About the Distillery

Clayton Distillery is a destination distillery located in the beautiful Thousand Islands region of Northern New York. As the region’s first micro-distillery, Clayton Distillery produces premium grade distilled products from locally grown grains and fruits.

Clayton Distillery currently produces a variety of products including vodka (flagship, admiral’s berry, garlic), gin (regular and navy strength), unaged corn whisky (moonshine), straight bourbon, flavored whisky (maple, heatwave cinnamon, juniper flavored), flavored moonshine (lemonade, apple pie, cherry, peach vanilla), limoncello, and three flavored liqueurs (raspberry, maple strawberry, strawberry rhubarbe). Please click on the "PRODUCTS" page for detailed descriptions.

Homegrown and handcrafted from start to finish

In the first few years of business our raw ingredients came from our fifth generation family farm in Cape Vincent, New York. The four hundred acre farm was an active dairy farm until 2006 and was used for growing corn, rye, and alfalfa. We now purchase corn from other local farmers in the Watertown NY area. Malted barley is purchased locally as well, or from national growers when needed. Our spirits are double distilled in a two hundred fifty gallon copper pot still custom made in Louisville, Kentucky by Vendome Copper and Brass. Everything is distilled, blended, and bottled on site.

Thoroughly Sustainable

Our facility was built consistent with sustainable use in mind. Clayton Distillery utilizes LEED principles developed by the United States Green Building Council in the design and construction of the facility. The facility incorporates passive solar heating and cooling, a super insulated structure and energy efficient lighting and mechanical systems. In addition, waste heat from the distilling process is used to heat most of the building and provide for all domestic hot water needs. We also recycle the by-products from the distilling process (stillage). The stillage consists of grain and water left in the still after the alcohol has been stripped out. We pump this into tanks provided by local farmers who use it for animal feed.

Our Story

Mike Aubertine grew up on his family’s dairy farm in nearby Cape Vincent, where originally some of the grain for production was grown and stored. After attending college and becoming a New York State Registered Architect, he founded Aubertine and Currier Architects, Engineers & Land Surveyors, PLLC in Watertown, New York.

In 2012, Mr. Aubertine sold his interest in the firm and started the distillery. The project broke ground in July of 2012 and progressed rapidly until the grand opening in April of 2013. We produced vodka and unaged corn whisky during our first summer, and found that we definitely had a lot to learn! After many long days and nights of distilling, reading about distilling and talking to everyone we could about distilling, we figured this thing out.

Today, our 190 proof grain alcohol that is the base for most of our products is as clean and smooth as anything you can find on the market. Additionally, we believe that we have perfected our New York Straight Bourbon Whisky. It is now one of our top selling products and is just plain fun to make. Stay tuned, we are always working on developing new products!