Tuthilltown Spirits, LLC

Tuthilltown Spirits is the Gardiner, New York operation that's almost single-handedly responsible for the modern American craft whiskey movement on the East Coast — and the distillery whose Hudson Whiskey line was the first whiskey legally produced in New York State since Prohibition. Founded in 2003 by Ralph Erenzo and Brian Lee on the historic Tuthilltown Gristmill property in the Shawangunk Mountains foothills (the site is roughly 90 minutes north of Manhattan in Ulster County), Tuthilltown converted a restored 1788 gristmill complex into a small distillery and launched Hudson Whiskey as the brand identity for the bourbon and rye that came out of it.

The historical and regulatory significance of the launch is hard to overstate. New York State had no licensed whiskey production from Prohibition until 2003, when Tuthilltown opened. The original Hudson Baby Bourbon and Hudson Manhattan Rye, bottled in distinctive squat 375ml bottles, became the editorial reference points for what East Coast craft American whiskey could look like, and the Hudson brand's success effectively triggered the New York Farm Distillery Act of 2007 — the state legislation that created the regulatory framework for the broader Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes craft distillery boom of the past two decades. Tuthilltown's success directly enabled the entire downstream NY craft distilling scene.

William Grant & Sons (the Scottish family-owned spirits company that also owns Glenfiddich, Balvenie, Hendrick's Gin, and Monkey Shoulder) acquired the Hudson Whiskey brand from Tuthilltown in 2010, with the Tuthilltown distillery operation continuing as the production site for Hudson under the William Grant umbrella. The acquisition gave Hudson the global distribution platform that Tuthilltown's small scale couldn't otherwise reach, and the Hudson Whiskey line scaled substantially through the 2010s under William Grant ownership.

The product range now covers Hudson Baby Bourbon (the flagship — 100% New York-grown corn, aged in small 3-gallon barrels), Hudson Manhattan Rye (the rye flagship), Hudson Four Grain Bourbon, Hudson Maple Cask Rye (finished in maple syrup barrels), and the higher-tier Hudson Single Barrel programs. The Gardiner visitor experience runs through tours of the restored 1788 gristmill, the working distillery, the rickhouses, and the on-site tasting room — one of the most architecturally distinct distillery experiences in American craft whiskey. For visitors building a Hudson Valley trip combining wine, farm-to-table dining, and Shawangunk Mountains outdoor recreation, Tuthilltown is the natural craft-spirits anchor of the entire upstate New York craft distilling ecosystem it helped create.