Flag Hill Distillery: The History

Flag Hill's first distilled spirit was released in December of 2004, however the inception of creating New Hampshire's first distillery began over 10 years ago. In March of 1995, Frank Reinhold purchased a 25 gallon alembic pot still to make brandy for the production of NH's first port--North River Port. The port was aged five years before finding its place on the shelves and all the while Mr. Reinhold was conceptualizing of a bigger and grander scheme for the future of Flag Hill.

Flag Hill had been conducting experiments with other products using the small copper still, such as grappa (a traditional Italian drink made from the pressed skins and seeds of grapes, a by-product of the winemaking process). Beginning in 2003, research was done on the viability of using apples and potatoes as the base product for a first foray into the world of distilled spirits.

In January of 2004 Flag Hill purchased a handcrafted still from Christian Carl Inc., located in Goppingen, Germany.The new business and financial investment was finally underway. February of 2004 saw the start of the legal process of transforming Flag Hill Winery to Flag Hill Winery & Distillery, both within the state and at the federal level.

At the same time plans were being drawn for a new physical facility to hold the copper still that would be arriving from Germany. Construction began in May of 2004 and by September 2004, the facility was ready to accommodate the large still that arrived from overseas. The new distillery building itself, built off the rear of the old dairy barn, is a sustainable structure with radiant heat floors and solar thermal roof that harnesses both the sun and excess steam and hot water generated during the production of the distilled spirits. It was designed by Dawn Solar Systems, Inc. Construction continues to be ongoing as processes are refined.

With the still in place, the staff of Flag Hill were personally taught and trained by the Christian Carl brothers about the process and nuances of the new equipment. After quality control batches were run and tested a final product was established and bottled.  General John Stark Vodka entered the NH market in December of 2004. It was an immediate success and achieved a sales record in the NH books as the fastest new spirits product to achieve full distribution listing (normal time is 6 months, General John Stark Vodka made it in 6 weeks).

The history of our distillery is still in the making as we look to increase the distribution of our first product as well as look towards the future at other distilled spirits. We encourage everyone to stop by Flag Hill to see our still and learn about history in the making.