Big Spring Distillery Soft Opening Helps Prepare For Grander Version In Bellefonte

Counties constituting the Happy Valley Region of Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  The distillery movement is really starting to take off in Pennsylvania.  I keep running across these popping up around our great state.

Vana Dainty sat down with Kevin Lloyd to help him coordinate the final details of the grand opening for his Bellefonte distillery in two weeks.

Dainty, the borough’s Keystone Community development coordinator, said the Match Factory distillery, named Big Spring Spirits, will be good for the borough.

“Kevin has been a delight to work with, and this should really be a great part of Bellefonte that brings in new tourists and a part of the turning point for our economy,” Dainty said. “It’s different than anything else in Centre County.”

Lloyd said he has seen the value of a helping hand not only from Dainty, but from dozens of others as he opens his new business.

Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2014/07/24/4278398/big-spring-distillery-soft-opening.html?sp=/99/116/#storylink=cpy

Spirits Rising Between The Finger Lakes

New York’s Finger Lakes. Lying below Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes formed in tunnel valleys. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

OVID, NY — For more than 30 years, John Myer has farmed the ridge above Cayuga Lake and has seen the passing traffic from winery to winery grow each year.  His corn, wheat and soybeans wind up as flour, tofu and animal feed, not part of the burgeoning trade in locally made beverages.

No longer.

This fall, John and his brother Joe opened the tasting room of Myer Farm Distillers, where guests — many already undoubtedly cruising the Cayuga and Seneca wine trails — can sample spirits made on the farm from grains grown there.

Selling vodka, gin and clear, unaged whiskey — and with plans for aged spirits, including bourbon — Myer Farm is the second stand-alone artisan distillery to open in the southeastern Finger Lakes in the past five years.  The first was Finger Lakes Distilling in Hector, which opened in 2009 and has since released its first aged whiskies to critical acclaim and built its off-premises sales to account for half its revenue.

Read more:  http://www.stargazette.com/article/20121117/NEWS01/311170034/Spirits-rising-between-Finger-Lakes?odyssey=mod%7Cdnmiss%7Cumbrella%7C1&nclick_check=1