Spirits · Middlebury, Vermont
Appalachian Cap Distillery
A small Middlebury distillery making Vermont spirits from local grain and sunshine.
- Founded
- 2011
- Founded by
- Lars Hubbard, Chuck Burkins
- Based in
- Middlebury, Vermont
Making it since
2011
Their story
Appalachian Gap Distillery sits off Exchange Street in Middlebury, Vermont, in an old commercial building that Lars Hubbard and Chuck Burkins rescued and shared with their architectural consulting firm. Only a wall separates the drafting tables from the stills.
The two partners took an artisan distilling course at Cornell and ran their first batch of whiskey in 2011. Over the next decade the lineup grew to more than a dozen spirits, from rye whiskey and botanical gins to an agave and maple spirit and a creemee-inspired liqueur.
In July 2023 the founders sold majority ownership to longtime team member Will Drucker, a Middlebury College graduate who had partnered with the distillery on his Split Spirits line. Hubbard and Burkins kept a stake, and the focus on Vermont-rooted spirits continues.
How it's made
Grain comes from farms in the Champlain Valley and the Northeast Kingdom, and whiskey rests in barrel until the team judges it ready. Solar panels cover nearly all of the distillery's power, spent grain goes to a methane digester that feeds the grid, and bottles are made from recycled glass. In 2020 it became the first U.S. distillery to earn Climate Neutral Certification.
Our featured pick
Ridgeline Barrel-Aged Vermont Whiskey (750ML)
$50.00
Double distilled and then aged in 3 types of barrels. Notes of cedar, dried fruit, and vanilla.
Shop Appalachian Cap Distillery
1 in stock
We'll let the spirit tell us when it's ready
Why we carry them
We like spirits that taste of a specific place, and these are made from Vermont grain in a building that runs mostly on the sun. Try the Champlain Valley rye if you want a sense of the region in a glass.
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