The Hudson Valley has had a long, some might say checkered, history with alcohol. Almost as soon as farming began, farmers distilled their grains and fruits—partly to prevent spoilage during the long winter months, and partly create alternative sources of revenue. By the mid-1800s, there were about 1,000 small distilleries dotting the New York landscape, including one run by politician Jacob Rutsen van Rensselaer in his mill complex along the Claverack Creek. When the Volstead Act closed down all of the state’s legal distilleries during Prohibition, the Hudson River became a smuggler’s paradise, from New York City to Albany.

In the early 2000s the laws surrounding distilling loosened again, and the craft distilling movement blossomed. It’s fitting that now, one of the most original and exciting distilleries, Olde York Farm, has bought the craft back to Claverack, right on van Rensselaer’s original property.

Stuart Newsome, a builder, along with his wife, Louise, an artist, saw the potential in the run-down property. He’d been making his own spirits with a tabletop distiller for several years, and his daughter, Sophie, encouraged him to start a business—with an original twist. “Most flavored spirits you can get on the market are really fake,” she explains. “They’re all artificial ingredients. I saw a hole in the market, to make a product that has fresh, local ingredients.”

After an extensive, 2.5-year renovation to bring the buildings back to life and up to code, the Newsomes opened their micro-batch distillery and cooperage in van Rensselaer’s former carriage house in 2016. Sophie, the operations manager and flavor master, spends anywhere from several days to a few weeks perfecting flavor combinations. Louise handles promotions and sales relationships, while Sophie’s longtime boyfriend, Rory Tice, serves as head distiller.

In a nod to a disappearing craft, Stuart makes all of the oak barrels, for aging the spirits, by hand in the barn’s expansive top-floor workshop. It’s a painstaking process for which he has created his own assembly line of hand-modified tools and even built a kiln for drying the wood and a charring station for priming the oak, so that the spirits can more easily extract its natural flavors.

The Newsomes are more interested in quality than quantity, and make limited batches of most products under their micro-batch label. This allows them to introduce new flavors on a regular basis. Several products have been so popular that they’ve been promoted to year-round status under their Cooper’s Daughter label.

Artisanal traditions are apparent in every Olde York vodka, bourbon, whiskey, brandy, and liqueur. “Our products are unusual, to say the least,” offers Stuart. “Some people will look at flavors like the Thai Basil Liqueur and think, ‘Why?’ But once they taste it, they see it really works.”

From the pungent, smoky Black Walnut Bourbon—made from syrup tapped from black walnut trees on the property, and chosen by the Taster’s Club as their 2018 Christmas bourbon—to the Buddha’s Hand Citron Vodka (crafted from a Southeast Asian fruit), the lightly fruity Mulled Peach Whiskey (perfect for hot toddies), and the spicy-sweet Raspberry Black Pepper Liqueur (inspired by Louise’s mother, who sprinkles her fruit salads with pepper), Olde York Farm’s spirits are unexpected blasts of flavor.

For Sophie, the process of coming up with these creative fusions requires both imagination and opportunity. “There are times when I make lists of dream combinations to try, but usually I look at what’s available on local farms,” she says. “I try to choose products with a slightly different flavor profile—like Thai basil instead of Italian basil.” She also experiments with seasonal specialties of the region in products like Olde York’s Ramp Vodka (popular with chefs and the bloody Mary crowd) and Lilac Liqueur.

The team at Olde York aims for as little waste as possible. For example, instead of tossing the spirits-soaked Peruvian cacao nibs used in making their Cacao Maple Vodka, they collaborated with longtime Hudson candy maker Vasilow’s to create a dreamy, creamy, and very grown-up Cacao Maple chocolate bar (the vodka itself is used in their Cacao Vodka Truffles).

In the Olde York tasting room, which is open on the weekends, customers can sample the products or enjoy cocktails made with them. The tasting room also hosts food-and-drink pop-ups with local purveyors—for example, a Samosa Pop-Up with Indian food, or their Valentine’s Pop-Up with sweet artisanal treats. The distillery and cooperage are also open for tours on the weekends, and private groups can rent out the tasting room for events such as corporate retreats and bachelorette parties.

The focus on using local products and collaborators is Olde York’s signature, and part of the reason the community has received them so warmly. For the Newsomes, it’s about enhancing the region’s business and agricultural community. Stuart says, “The craft beverage movement is helping to revive farms and bring young farmers back to the state. If we support them and help them exist, that’s fantastic.”

This article first appeared in Berkshire HomeStyle.