AMBER
WAVES
Craft beers, cider and spirits return to
New York State
By Brian PJ Cronin
T
hink of American alcoholic beverages, and
chances are your mind wanders West, to
Colorado’s mountains, Kentucky’s pot
stills and St. Louis’s breweries—toward
endless Midwestern fields of grain. But it
wasn’t always that way. In the early 1900s,
New York State was a leader in brewing cider and beer and
distilling spirits. Then Prohibition halted those industries.
Now, the Empire State is getting back to its roots.
Early Colonists brought cider from Europe, and since
New York is America’s second-largest apple-producing state
(after Washington), the cider industry thrived here. Grain
growing was plentiful too. In the early 1900s, New York was
the nation’s leading grower of hops, boasting 450 breweries
(45 of which were in Brooklyn). But a flush of mildew
devastated the state's hops crops just as Pacific Northwest-
ern brewers figured out how easily the crop adapted to their
climate. Warehousing and distribution were cheaper in the
Midwest, giving breweries and distilleries there a distinct
economic advantage. When Prohibition rolled around in the
1920s, suddenly the only people making money on spirits in
New York were rum runners and speakeasy owners. During
Prohibition, only the Brotherhood Winery in Hudson
Valley’s Washingtonville kept making wine with the
understanding that it would only be used for “religious
purposes,” leading a disproportionate number of clergy to
live nearby, but all other spirits-making died out.
But just as it took a series of interlocking events to bring
down New York’s alcoholic beverage industry, a new wave of
laws, innovative farmers and brewers, and an adventurous
public are coinciding to make the state the focus of craft
brewing once again.
The first step was in 2002 when Ralph Erenzo, after years
of lobbying, convinced New York State’s government to
lower the cost of a distillery license from $65,000 to $1,500
over three years. That allowed him to turn a 220-year-old
gristmill in Gardiner into Tuthilltown Distillery, making it
the first New York distillery to open since Prohibition.
Tuthilltown quickly attracted worldwide attention for its
whiskeys, gins and vodkas, made with apples and wheat
grown in New York.
Tuthilltown’s success helped spur further laws easing
restrictions on craft brewers while requiring them to use a
percentage of New York State ingredients. Distillers, brewers
and cider makers in three key regions—Central New York,
42 | New York By Rail
ILLUSTRATED BY TATYANA STARIKOVA