Posts Tagged“Distilling”

Terroir in Whiskey? Inside the Quest for Individuality at the Hudson Valley’s Hillrock Estate Distillery

It wasn’t yet midnight, but it was long past sunset in the peat marsh. Two men who looked like deep-sea divers were prepared to use their wetsuits for a new purpose: they would be diving for peat. The decayed vegetation is an attractive part of the process of making single-malt whiskey — it’s smoked, adding a classic aromatic texture the likes of which can be found in Lagavulin and Laphroaig — but there’s one problem. The New York State Department of Environmental Conversation protects the marshlands, so the peat can’t be extracted legally. That’s why the men were prepared to…

Distillling in Wine Country: Four Questions with David Page

David Page had his Newton-apple-falling-on-the-head moment in the basement bowels of a New York City restaurant. A chef by trade, he and his wife, Barbara Shinn, traveled east from California and washed into New York City in 1990.  By 1993, they had scrounged enough money together to open Home restaurant, a rustic, cozy place that celebrates traditional American cuisine.  Soon, their 60-seat restaurant (30 inside, 30 outside) was jammed to the gills with adoring fans feasting on Skillet Fried Chicken, Whole Grilled Trout and the like. Another restaurant would follow (Drovers Tap Room), a cookbook, prospects of more businesses in the neighborhood…it…