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LiV Baiting Hollow

Long Island Spirits in Baiting Hollow celebrates 10 years today. (Credit: Vera Chinese)

Long Island potato country might have ceded that title to wine long ago, but today marks 10 years in business for the local potato vodka maker.

And owners are celebrating a decade of business with 10 percent discounts on bottles and merchandise during January.

Long Island Spirits, which makes LiV vodka, Rough Rider bourbon and whisky, Pine Barrens whisky, Deepwells gin and Sorbetta liqueurs, was officially founded on Jan. 5, 2007. It was the first distillery on Long Island since the 19th century, according to its website. The tasting room opened in June 2008.

Stop by the tasting room (2182 Sound Avenue, Baiting Hollow) to get the deals. Their location, inside a restored barn featuring twin cupolas, is unique because it looks out over 5,000 acres of potato fields instead of vines.

LI Spirits was at the forefront of the craft distillery movement which has grown in recent years. U.S. craft spirits had a 3 percent sales value market share in 2015, up from 1.1 percent in 2010, according to a study by the American Craft Spirits Association.

“It’s been an incredible 10 years. When we received our Federal Liquor License to produce spirits, we were listed as the actual 100th Distilled Spirits Plant or “DSP” in the USA,” owner Rich Stabile said in a press release. “Now there well over a 1,250 Distilled Spirits Plants and growing weekly.”

Locally, Twin Stills Moonshine opened in Northville last year and plans are in the works for Matchbook Distilling Co. in Greenport.

The press release detailed plans for an automated bottling line, a new 4,000-square-foot barrel house, a stone mill, new fermentors and more in 2017. It also said the company will need to hire 10 new employees in the next two years.

We’ll raise a shot to that.

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