"Where everybody knows your name"

To the people of New Scotland, and the friends I made on my long journey back home:

New Scotland Spirits are finally available for purchase, more than half a decade since Patrick and I first started distilling whiskies from grains grown in our beloved upstate hometown of New Scotland, NY. 

  • Helderberg Single Malt Whiskey (82 proof)

  • Helderberg Straight Rye Whiskey (82 proof)

  • Helderberg Winter Wheat Whiskey (82 proof)

  • Helderberg Bourbon, Bottled-in-Bond (100 proof)

 Support the local businesses which have welcomed our aged 5-year whiskies onto their shelves! 

1) New Scots, get our Helderberg Whiskies at these neighborhood outlets—

2) Albanites, we’re moving into City of Albany establishments as fast as we can. For now, Colvin Wine Merchants (900 Central Ave #3, Albany, NY ) is selling our whiskies at discounted pricing in honor of our launch!

3) Those external to Albany County and the State of New York can buy our spirits through our website. The shipping costs are high, but our quality is even higher— I wouldn’t risk my ego if it weren’t unassailably true..

 Check us out on Facebook, fam.
www.NewScotlandSpirits.com

BACKGROUND:
Shortly after the New Year in 2016, I flew cross country from my duty station at Fort Bragg, in search of guidance from a childhood friend and collaborator.  I was lost and looking for meaning on the periphery of my Army service.

From that pilgrimage to Patrick emerged a project that’s consumed off-duty hours for more than half a decade:  distilling whiskies from grains grown in the very fields on which we grew up.  After all, if I couldn’t be home, then at least I’d take home with me.

But what I didn’t realize then was that I could be home!  I’d had the power to go home all along.  It’s a power derived from the friends who love me, the neighbors who give a shit about me, and the family awaiting my return.  Whatever I’d been seeking when I left New Scotland all those years ago was, in fact, right where I’d left it.

This past January marked the end of nearly a decade of active duty military service.  My Army adventure took me to duty stations throughout the South, to the sordid depths of American bureaucracy, and across the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.  I met lots of fascinating people and discovered lots about myself.  But most importantly, I learned how to click my heels together. 

That’s what New Scotland Spirits is:  three clicks of the heels. 

Every bottle of Helderberg Whisky commemorates the community which rallied to make this dream possible, from the farmers and maltsters who supplied the grain (Indian Ladder Farms, Lime Kiln Farm, Hudson Valley Malt), the distillers who handcrafted the whiskey (Albany Distilling Company, Schenectady Distilling Company, Stoutridge Distillery), and the company membership comprised of friends I’ve known since nursery school or the first day of Kindergarten.   

So from the bottom of my heart to the people at its center, we present to you “nostalgia in a bottle, a good time in a glass.”  Helderberg Whiskies are the taste of New Scotland you can take with you no matter where you go. 

But don’t stay away for too long… because there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.

I’m home.

—Jesse