Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery — Attraction in Town of Gardiner

Tuthilltown/Char 1788 is an incredibly unique and beautiful venue for a wedding. Where do I even start. My husband and I had the wedding of our dreams here and the venue and staff far exceeded our expectations. We had our small 25 person ceremony outdoors on the lawn, our cocktail hour near the barn, and the reception upstairs in the Char 1788 restaurant. Sarah was so helpful during the planning process and even had a special checklist that kept us organized. The Bridal and Groom cottage was a big bonus with delicious treats and champagne as we got ready for the big day. Sarah made sure to keep my stress levels low, left us alone the day of and only checked in when needed. We were originally going to have our family help decorate our reception but had a scheduling snafu and Sarah and her amazing staff stepped in without hesitation to decorate our reception BEAUTIFULLY. It was literally beyond my imagination. The venue was extremely accommodating and even allowed us to decorate our ceremony area with potted plants. As kind of a clueless bride, Sarah was my go-to and even helped me practice my kicking motion as I descended down the stairs before the ceremony :) Our cocktail hour was beyond perfect with beautiful Edison lights lining the outdoors area all over the venue. It was truly magical. Drinks and food far exceeded our expectations..we were a bit nervous initially but everything from the cocktail food to the reception plated dinner was impeccable and beautifully prepared. Our guests were raving about the dessert and the food. Sarah also made it very easy for us to bring in our own vendors for cake, band for cocktail hour, makeup and photography. HUGE thanks to Sarah for managing our music playlist and ensuring that our family’s speeches went smoothly as we timed them according to certain songs being played (we curated our own reception playlist). Tuthilltown’s professionalism and unparalleled staff of bartenders, coordinators, cleaners and...

We traveled to the distillery from New York City hoping to spend a day with friends tasting and touring the distillery. The website mentioned tours and made no mention of making reservations. We arrived 30 minutes before the tour started and were asked if we had reservations. We answered negatively and were told that it was only for people with reservations, but we could still do the tasting. I hadn't done a whiskey tasting in the area before but judging from wine tastings I'd done in the area, and some I had done in Scotland and Ireland, I figured this would at least take a little while and be a good option for our group.

The tasting was $10 for 3 tastes of their various whiskeys. I meant sips. I know they aren't going to pour a full glass of whiskey on a tasting, but I expected a little more than the pipet drop we were given.

The whiskey wasn't bad, but I didn't think it was superb or even stacked up to middle tier scotch and Irish whiskey I've had.

I was also really disappointed in the amount of info we were given concerning the whiskey. Especially since they knew we hadn't been on the tour, they provided no information on the distillery's history, the process, or even real tasting notes. We were basically given each taste, quickly moved to the next, and then rushed out.

If in the area and looking for a fun adult activity, try the Warwick winery where you get a real tasting and can sit for hours enjoying the atmosphere. Or try the Guilded Otter micro pub for some...

Somewhere between a 3 and a 4 would probably be appropriate. The atmosphere is great. We loved the feel of the place, appreciated that we could charge our EV outside, and enjoyed the ambiance. The taco truck outside was also excellent. Upon sitting at the bar, we were greeted by a friendly bartender who I quickly learned was not very knowledgabel about bourbon. She was unfamiliar with Woodford Reserve or Weller. Not a big deal, but sort of strange in a craft distillery trying to make a name for itself in the world of whiskey. My wife had a cocktail that she enjoyed, but didn't rave about. I decided to try their tasting flight with each of their bourbon/whiskey offerings. It was a mistake. Only the two oldest offerings were drinkable. The others were unfortunately just bad. I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed them if used in a cocktail either. Perhaps I'm spoiled by living near the heart of bourbon country, but I honestly would take most any well whiskey over what was on offer at Hudson. It's a shame, really because my wife liked her drink okay (which I believe used their rum), and we REALLY enjoyed the atmosphere. Hopefully they'll come along with their whiskey making and our next visit will be a little better, because there's a lot...