wildlife and migratory birds, with views of French Mountain. The distillery is named for its water source, Springbook Hollow, which delivers mountain-fresh water that is ideal for distilling. While most producers have to strip their water, Colucci and the Springbrook team believe that in its purest state it imparts a richness and body that is utterly unique.
In the before times, when COVID wasn’t marauding across the land, wet blanket in tow, Springbrook’s tasting room and patio was hopping with local and visiting spirits enthusiasts and families. Their line of bourbon, moonshines, gin, vodka and liqueurs could be found at bustling restaurants and bars around the region.
“We did really well at restaurants,” says Colucci. “Thankfully, before COVID hit, we pivoted a bit in our strategy, and began attending 25 farmers’ markets every week across New York, instead of the usual 5 to 10 we were at. That saved us. While we lost a lot of restaurant business, the uptick in business at farmers’ markets (which were allowed to stay open during COVID) balanced it out.”
Last year, while many small-scale spirits producers struggled to stay afloat, Springbrook managed to move 50,000 bottles, about the same as the previous year; Springbrook is distributed in six states and available for shipping online to the 40 or so states it’s legal for them to ship to.
While many producers are reeling from COVID’s effect on their production and distribution, Springbrook is planning an expansion.
“We are building a new building right down the street,” Colucci says. “It’s 7,000 square feet, and we hope to open in the fall. At our current location, we don’t have indoor seating, just standing room only in the tasting room and a patio. With this expansion, we’re shooting to be able to seat about 100 people in and outside, we’re going to offer local craft beer, ciders and small bites.”
They would like to move their production line to the new facility, and install a bottling line.
“We’ve learned a lot in the last year,” Colucci says. “One thing we’ve learned is how strong our community is. They helped get us through this time of uncertainty, and we gave back by pivoting to making hand sanitizer. We ended giving away 30,000 bottles free of charge to the public. It’s important for us to support each other.”
A cocktail of self-reliance and community sounds pretty delicious to us.
TWO SISTERS VODKA: Made from wheat, it’s clean, crisp and completely neutral. Great in a Vodka & Tonic. 40% ABV.
ADIRONDACK HIGH RYE BOURBON: A blend of local corn, rye and malted barley, the bourbon gets four years in heavy char oak barrels. Bold, sweet, balanced, with notes of caramel on the nose, and a full-body bristling with oak and toasted toffee. Drink straight up, on the rocks or in an Old-fashioned. 43% ABV.
COWBOY COFFEE: Springbrook partnered with Saratoga Spring’s Kru Coffee for this delicious confection. Aromas of coffee, chocolate and vanilla, a delightfully rich and sweet coffee flavor. Drink on the rocks, in coffee (breakfast of champions!) or in a White Russian.
HOWL AT THE MAPLE MOONSHINE: Adirondack Gold Maple Farm syrup, blended with Springbrook’s plain old Howl at the Moonshine is decadent, caramelly goodness, fantastic over ice cream or in a hot toddy. 30% ABV.
Springbrook Farm Distillery | @sbhf_distillery
Kru Coffee | @krucoffee
Adirondack Gold Maple Farm
