Potato farms have flanked Sound Avenue since before the Revolution. Pre-colonial families worked the same North Fork clay for generations, and the land still holds that memory — in its microclimate, in its glacial aquifer, in the marcy russet potato that grows nowhere else quite the same way. What Richard Stabile recognized in 2007 was not a business opportunity so much as a geological argument: this land has always been capable of producing something extraordinary. He simply built a still and made the case formal.
Long Island Spirits opened that year as the first craft distillery on Long Island since the 1800s — and, by some counts, the 100th legal distillery in the United States at the time (Destination Distillery, 2024). Nestled on Sound Avenue and surrounded by 5,000 acres of working potato farms, the operation positioned itself immediately as something distinct from the parade of North Fork wineries nearby: this was distillation rooted not in marketing, but in soil science, fermentation chemistry, and a stubborn commitment to provenance.
The Origin: An Engineer Builds a Distillery
Richard Stabile spent his career as an electrical engineer, managing global business development for semiconductor companies — Canon USA, Unisys — before turning his attention to spirits. His world travels had taken him inside distilleries and vineyards across five continents, and he returned to Long Island convinced that the North Fork’s agricultural terroir deserved a voice in a bottle rather than just a glass.
The choice of potato as the foundational ingredient was deliberate. The marcy russet potato, a cultivar grown on the farmland immediately surrounding the distillery and drawn from the Deepwells Glacial Aquifer beneath the Pine Barrens, produces a spirit that is gluten-free, naturally full-bodied, and singular in character (Wikipedia, Long Island Spirits, 2023). Stabile built the production process around that specificity: 7,000 pounds of potatoes per batch, triple distillation, non-chill filtration, and copper pot stills custom-fabricated for the operation. Nothing off-the-shelf. Every variable controlled.
LiV Vodka: The Foundation
LiV Vodka — the flagship — is triple-distilled through small-batch pot and column distillation, with only the “heart” of the distillate bottled. In 2011, it took Gold at the NY International Spirits Competition, validating what Stabile had argued from the beginning: that Long Island potatoes, distilled with precision, could stand alongside European potato vodkas with centuries of pedigree.
The Sorbetta line extends the vodka program into something genuinely rare. Made in micro-batches using the LiV spirit base, each Sorbetta integrates hand-peeled citrus and locally sourced berries — 4,000 pieces of fruit per 200-gallon batch, 50 flats of fruit per run. Lemon, lime, orange, strawberry, and raspberry expressions are currently available. They are the first potato-based liqueurs commercially produced in the United States (Wikipedia, Long Island Spirits, 2023). A Sorbetta is less a cocktail ingredient than a proof of concept: that small-batch discipline applied to liqueur production yields something entirely different from mass-market cordials.
Pine Barrens and the Whiskey Program
The turn toward whiskey marked the second chapter of Long Island Spirits, and it announced itself with authority. Pine Barrens American Single Malt is built on a process that defies conventional distillery logic: instead of a standard mash, Stabile produces a finished English-style barley wine ale — a hopped, fermented beer — and then distills it in small batches through Christian Carl copper pot stills. The result is aged in charred American oak and released non-chill filtered.
In January 2013, the New York Times named Pine Barrens among the best American single malts in the country (New York Times, January 2013). A Cherrywood expression followed — smoked malted barley, the same pot-distilled process, a deeper and more resinous character. Double gold awards at national competitions confirmed what the Times had suggested: this is whiskey built for the long arc.
The Rough Rider line — named for Theodore Roosevelt, himself a Long Islander — extends into bourbon and rye. The Rough Rider Rye, matured through three successive cask types (new American oak, then bourbon casks, then Pine Barrens single malt barrels), earned the Chairman’s Award with 96 points at the 2018 Ultimate Spirits Competition (Long Island Spirits, lispirits.com). The Rough Rider Bourbon, a high-rye mash of 60% corn, 35% rye, and 5% barley, spends a minimum of four years in new charred American oak before finishing in Merlot and Chardonnay casks sourced from North Fork vineyards — a literal handshake between Long Island’s two agricultural traditions.
Field & Sound Bottled in Bond Straight Bourbon rounds out the whiskey catalog, distilled on-site using locally grown field corn and winter rye, aged in a maritime barrel house on the bluffs of the Long Island Sound. The briny air becomes part of the maturation — not a romantic claim, but a measurable influence on the barrels aging within fifty yards of the water.
Deepwells Gin and the Complete Distillery Portfolio
Deepwells Gin — named for the glacial aquifer that supplies the distillery’s water — is built on a potato spirit base distilled with pure Magothy Aquifer water and botanicals. It sits alongside the LiV Craft Canned Cocktails, a recent addition to the portfolio reflecting broader market trends toward ready-to-drink formats without compromising the distillery’s farm-to-bottle ethos. Every product in the lineup traces back to the same source: local grain, local water, local hands.
Community, Sustainability, and the Record of Responsible Craft
Long Island Spirits’ community commitments are institutional, not performative. Stabile sits on the board of the Long Island Farm Bureau, works directly with local growers, and maintains membership in the Pine Barrens Society — a contributing role in the preservation of the 100,000-acre Pine Barrens forest that protects the aquifer beneath the distillery. The spent mash from every distilling run is returned to local farms as livestock feed, closing an agricultural loop that has operated continuously for centuries on the North Fork.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, production pivoted without hesitation: Long Island Spirits halted whiskey operations and redirected its still output toward FDA-approved 80% ABV hand sanitizer for community distribution. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the distillery created a special LiV Vodka bottle bearing Ukrainian flag colors and donated a portion of proceeds to Mercy Chefs in support of Ukrainian aid. These are not footnotes. They are the values made operational.
The Tasting Room: The Hidden Vault and the North Fork Porch
The tasting room at 2182 Sound Avenue occupies a converted building with views across the farm fields toward the Long Island Sound. An outdoor patio with live music on weekends runs in warmer months; the indoor bar operates year-round. Flight options cover the full portfolio — vodka tastings, whiskey flights, seasonal cocktails drawn from the Sorbetta line.
The Hidden Vault, on the second floor, offers something considerably more private. A VIP room with its own full bar, high-top tables, and an oversized balcony deck overlooking the surrounding farmland and vineyards, it accommodates between 11 and 20 guests. The aesthetic is part speakeasy, part North Fork farmhouse — climate-controlled indoors, open-air patio seating outside. Corporate buyouts and private events are available for groups of 15 to 50 guests across the broader facility.
A Distillery Built for the Long Game
Twenty-five years behind a diner counter in Mount Sinai teaches you to recognize the operations that were built to last. Long Island Spirits has the markers: local sourcing without compromise, a product portfolio that deepened rather than proliferated, awards earned quietly rather than marketed loudly, and a community footprint that predates any recent conversation about corporate responsibility. Stabile built this distillery the way the North Fork’s pre-revolutionary farmers built their properties — for generations, not quarters.
The North Fork has always had the land, the water, and the microclimate to produce world-class agricultural products. Long Island Spirits is the proof that spirits belong on that list alongside the wines. Drive out Sound Avenue, pull into the gravel lot, order a flight of the rye, and sit on the patio with the farm fields behind you and the Sound in the distance. The argument makes itself.
Long Island Spirits 2182 Sound Avenue, Baiting Hollow, NY 11933 Phone: (631) 630-9322 Website: lispirits.com Instagram: @lispirits
Hours: Monday – Friday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Saturday: 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM Sunday: 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Private and corporate events available by appointment. The Hidden Vault accommodates 11–20 guests.
