05/21/2010
Best New American Whiskeys
Food & Wine's Emily Kaiser highlights America's latest revolutionaries - all renegades in the spirit of whiskey patriarch George Washington.
JUNE 2010 ISSUE

 Americans have been making whiskey for longer than the States have been United. But, spurred by changes in the laws, a passion for local ingredients and a love of history, craft distillers are now producing exceptional spirits. Whether making whiskey out of beer of bottling unaged white whiskey (a.k.a. moonshine), these are some of the most creative new talents.

MODERN MOONSHINERS
Prohibition ended in 1933, but many states have only just made distilling legal again. Here, pioneers who are bringing whiskey-making back to their communities.

TUTHILLTOWN SPIRITS
Gardiner, New York
According to Tuthilltown Spirits, New York had upward of 1,000 farm stills before the 1919 ratification of the Volstead act made them all illegal. When Tuthilltown launched in 2003, it became the state's first small-batch whiskey distiller since Prohibition. Today, the company's whiskeys (which include the unaged Hudson New York Corn Whiskey) are sold as far away as Paris and Sweden, and Tuthilltown continually adds new spirits to its line. Located a few hours north of Manhattan, the distillery is open for tastings and tours. www.tuthilltown.com.

LOCAVORES
Most distillers get their grains from all over the U.S. and Canada, but the locavore movement is inspiring some producers to focus on local grains. These go into whiskeys that range in flavor from peppery to creamy.

DEATH'S DOOR SPIRITS
Washington Island, Wisconsin
"The wheat came first," says Brian Ellison of his new spirits company. While working as an economic-development consultant, Ellison was hired to help the wheat-farming community that surrounds the Washington Hotel on Wisconsin's tiny Washington Island in Lake Michigan. After first working with Capital Brewery near Madison to create an Island Wheat Ale, Ellison decided to launch Death's Door Spirits. Today his company makes an excellent, vanilla-flecked white whiskey, as well as a gin and a vodka; all three are distilled from a mash of Washington Island wheat (the gin even uses Wisconsin juniper). An aged wheat whiskey is also in the works. In just five years, Death's Door has helped the island's wheat fields grow from five acres to 1,200. www.deathsdoorspirits.com.

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