Mad River Distillers began in 2011 at Cold Spring Farm in Warren, Vermont, when Maura Connolly, her husband John Egan and their friend Brett Little decided to make apple brandy from local fruit instead of planting a vineyard. Warren native Alex Hilton turned the farm's old horse barn into the distillery and stayed on as general manager. The first spirit, First Run Rum, came off the still in May 2013, and the first bourbon reached the market in May 2014. The distillery mashes, ferments, distills and ages everything on site, on a Mueller still built in Germany, with fermenting water from the farm's spring. It buys grain and fruit from regional non-GMO, fair-trade and organic suppliers, including heirloom corn and rye from local family farms, and today makes whiskey, rum and apple brandy sold across New England, New York and California.