Today at Union Square Greenmarket, Orange County Distillery is selling their spirits in the market for the first time. They’ve brought local whiskey and vodka today, but the two guys behind the operation are already familiar faces to many Greenmarket shoppers.
John Glebocki is the co-owner and a fifth generation farmer in the Black Dirt region, and his business partner Bryan Ensall owns a lawn care franchise. These two are solely responsible for every aspect of the production process; John grows the sugar beets and corn on the farm, and the distillery consists of a garage-sized building that overlooks acres and acres of farmland.
Their website features a maps plugin that lets visitors explore Glebocki’s farm and see the specific plots where they grow the rye, corn, beets and botanicals. Their lineup will soon expand to include bourbon and and gin. Right now you can only find them at market and at the distillery by appointment only, but visiting the farm is worth the trip — you can smell the beets as they cook down and see them pulled fresh from the ground, still caked with that famous black dirt, and begin to understand the huge transformation they undergo in the week between the harvest and the bottle.
