As they say, if life gives you lemons make lemonade. In that case, if you are given potatoes, make vodka. Rich Stabile and Dan Pollicino of Long Island Spirits embraced those words of wisdom and ran with them, opening Long Island’s only distillery.
LI Spirits produces an artisanal, hand-crafted vodka made of 100 % potatoes. LiV (pronounced “five”) is a premium vodka and found only in select stores and restaurants. Their facility is one of only several in the region that can offer samplings as well as sales of their vodka.
The seed for “spirit” success was planted years ago, as Stabile helped crush the grapes with his Italian-American family in their Brooklyn basement. Stabile, who summered on the North Fork, retained a passion for wine and spirits and eventually gained some formal training in the field. In 2006, while on vacation, he was struck by a bolt of inspiration and won over his best friend Pollicino, convincing him to go into the vodka business.
The duo found a restored 100-year-old barn in Baiting Hollow that rests on 100 acres of potato farms, and decided that was the place to begin their story. Like all old, dilapidated structures the barn had a history. It was originally built by the Columbus family (a Polish immigrant family who changed their name from “Palumbus”) back in the early 1900s, who cultivated a potato farm on the land until 1943. That year they lost everything to a bad investment and the property was foreclosed.
The Wanat family, also potato farmers who lived next door, bought the property at a tax sale and expanded their potato farm, using the barn to store farm equipment. In 1968, the Piccone family, who were not farmers but business leaders, became the new owners and leased the land to local farmers, the barn falling victim to neglect. In the late 1990s Joe Piccone Jr. decided to revitalize the barn, the renovations taking several years. This is where LI Spirits stepped in.
Stabile and Pollicino spent 2007 retrofitting the interior of the barn and creating the distillery. Though modernized and tailored for use, they preserved the barn’s rustic charm and post-and-beam vaulted construction.
The bottom floor is the vodka “factory,” the distillery, where all the spud magic begins and the potatoes are transformed into a smooth, clear 80-proof vodka.The potatoes are first crushed (it takes 15 pounds of potatoes to make 1 bottle of their vodka!), then fermented, distilled, filtered and finally bottled – all in about a week’s time. All the while their fellow grape friends on the North Fork are pacing the floor for 18 months and more, waiting for wine to be born!
The vodka is crafted in small batches in twin 28-foot custom rectification columns, tasted along the way to insure purity and good taste. I didn’t know vodka had tasting notes, but apparently this vodka has a “creamy, buttery feel with hints of banana, citrus, strawberries, vanilla and anise.” The bottle itself has a cool, clean look, made of French glass and finished with a gradient blue label and sleek logo.
Just this past Memorial Day weekend LI Spirits unveiled its 1,000 square-foot shop and tasting room on the top floor of the restored barn. It overlooks the expansive lush potato fields and vineyards that surround the facility, and doors open on to a terrace for a full view all around. The room is open Monday through Thursday from 11:00 – 5:00, and Fridays through Sundays 11:00 – 8:00 p.m. You can sample their vodka, buy by the bottle, and learn about the craft from their knowledgable, very friendly staff. Tours are limited but available by appointment.
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