Union Grove Distillery sits on Route 28 in Arkville, a tiny Catskills town where the East Branch Delaware River cuts through Delaware County. Dave Davidson, a former Wall Street finance guy, and his wife Susan opened the doors in 2013 after Dave got tired of the corporate grind and decided to chase something more tangible. They converted a 19th-century farmhouse and barn into their production facility, keeping the rustic timber frame structure but adding modern stills and fermentation tanks. The operation produces bourbon, rye whiskey, vodka, and gin, with most of the grains sourced from New York farms within a couple hours’ drive. Dave taught himself distilling through books, online forums, and a lot of trial and error before bringing in consultant distillers to help dial in their recipes. The couple wanted to create something that felt authentically Catskills rather than trying to replicate Kentucky bourbon traditions. Their 500-gallon copper pot still came from a defunct distillery in Pennsylvania, and they age their whiskeys in 15 and 30-gallon barrels to speed up the maturation process in the harsh mountain winters and humid summers. The whole operation runs lean with just Dave, Susan, and a couple part-time helpers managing everything from mashing to bottling. Visitors find a working farm distillery that doesn’t pretend to be anything fancier than it is. The tasting room occupies part of the old farmhouse, with wide-plank floors and exposed beams giving it that genuine rural New York feel. You can watch production through windows into the distillery floor, and Dave often runs the tours himself when he’s not buried in paperwork or babysitting a distillation run. The whole experience feels like visiting someone’s ambitious garage project that actually worked out.