Shady Knoll

A craft Aperitif from a small family farm.

The story of family-owned, home-grown, and hand-crafted Shady Knoll Spirits started in 1980 when husband and wife Rick and Sherry Kneipper bought a beautiful little farm from the 1700s in the scenic Clove Valley. That’s just south of Millbrook, in New York’s historic Hudson River Valley. They still grow their own apples and rye at their no-longer-so-little farm to craft unique Apple Brandy and Whiskeys. They do everything themselves: process, ferment, distill, barrel-age, bottle, and label their tasty Spirits. This means the quantities are small, but that’s okay – we’re all about quantity, too.

Shady Knoll Pommeau is a French-style Aperitif that’s made from a combination of Apple Brandy and apple juice. The Brandy is crafted from a blend of more than 120 varieties of European and American apples from their orchard. Before it’s aged for 16 months in used American oak casks and finished in Madeira casks, they add some fresh apple juice that was fermented for 6-9 months with wild yeasts. This unique craft product won a Silver Medal at the ADI 2019 Judging of Craft Spirits – the oldest and largest competition for craft Spirits. Sip it neat, chilled, or make Pomme Royale with some Champagne and a drop of grenadine.