Farewell to fall

December 2024

In case you missed our first post, Branchwater Farms is celebrating our decade mark this year. And, since we recently began renovations on the old farmhouse, we’ll continue our stroll through the farm’s history by dedicating this edition to the barn renovation - which transformed an old dairy barn into a modern distillery.

**Breaking Ground**
We broke ground on the barn on September 16, 2019 after a series of delays. We received verbal approval for our SBA loan through the Bank of Greene County and New York Business Development Corporation (NYBDC) in July 2018 and we closed on the loan in January 2019, but it took about eight more months to finally get started on the barn.

**If you build it, they will come…we hope!**
The barn is an old post and beam construction from the mid-1800s, and we wanted to maintain its look throughout the renovation. To do this, all structural posts and beams were left exposed to the interior as well as the rafters and purlins.

Underneath the old metal roof were the shaker shingles that turned to dust as the metal was being pulled off. To maintain the rafter look from inside, we put Structural Insulated Panels (SIP) on top of the purlins. These panels contained 8 inches of insulated foam between two layers of structural board.

On top of this went an ice and water guard and then a new metal roof. This gave us the insulation we needed with the look we desired. It also made the barn about a foot taller than it was.

One interesting aspect of the foundation is that everything underneath the barn is now new, but the barn never moved in the process. The barn was sitting on dry-laid rock- mostly shale- which is the bedrock in our part of the Hudson Valley. The original floor was dirt but poured concrete had been added to certain parts over the years. The eastern part of the barn, now the distillery, was built with stanchions for milking cows. The barn sat on the dry-laid shale for a hundred years before any concrete was added and we found some wood rot around the foundation.

To address the wood rot, all the siding from the first floor was removed. Once the floor system was completed, every other post was braced and then dug out and cut to about 2 feet above grade. Pier forms were constructed under each post that contained rebar and concrete was poured into each form and the posts were reattached to the concrete. After the piers cured, the building was re-braced with every other pier and the process was repeated.

Once all the piers had been poured and the building reattached to the concrete piers, like a big stilt house, the excavators could come in and pull the rock, dirt and old concrete away. This also served as an eviction notice to the thriving nest of black rat snakes who had taken residence in the barn for generations. Byeeeeeeeee!

Radiant heat tubing and rebar lattice was laid, and electrical roughed in conduits and the roughed in plumbing were installed. And, on a snowy December 5th 2019, we poured 85 tons of concrete for the slab and haunch, in a monolithic pour that connected the footers and piers which were poured earlier. And still, the floor cracked!

Behind the barn, we buried an 8,000 gallon tank to hold all the spent mash after distillation. The distilleries were designed with a port at the bottom whereby we can flush the spent mash out of the pots and into this tank via a chemical pipe. Normal PVC would not work, as the spent mash is coming out at over 100° Celsius. We pump the spent mash out of this tank and spread it on the fields after we harvest rye and wheat. At some point we hope to incorporate pigs into our livestock program so that we have another outlet for absorbing the spent mash we create, a closed circle for what is otherwise considered “waste.”

We had not included painting the barn exterior in the estimates for the work, in order to save money and because we had hoped to enlist friends who had expressed interest in helping us with “farm work.” When it came time to paint the siding, New York was still in Covid lockdown, so the two of us painted every board, front and back—twice—with the help of many hours of Spotify playlists, sunny days and the excitement of nearing completion.

We replaced all the big hanging doors with glass overhead doors and finished the inside with combed, pine shiplap. We added skylights and doubled the number of windows for maximum natural light inside. The floors in the barrel room and tasting room are also unfinished pine. We repurposed beams from the dairy into the roofing system to add structural integrity with these collar ties and posts up to the ridge beam. For all new lumber that we had to use, we purchased rough-sawn hemlock from a local mill in Ghent, NY. We used this for a new ridge beam that we installed and for the piers, stairs, railings and the large lean-to that we added to the north side for tractor and equipment storage.

In February 2023, we had solar panels installed on the south side of the barn as well as on the lean-to facing north.

It’s a 34.4 kW system. We now proudly produce 3 times more power than we consume, which is a feat given the fact that distilleries require a lot of energy.

Progress doesn’t happen overnight

Sometimes it takes a visit from friends who haven’t been to the farm in a few years to appreciate the scale of changes we’ve made in our short tenure here. Living just a few steps from the distillery means we see it every day. Here’s a roundup of some views of the barn over the years.

The final touch was having local artist Colin Packard of Long Neck Studio add our logo and farm lettering to the barn this fall. What do you think?

Holidays - yay for holidays!

First up…Thanksgiving

Branchwater Provisions will be open Friday, Nov 22nd - Tuesday, Nov 26th (12-5pm daily) so you can stock up on your Thanksgiving table necessities — like GIN!

If you pre-ordered a YundWell pasture raised turkey and/or pie from The Little Rye Bakehouse for pickup at our farm, thank you for supporting these great local businesses! We’ll see you on Tuesday unless you specified another pickup day for your turkey.

The holidays are the perfect time to be generous in supporting local, artisanal…which leads us to December holidays!

SAVE THE DATE

Branchwater’s Third Annual Holiday Craft Fair

We are looking forward to hosting an event that has become a huge source of pride for us, as it brings together community in a festive way, while also supporting and celebrating craft and creative people.

Holiday gift giving

We would love to work with you to curate some gift baskets this holiday season. Whether you’re looking for a spirit-focused gift or something more food or craft-related, we’ve got you covered. In addition to our spirits lineup, we have Branchwater vinegars, hot sauces and honey from our farm, as well as a goats milk soap made using upcycled botanicals from our gin. We also have branded glassware, as well as Branchwater tote bags, and notecard sets with the botanical artwork on our labels. And then there’s the rest of the store to choose from as well!

Amazon doesn’t need any more of your money this year! Shop local and support small businesses. And feel good about it!

Winter Welcome

10 Years of Branchwater