VACUUM DISTILLATION NO HEAT, NO AIR, ALL GLASS
the first Farm Distillery in Montgomery County, NY
Mohawk Spirits Distillery is located in the heart of the scenic Mohawk Valley of upstate New York. We source our fruit and spring water from New York. We are a private business and do not offer tours at this time. All of our distilling operations occur in glass under vacuum, and our largest pot is 200 liters.
Our distillery is built upon the purported foundation of the first black A.M.E. church in Canajoharie. In 1857, five African American men, representing African Americans who had been meeting for some time in a local church assembled to incorporate the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church at our site. Rev. Richard Eastup, a freedom seeker himself, was appointed to oversee the Canajoharie mission church in 1862.
Although no church minutes or congregational records have been found, the indigenous period limestone block for our building, quarried from the Shaper Quarry in Canajoharie, dates to this period. The same limestone from the same quarry was used to construct the Brooklyn Bridge.
AWARDS
- Microliquor Spirit Awards (MLSA), 2021. Gold. Pawpaw Liqueur.
- The Fifty Best, “Best Liqueur”, 2019. Gold. Strawberry Liqueur.
- Denver International Spirits Competition 2019, Double Gold. Pawpaw Liqueur.
- Denver International Spirits Competition 2019, Silver. Strawberry Liqueur.
- Finger Lakes International Wine Competition 2019, Bronze Medal. Pawpaw Liqueur.
- NY State Distillers Guild 2018, Silver Medal. Strawberry Liqueur.
- ADI 2018, Silver Medal. Pawpaw Liqueur
- Great American International Spirits Competition 2018, Silver Medal. Strawberry Liqueur.
- Great American International Spirits Competition 2018, Bronze Medal. Pawpaw Liqueur.
- ADI 2017. Silver Medal. Strawberry Liqueur.
AFFILIATIONS
- New York State Distillers Guild
- American Distilling Institute
- North American Pawpaw Growers Association
What We Do Differently
We use clean and genuine piece of Canajoharie limestone from the historic Shaper Quarry as the boiling stone in each of our pots to provide nucleation.
All distillation occurs in glass. Although most distillers use copper metal to remove organosulfur compounds, simply incorporating copper metal and certain special metals into our process is also effective.
The conventional wisdom is that a small pots are not profitable to operate. Our advantage is that there is no warmup time for the wash. Once the vacuum is pulled, boiling begins immediately. We operate in semi-batch mode, so that each pot is distilled and refilled quickly, as opposed to hours of heating and cooling in conventional pots.
