This is good news for New York’s whiskey connoisseurs.
Real estate banker Jeffrey Baker has invested “several million dollars” to create an artisanal whiskey “field to glass” distillery on a 100-acre spread in the idyllic Hudson River Valley.
Now Hillrock Estate Distillery whiskey is set to debut in high end New York liquor stores and bars by Oct. 1.
Among its first offerings in custom Venetian glass bottles are Hillrock’s Solera Aged Bourbon, which will retail for $80 a bottle, and Hillrock Estate Single Malt Whiskey at $125 a bottle.
“I was looking for a new, exciting venture,” said Baker, a managing director at Savills who is married to top Brown Harris Stevens broker Cathy Franklin. “We have land in the country, and I always wanted to do something with it.”
Baker initially considered a vineyard but did not believe the area was ripe for it. So he did some research.
In the 19th century, two-thirds of the country’s barley was grown in New York and, voilà, Baker’s artisanal whiskey concept was born. There are now about 200 micro- distilleries in the country, compared to 5,000 vineyards and 2,500 breweries.
“This is where microbreweries were 15 years ago,” Baker said, adding that he was amazed there was no one taking the micro-distillery to the “field to glass level” — the equivalent of an estate winery.
“My thought was to become the only distillery in the country that grows its own grain, malts on site and makes great whiskey,” Baker said.