Branchwater Farms Enters The Spirits Market With Home-Grown Gin

Branchwater Farms in Milan, New York is one of the latest small, family-run distilleries to enter the increasingly crowded local wine and spirits market, launching its first batch of gin last June. While it can be hard to stand out, Branchwater’s husband-and-wife team, Kevin Pike and Robin Touchet, have a secret weapon:  years of experience in the industry’s sales and distribution game. That launch batch of Branchwater Gin is already being poured in restaurants and bars across the country.

Pike previously oversaw national sales and marketing for a large wine importer before partnering with a former client and close friend Johannes Leitz of Leitz Weingut to start his own import business, Schatzi Wine. Through Schatzi he now offers Branchwater to a deep Rolodex of buyers who’ve come to respect and rely on his knowledge and taste. Touchet is the Hudson Valley wine representative for Polaner Selections, a premier and highly respected wine distribution catalog. She worked for the company in the city until January of 2020, when she transferred up to be closer to home, just two months ahead of the pandemic lockdown.

While it’s clear the couple have the chops to run the business, it would all be for naught if the product was unremarkable. Thankfully, Branchwater Gin is good… surprisingly good. Crisp and clean with a beautifully balanced blend of all-organic botanicals, flavors unfold on the palate in a gently and clearly identifiable way. Not only is the gin good but it’s reasonably priced, available at local merchants and on Branchwater’s website for between $35 and $45. Pike said it was important that they make the brand attainable so the gin can be a flagship for all that Branchwater has to come.

Branchwater's tasting room

“We are trying to build a national brand,” said Pike. “The only way to set yourself apart is quality.”

Pike worked on the recipe with friend and renowned Austrian distiller Hans Reisetbauer. Touchet said the spirit is an adaptation of Reisetbaur’s Blue Gin, with a touch more citrus on the back end. Branchwater Farms grows its own grain and the gin was distilled using a crop from a drought year. The added sugars that condition lends, Pike said, are part of the reason for their first run’s distinctive flavor. He also uses a triple distillation process and lets the mash of botanicals steep in the third distillation for 24 hours. It’s this process, he says, that lets the individual flavors express themselves so vividly.

“Each botanical releases its oils at different times. You can actually see them float up in the still,” Pike said.  “If you rush it you don’t get that.”

The batch of exemplary drought-year grain is also currently being used for the creation of Branchwater’s first run of rye whiskey, which won't be done aging for some time. They also have a second run of apple and pear brandy in the works, using all local fruit (the first batch sold out fast). If it wasn’t clear yet that Pike is a stickler for details, when prepping fruit for the fermentation process he spends the time to cut bruises out of every apple or pear. He wants to control every aspect of the fermentation process and doesn’t want it contaminated with preexisting rot.

While it’s going to be some time before we get to try Branchwater’s aged spirits, Pike and Touchet have experience in patience. Branchwater has been in the works for nearly a decade. Pike was frustrated with how much his work was making him travel and how disconnected the business of selling wine felt from the process of making and enjoying it. He said he never felt happier than time spent actually working on Leitz’s picturesque vineyards in Germany. They started looking for a property and in 2014, bought the current property and started growing grain and produce. They built a business plan with some help of the Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corporation, but it was longer still before they were able to secure the loan they needed to convert their big barn into a distillery.

“It took five years to find a bank who would do it with us,” said Pike. “It was very stressful. We couldn’t grow more grain because our silos were full.”

Construction commenced in 2019 and then COVID hit. Pike had all the parts for his massive still delivered from Europe, but the technician who was supposed to come along to assemble it couldn’t travel due to the pandemic. Pike built it himself with an expert on a video call in the background. Now that everything’s up and running the bet Pike and Touchet took on themselves is paying off.

Branchwater Farms is doing more, too. Touchet is raising big goose-sized Muscovy ducks for eggs and meat, and they have an apiary that helps pollinate their fields and provides delicious honey. They are also bringing a new hot sauce to market and they even sell soap infused with the same fragrant botanicals they put in the gin. All their products are available at their online store. The farm uses regenerative practices and Touchet says they are dedicated to land stewardship.

After many years and a lot of work, this is just the beginning of Branchwater Farms’s story. There’s momentum here and stored potential. It’s going to be exciting to see what they brew up next.

Branchwater Farms
818 Salisbury Turnpike, Milan, NY
(845) 266-0376