The Business Of Beverages In Ulster County

Written by By Bond Brungard

It’s hard to collectively to find statistics about beverage production, including fruit juices and non-alcoholic cider, in Ulster County, but it’s hard not to pass through the county’s endless bucolia without finding it easy to enjoy beer, whiskey, wine and cider from many local growers, distilleries and breweries.

On a quiet weekday, Angelo Curci, general manager Marlboro’s Benmarl Winery, was on a scenic perch near the border of Orange County, was with staff and visitors as a miles-long vista stretched out before them across the Hudson River and into Dutchess County.

“It’s more about the couple coming up from the city,” said Curci, of the typical visitors to Benmarl, “sitting out on the lawn, doing the wine tasting, grabbing some bottles to take home, getting a pizza or something while they are here, and sitting back and enjoying the view.”

The winery and its spacious tasting room, facing the abovementioned views, are open every day of the year with the help of 75 part and full-time workers. Wineries, breweries, distillers and cideries bring people to the county through tourism, and employ workers through the manufacturing and growing the needed ingredients for their products. Collectively leisure and hospitality, manufacturing and agriculture, employ about 26 percent of the county’s workforce.

Farther west of Benmarl, Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery in Gardiner sits above the Wallkill River as roadways lurch into the Shawangunks and north toward more distilleries and wineries in New Paltz, Kingston and other parts of the county.

“It started with Tuthilltown Distillery, which was the first legal distillery in New York state after prohibition,” said Lisa Berger, director of Ulster County’s Department of Tourism. “We’ve seen growth in distilling, we’ve seen growth in the wine business, and now craft brew.”

Located in Town of Rochester, with its assorted hamlets such as Accord, Alligerville and part of Kerhonkson, is Arrowood Farms. Just off Route 209 are hop fields that add flavor to their onsite brewed craft beers, and spring water located there is used to distill vodka, dry gin, bourbon, and single malt whiskey from rye, corn and wheat grown elsewhere in the Hudson Valley.

“A bunch of growers realized they can grow hops, get this equipment, and learn how to brew” said Berger. “And what I think we’ll see coming up is the next evolution where we start producing high quality beer and craft spirits, things that win awards.”

Tuthilltown helped set off a distilling boom in the state many, many decades after the end of Prohibition. Although Benmarl opened in 1957, grapes have been growing on the grounds and hills above the Hudson River in Marlboro since a few decades after America became a nation.

And six other wineries along with Benmarl, including Fjord VineyardsNostrano VineyardsQuartz RockWeeds OrchardsKedem WineryStoutridge Vineyards form the Seven Wineries in Seven Miles tasting tour, an imitative to cross-promote each other and the local industry. 

Most of Benmarl’s visitors come from the New York City area, New, Jersey and elsewhere, and so much variety gives them many choices within a day’s travel of their domicile.

 “People come and visit many places in the Hudson Valley,” said Benmarl’s Curci. “They are just not going to one place. They want to bop around, see different experiences, and so the wineries in town have come together to promote each other,” said Curci. “Every winery is so different in so many ways. If someone comes here, they may not know about another place, we kind of encourage folks to visit back and forth. If they have a great time here, they may have a great time somewhere else. It’s a great little day trip.”

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