Silver Brothers: A New Grain-to-Glass Whiskey Maker in New York's Hudson River Valley

When Hudson River Valley native Matthew Grietzer purchased a 220-acre plot of land in Old Chatham, New York in 2020 with his wife, Kimberly Driessen-Greitzer, he had no experience as a whiskey maker or farmer. But he returned to the Valley after decades in New York City with a singular purpose: to create whiskeys imbued with a sense of place.

The bones of a terroir-driven whiskey operation were already in place at the Old Chatham property when Greitzer and Driessen-Greitzer purchased it; the land, which sits upon an aquifer with slate and limestone bedrock, had been used for agricultural purposes for over 200 years, most recently by the Old Chatham Sheepherding Co., and farmers in the area had proven that rye, corn, and other grains could flourish. So, with a dream in hand and a premise in place, Greitzer and Driessen-Greitzer got Silver Brothers Distillery—named for their twin sons, whose initials (A.G.) are the shorthand symbol for silver—off the ground.

At the heart of the distillery are custom alembic pot stills, similar to those used by single malt scotch distillers, used in tandem for double distillation. Behind Silver Brothers’ stills is Jim Sweeney, the former head brewer at nonalcoholic beer producer Athletic Brewing Company. Sweeney came on board in October 2022, ahead of the distillery’s first distillation run in March 2023, and helped Greitzer with the final stages of the distillery build-out.

Top of mind at Silver Brothers is Empire rye (a style native to New York), which constitutes about 60% of production. Greitzer, now on his fifth harvest and a full-fledged farmer in his own right, is working with danko and hazlet ryes, both of which are cold-tolerant and disease-resistant (the latter being especially important for the distillery, which is farming organically and thus pesticide-averse). The inaugural batch of Silver Brothers rye, which will debut when the distillery’s doors open on Saturday, June 6^th, is a 3 year old made from a mashbill of 40% rye, 40% malted rye, and 20% malted barley (grown by nearby partner farmers). “The malted rye is important, as it makes for a really great sipping rye,” Greitzer notes. “We’ve tried an 80% rye, 20% malted barley mashbill, and it drinks far differently, more like a cocktail rye. But add in some malted rye, and it takes on tons of layers.” The whiskey aged in 30-gallon oak barrels—though Greitzer is now primarily using standard 53-gallon barrels—which he used in the distillery’s early days to experiment with/hasten maturation. The whiskey is young, yes, but it shows great promise; the nose is enticing, awash with juicy citrus, dried cherry, and baking spice, and those same notes follow pleasantly on the oily palate, though there they are overshadowed by headier rye grain characteristics.

On July 4^th, Silver Brothers will introduce its second whiskey, an American single malt. This one proved trickier from the jump; Greitzer played with a number of barley varietals with limited luck, eventually falling back on partner growers to supplement his sparse yields. “Most of the barley seed that’s available isn’t designed for the Hudson Valley’s humid summers and cold winters,” he explains. “We’ve since got a variety developed by the Cornell Small Grains program called ‘lake effect,’ as well as one called ‘violetta,’ which are doing really well for us, but we still just don’t have enough barley for our single malt.”

The first batch of Silver Brothers American single malt comes from two virgin oak barrels (one 53-gallon, the other a 30-gallon) and is lighter in style, with Greitzer calling out notes of citrus, sugar cookie, toasted marshmallow, and stone fruit. He also points to a slate minerality that comes through on the finish, tying it back to the slate bedrock beneath the distillery.

A bourbon is also in the offing, though a bit farther afield. The first batch will use locally sourced corn, but eventually the whiskey will include homegrown New York bloody butcher, an heirloom varietal.

A longtime whisky drinker, Grietzer credits his grain-to-glass mission in part to Islay distillery Bruichladdich. “When I started really getting into whisky, I was all about Bruichladdich,” he says. “They had just released a 10 year old [in 2011], and there was nothing in its class that was as good, especially not at its price point. There was something about that whisky—I’ve never been to Islay, but when I drank the 10 year old, I felt as though I was there. And that’s part of what we’re trying to do here: make a whiskey that’s authentic to this little corner of Columbia County.”

The Silver Brothers tasting room is opening to the public on June 6^th; tours will be available, lasting about 45 minutes and concluding with a tasting. Eventually, longer tours will also be in the mix, as Greitzer envisions a farm tour that takes guests around the expansive property in addition to the distillery. In setting up shop, Silver Brothers joins a small but mighty contingent of distilleries in the Hudson Valley, among them Hillrock Estate, Tenmile, and Tuthilltown Spirits, among others.