Orange County Distillery - Real Local Guys, Real Local Product, Hipster Cool

 

Orange County Distillery was founded by John Glebocki and Bryan Ensall.  Co-Owner and Co-Founder John Glebocki is the owner of J. Glebocki Farms, a fifth-generation farm in Goshen, New York.  Co-Owner and Co-Founder Bryan Ensall is the owner of a lawn care franchise. These two small business owners somehow found the spare time away from their full-time jobs to build the distillery from the ground up. John is the farmer and down-n-dirty guy, in charge of everything planted and harvested.  Bryan is the paperwork and reporting guy.  Together they do all the mashing, fermenting, distilling, aging and bottling.  There really isn't anything these two don't do.

Orange County Distillery doesn't pretend to be something it's not.  They are not a huge operation. 1,600 square feet! My house is bigger! They want to make quality, farm-to-glass craft spirits at their own pace on our terms.  "No one telling us to hurry up and sell before we're ready.  We'll bottle and sell our spirits only when we are completely sure that you'll not only want to buy one bottle...."

 

 

 

We started off my tour with John showing me the peat, which they get from the Black Dirt region right there on their own farm, to smoke their single malt whiskey and other products!

 

 

At Orange County, the store is right in the middle of the distillery operations. You are there!

 

They make several different kinds of whiskey, and sell the moonshine for each, so it's very fun to compare and contrast. You can have the rye moonshine and/or the barrel aged rye. A fun comparison.

 

 

Loved the single malt whiskey. Tight. Compact. But big flavor. Depsite a small imprint, and a comparatively low budget (compared to Tuthilltown, Hillrock Estate, and newcomer Dutch's Spirits), Orange County produces lovely, sophisticated craft spirits.

 

 

All the grain is grown on their farm, or neighboring farms.

 

Grain soaking in a feed tub! This is don on the farm! And it's all local!

 

Loved the aged rye. Smooth, with a little bite. Lovely mouthfeel. A nice, clean finish. Lovely!

 

Super excited about the bourbon. Lovely cereal notes. A creamed corn kind of feel, with a lovely dollop of caramel and brown sugar. Beautiful!

 

A beautiful, light, delicate gin. Most of the herbs are grown on the farm. Light, ethereal, lovely. Delicate.

 

 

Each bottle of Single Malt is individually hand numbered.

 

A lot of the equipment was fabricated by the two guys. It's all hand me down, and jury-rigged, but it works, and they are making great artisanal product!

 

 

 

If you want, you can go to their cocktail bar, which is located in an old barn just down the road. It's heated with wood-burning stoves. It's funky cool and very rustic! They have dozens of craft cocktails available form a very knowledgeable mixing staff!

 

I had a variation on an old fashioned. Lovely!!!!

You MUST GO to Orange County Distillery! It maybe hipster cool but it's also right down on the farm. And more importantly - they stuff is amazing!