The Handcrafted Spirits of Berkshire Mountain Distillers

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 24th 2009 at 3:02PM

Tucked into a barn in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, Berkshire Mountain Distillers is quietly making a new line of craft liquors. An article in the Berkshire Eagle led me to the story of Chris Weld who produces Berkshire Mountain Distillers gin, rum and vodka. Weld's operation is small,he has just one employee, and he sources his ingredients locally when possible, using grain from nearby farms and water from a spring on his Great Barrington farm. Weld, a former physician's assistant is one of many entrepreneurs bitten by the distilling bug recently as small craft liquor lines are popping up around the country and producing high quality spirits, often at prices lower than some of the "prestige" brands.

The first product from the distillery was Ragged Mountain Rum, a traditional pot still style of rum, hand crafted in small batches and aged in bourbon barrels from Kentucky to create a sipping rum. Ice Glen Vodka and Greylock Gin were added to the line and Weld is currently working on Ethereal, a new gin that will have a more heavily botanical slant. The spirits sell for just under $30 and are now for sale throughout Massachusetts with plans to expand into New York.

Tags: berkshire mountain distillers, BerkshireMountainDistillers, gin, greylock gin, GreylockGin, ice glen vodka, IceGlenVodka, ragged mountain rum, RaggedMountainRum, rum, vodka