Terroir is Critical in Crafting Savory Spirits at Hudson Valley Distillers
CrushBrew Editorial · Wine & Beer · 6 min read
Hudson Valley Distillers is a family-founded craft distillery in Clermont, New York, that opened in 2014 on a former plant nursery the founders renamed Spirits Grove Farm. It built its reputation on apple-based spirits, especially applejack distilled from locally grown apples, and works from a farm-to-bottle approach that treats terroir as seriously for whiskey and brandy as a winemaker treats it for wine.
In This Article
Does terroir matter for whiskey the way it does for wine?
Winemakers have argued for centuries that a grape carries its birthplace with it: the slope it grew on, the minerals in the soil, the weather of a single season. The founders of Hudson Valley Distillers started from the same premise and pushed it somewhere less expected. If terroir shapes a glass of wine, they reasoned, it shapes a barrel of whiskey too.
That conviction is why they searched the country for the right place to distill before circling back to where one of them had grown up. They settled on the Hudson Valley for its dense population, its working farmland, and a craft-beverage revival that was, at the time, gaining real momentum across small-batch spirits, beer, and wine. The flavor of a spirit, in their view, begins in the dirt.
Terroir
The combination of soil, climate, and local growing conditions that gives an agricultural product its character. Long central to how winemakers think about grapes, terroir applies to spirits too: when the apples, grain, and water all come from one place, that place shapes the finished applejack, gin, and whiskey.
Who founded Hudson Valley Distillers?
Thomas Yozzo and Chris Moyer met in 1990 as fraternity brothers at Bloomsburg University. They had talked about going into business together for more than twenty years, through two careers and the slow accumulation of a plan, waiting until Yozzo retired from law enforcement to make the move. When a shuttered nursery in Clermont came up for sale, they bought it.
They named the property Spirits Grove Farm and opened the distillery in April 2014. The goal they set was modest in scope and stubborn in standards: make high-quality spirits by hand, from locally sourced ingredients they chose deliberately.
Where is Hudson Valley Distillers located?
Spirits Grove Farm sits in Clermont, New York, on land that had a past life as a plant nursery. The bones of that earlier operation are still there: a barn well over a century old, a retail building, several greenhouses, and a four-acre apple orchard. The founders committed to working the land organically, with no chemical sprays on the orchard or the fields, and they lease additional acreage nearby to grow grain, which keeps even the whiskey tied to local soil.
The orchard grows Honey Crisp, Fuji, and Empire apples, all of it feeding the distillery’s brandies and apple spirits.
What spirits does Hudson Valley Distillers make?
Applejack is where the distillery made its name. It is an American apple spirit, distilled here from apples grown on the farm and pressed from nearby Hudson Valley orchards.
Applejack
An American spirit distilled from apples. At Hudson Valley Distillers, applejack is made from locally grown apples in small batches. An unaged version, comparable to moonshine, acts as the base spirit from which the distillery’s aged applejacks are made.
Beyond the apple spirits, the distillery hand-distills gin, vodka, and whiskey in small batches, each drawing on locally sourced ingredients. One of its gins follows the Old Tom style, a sweeter, older recipe that fell out of fashion for generations.
Old Tom Gin
A style of gin based on a recipe that was popular in 18th-century England. Largely set aside for generations, it has returned to bar menus through the modern craft cocktail movement, and Hudson Valley Distillers has produced its own version.
What ties the range together is the farm itself. The apples, the grain, the water, and the patience to do it by hand are all local, and that is the whole point of the place.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hudson Valley Distillers
🥃 Hudson Valley Distillers at a Glance
A quick reference to the distillery’s founding, farm, and spirits.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Founded | April 2014 |
| Founders | Thomas Yozzo & Chris Moyer (met at Bloomsburg University, 1990) |
| Location | Spirits Grove Farm, Clermont, New York |
| Property | Former plant nursery; century-old barn, retail space, greenhouses, four-acre orchard |
| Farming | Organic, no chemical sprays; grain grown on leased acreage nearby |
| Apple varieties | Honey Crisp, Fuji, Empire |
| Signature spirit | Applejack, distilled from locally grown apples |
| Other spirits | Gin (including Old Tom style), vodka, whiskey |
| Visiting | Cocktail Grove tasting room and lounge; guided distillery tours |
