BACK IN SPIRITS
Pine Plains distillery opens at site of Prohibition-era bootlegging operation
PINE PLAINS, N.Y. » Prohibition was a time of speakeasies, flappers, and ruthless mobsters looking to strike it rich in the illicit alcohol trade.
And while much of the history of that time evolves around places like New York City and Chicago, this rural agricultural community played a prominent role in the notorious mobster and bootlegger Dutch Schultz.
It was here, on the 400acre Harvest Homestead Farm at 98 Ryan Road, ironically owned by a former New York City detective, that Schultz established a massive bootlegging operation from which he supplied illegal alcohol to downstate speakeasies.
Now, nearly 88 years after Schultz’s operation was shut down when FBI agents raided the farm, stills on the property will soon begin producing alcohol again.
Earlier this month, after more than two years of planning and renovations, Beacon resident Brendan McAlpine opened Dutch’s Spirits, a farm-to-bottle distillery he hopes will eventually include a fullservice restaurant, event venue and farm store featuring New York products.
Although the stills aren’t yet operational, Dutch’s Spirits offers a variety of New York whiskeys for tasting. When the stills are brought online, the first spirit McAlpine said he plans to produce is Dutch’s Sugar Wash Shine, an 80-proof sugarbased spirit created by the
“I love hospitality and I love history. When those two things intersect, that really is the sweet spot for me.”
former owner from Schultz’s own recipe.
A lawyer turned hospitality developer, he said never envisioned himself as a distiller. But when a friend told him the property might be for sale, McAlpine decided to take a look.
“The moment I turned into the driveway, I knew it was something I wanted to do and something to pursue,” said McAlpine. When
he climbed down into one of the bunkers on the property, McAlpine said, the deal was sealed.
Drawn in by the history and potential of the property, McAlpine purchased the property in 2017.
“I love hospitality and I love history,” he said. “When those two things intersect, that really is the sweet spot for me.”
Schultz’s operation was short-lived. It came to an end roughly a year after it started, on Oct. 10, 1932, when the FBI raided the mobster’s illegal operation
and confiscated two 2,000-gallon stills and more than 10,000 pounds of sugar. But its scope was massive, with a maze of tunnels and bunkers hidden below Patrick Ryan’s turkey farm.
“The farm was the perfect place for it,” McAlpine said. “They were very, very detailed about how they did everything. They were very thorough and detailed. It’s really a pretty huge operation.”
McAlpine said that although most of the buildings from the time of Dutch
Schultz’s operation are long gone, the tunnels and the bunkers still remain.
McAlpine said that when fully open, they will offer tours of the bunkers and open a Prohibition Museum.
And, as sort of an homage to the original operators of the distillery, one of the bunkers will be used to store the barrels of booze while it ages, just like in the days of Prohibition.
The socially distanced tasting room and outdoor biergarten is open weekends from noon to 7 p.m.