On a dreary, rain-slicked day, the grounds of Tenmile Distillery feel more like Scotland than Wassaic, New York, a hamlet of only 210 people that’s tucked away on the eastern edge of the Hudson Valley, just two hours north of New York City. The distillery, which filled its first barrels in January 2020, sits on 70 acres of lush green farmland, surrounded by temperate forests and rolling hills. In a previous life, it was the site of a dairy farm; the single-story white brick stillhouse and barrel warehouse are well-preserved remnants of the farm, with four stills—two pot stills, a column still, and a custom gin still—now located within the century-old dairy barn, and the barrel house (set up in dunnage style) was once used as a cow barn and mill. Altogether, the picturesque setting calls to mind a Highlands distillery, but the Scottish influence doesn’t stop at the exterior—the mash tun and stills were custom-built by Scotland-based still maker Forsyths, and the master distiller, Shane Fraser, is a Scottish import himself, having spent a cumulative three decades at Oban, Royal Lochnagar, Glenfarclas, and Wolfburn Distilleries.
Read the full article by Julia Higgins here
