These Amazing 15 New York State Distilleries Will Lift Your Spirits

It all started with craft breweries.  They started popping up all over Upstate New York about ten year ago.  Today every county can count a handful of small craft breweries in their area.  Next came the cideries.  These places, as an alternative to craft beer breweries, take advantage of New York's robust apple crop to make some of the best hard cider in the country.  And their tasting rooms, like the craft breweries, are attractive and comfortable.

Now it is time for the distilleries.

This is a list of 15 Upstate New York distilleries from the Catskills to the Adirondacks, and from the Hudson River to Buffalo.  They hand make gins, vodkas, bourbons, and all other kinds of spirits.  For the most part the entries on this list are smaller farm distilleries, usually family run.  Their products are delicious and, again like their beer and cider cousins, the tasting rooms are beautiful.

You will find on this list distilleries located in barns, horse stables, a 1929 bank, and even a 1920's era firehouse.  And many of them offer delicious food options on site.  We recognize that this is only a small sample of the fine distilleries that abound in Upstate (nearly 100 of them).  But, we think they represent some of the best of the best.

We encourage you to support all of these local businesses this spring (and summer).