Barber’s Farm Distillery – Dorcas Roehrs (Owner, Founder)

Having retired from the corporate interiors industry, Dorcas was looking for something to do. At dinner with her nephew one night, that discussion came up. Ford said that Mom and Dad had been talking about making potato vodka for years. “But they were farmers, they didn’t have the time.” Dorcas piped in with, “I’ve got the time if they want to do it.”

Coincidentally Elias (Ford’s brother) had just graduated from Cornell’s agriculture school and was looking for a meaningful job at the farm. All those jobs were taken, so in 2015 the adventure started. Dorcas sent Elias to several distilleries to learn the process, and Dorcas set about to build the distillery.

Since then, with Dorcas as president and her two nephews as partners, 1857 Spirits small batch craft products have won medals from some of the most prestigious competitions in the world. The brand has been placed in bars of Tom Coliccio’s restaurants as well as the Dead Rabbit and the Russian Tea Room.

Located in Schoharie County, Barber’s Farm Distillery produces true Estate products with the exceptional terroir of this 166 year old family farm. It is one of the few distilleries in the U.S. to grow, distill and bottle its products with all the ingredients coming from the farm. We encourage you to sample it.

For more information about Barber’s Farm Distillery: 1857spirits.com