Rick and Sherry Kneipper bought Shady Knoll, a farm in Clove Valley just south of Millbrook, New York, in 1980, and in 2011 planted an orchard of more than 1,800 apple trees in over 120 varieties to make apple brandy. In 2015 their son-in-law Andrew Richards became full-time farm manager and head distiller, and the farm planted rye for the first time. In 2016 the family installed an 850-liter alembic Charentais pot still built by Chalvignac Prulho in France, added a granary with a hammer mill, and received its federal and state licenses; distilling began in early 2017. Owned and run by the extended Kneipper and Richards family, the distillery grows its own apples, rye and corn and does all of its processing, fermenting, distilling, barrel aging and bottling on the farm. It makes apple brandy, pommeau and three whiskeys, and its Rye Whiskey was named Best American Rye Whiskey at the American Distilling Institute's 2024 International Spirits Competition.