By Hannah Van Sickle

Photos by Rana Faure

The Dyson Family has long had their sights set on producing a world-class single malt whisky, and Wassaic’s Tenmile Distillery evolved as a means of achieving their goal. In a nod to their own heritage, owner-partners Eliza Dyson, Joel LeVangia, and John Dyson commissioned a traditional Scottish style distillery—complete with mash tun, wash still, and spirit still from Forsyths in Rothes, Scotland—all of which was carefully placed inside a 100-year-old dairy barn on Sinpatch Road (so-named after a local preacher deemed the proliferation of taverns and brothels there a “patch of sin”). Hiring a master distiller became the final piece of the puzzle and, come spring, the trio’s lofty, well-founded ambitions will materialize in large part due to the efforts and expertise of Shane Fraser. 

“I’m quite a patient person when it comes to producing a good spirit,” says the master distiller, citing three decades in the business that began on a whim. Fraser was 16 years old when, while working as a guide at Royal Lochnagar (a historic single-malt Scotch whisky distillery near Balmoral), the distillery monitor offered him a job—an opportunity that afforded Fraser the chance to work his way through the ranks, “from sweeping the floor to repairing casks,” ultimately landing in production. After stints at Oban, Glenfarclas, and most recently Wolfburn, he applied for the position at Tenmile (his first in the states) and has hardly looked back. 

While Fraser’s recipe for success in New York began with the fundamental tenets of single-malt whisky distillation, other ingredients are equally important. Take barley, for instance. At present, Tenmile is paying 25 cents a pound for barley grown in Dutchess County (more than double the going rate), evidence of their commitment to ensure the survival of small, local farms.

Fraser has more than risen to the wee bit of a challenge with which he was tasked: to develop an innovative, unique New York State whiskey made from local barley in the Scottish style. After what many would constitute an excruciating three-years’ wait, Fraser’s first new make for the small-batch distillery—Little Rest American single malt whisky—will be poised for smooth sniffing and sipping come early April. 

The first limited-edition run, which was produced and barreled in January 2020, will be ready for consumption at a particularly auspicious moment when American single malt comes into its own, as evidenced by a proposed designation in spirits from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, to take effect during the winter. Following a decade of domestic proliferation of single malt, the folks at Tenmile hope their highly anticipated whisky will be top in class.

“We just have to give it time,” says Fraser, underscoring used casks as integral to the spirit’s unique flavor profile. A fraction of the current batch—just 6,000 bottles in total—remains available for pre-purchase and comes with an added bonus: customers who capture a bottle of the initial run will be assured the same number in future releases.

Despite the myriad variables of distilling, there remains a single constant: Whit’s fur ye’ll no go by ye! In other words, what’s meant to happen will happen and—with the whisky’s byproduct, Sinpatch Vodka, having won Double Gold at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and Listening Rock Gin taking silver—Little Rest is sure to be a winner.