Maple Farm Becoming Distillery and Cooperage

Riverside Maple Farms has been sitting closed for over a year and finally, we have an idea as to what’s coming.

A couple of weekends in December, the new owners of what once was Riverside Maple Farms held a last-minute sale to get rid of the product left over by Riverside Maple Farms. The farm unexpectedly closed and after that, we had no clue if they would reopen, if it was sold, and now we know a new business is moving in.

I went to one of the sales to get some of the last Riverside Maple Farms syrup and had a chance to chat with the new owners. Tony Hynes announced that he will be turning the space into a craft distillery and cooperage. According to The Daily Gazette, “The operation will be marketed as a destination for people to see small-scale production of spirits, see production of the oak barrels in which they are aged, and taste the final product.”

This will bring together Adirondack Barrel Cooperage, now in Remsen, with the Murray’s Fools Distilling Co., now in Altona. It’ll be interesting to have a space where you can see the entire process from distilling to the building of the barrel it will be aged in, to a rickhouse where it will all be stored.

Also, as for the beer-maple trail, it will be used again and turn into a beer-whiskey trail. I, for one, can’t wait to see the collaborations with Wolf Hollow Brewing Co which is the “beer” part of that trail just a quick quarter of a mile away.