Madison County Distillery Co-Founder Mike “Coach” Basla just loves the historic Maples Farm and he wants to share that with you.
He purchased the 90-acre, 200-year-old farm in 2013, becoming just the third owner of the property. But, it wasn’t just a quiet place to retire from the U.S. Air Force.
“I wanted to create something. I wanted to create jobs and make something in America,” Basla said. “I’m a native of this area. I spent many years away from home, so I wanted to come back here. I felt I owed something to my mom and family. I was gone so many years.”
The new entrepreneur first envisioned a brewery, but found that market was becoming pretty saturated. So, he took notice of another trend that happened to be more in line with his personal drinking preference.
“This is our way of giving back,” Basla said. “I have been blessed in so many ways and I want to return those blessings and share those with the community.”
The distillery takes a hyper-local approach to its production, utilizing nearby farms and even some of its own acreage and resources to produce something Madison County can be proud of.
“Most of our spirits are based off of organic corn that we get right here locally. The farm’s about three miles down the road from us,” Partner and Master Distiller Chris Jansen said. “We actually have the farmer do a land lease and farm some of our property here. We get the organic corn from him, he grinds it up for us, and, that’s the base for almost all of our spirits.
“We also have a spring right here on the property. And the property is made up of a lot of limestone and shale,” he said. “So, as the waters go down through the earth and feed into the spring, it gets like a nice filter and a really unique flavor to it.”
At one time, Jansen was a home brewer, but it was his professional experience working with industrial machinery that led to distilling. He found this lent itself to the science and engineering that goes into making spirits and it turned out to be a great fit as he now produces award-winning vodka and gin. He and Basla built the distillery from scratch, blending renowned stills imported from Germany and a mash tun manufactured locally.
But, the draw here isn’t the machinery. It’s not even focused on the drinks. Basla wanted to give the community somewhere to gather and enjoy the same views and tranquility that drew him to the Cazenovia, New York, property in the first place.
“I don’t glamorize alcohol,” Basla said. “You can come here, you can sit in an Adirondack chair, you can watch the sunset, you can listen to music and you can have a glass of water.
“That’s OK by me,” he said. “We’re sharing the blessing.”
