Nicholas Corleto and Daniel Swanson used to like to dream about the road less traveled; and then, a couple of years ago, they decided to actually walk down it, taking them all the way from eastern Long Island to about a 20 miles north of Nashville, Tenn.
That notion of branching out into places and endeavors unknown became both the origins and tagline of their recently launched whiskey label, Heritage Road Spirits, which will be poured this Saturday at Wines By Nature (5768 Route 25A, Suite I, Wading River, 631-886-2800) in the Shoppes at East Wind.
“The whole thing came out of a passion for being together with friends and family,” says Corletto, a Wading River resident and Long Island school administrator with a background in chemistry, as well as a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
While Corleto has always been a spirited tinkerer, home brewing beer (winning awards and accolades for it) and even using a small home still gifted to him by his wife to try his hand at making spirits, it wasn’t until a chance meeting with a fellow Long Islander at a party in Shoreham that the idea of he and Swanson launching their own whiskey really came into focus.
At that fated party a few years ago, they met a fellow Long Islander who also happened to be the co-founder of a distillery and spirits co-packer company in Hendersenville, Tenn. By the end of the night, they were hatching a plan to create a whiskey of their own.
“We did a whole pitch to the wives with a slideshow presentation of why we thought this could work, how much we were doing to spend,” laughs Corleto. “We were pretty much begging!”
But their families supported the dream and, in September 2024, the first bottle rolled of the production line.
The high-corn whiskey has a nice dose of rye in the mash bill, and hits the sweet spot in price point, clocking in at a suggested retail price of $46.99 for 750ml bottle. Currently, they are contract-distilling, buying barrels made to their specifications and doing the blending themselves, an integral part of the whiskey-making process that is often. overlooked. The dream, though, is to eventually have a distillery of their own, where Corleto can make good use of his chemistry knowledge and Swanson, a union steamfitter by trade, can add his know-how to the vital machinery.
With Heritage Road’s production based in Tennessee, that’s where their distribution began as well. But this past spring, they landed a distributor to bring their bottles to New York — and, of course, their home turf of Long Island.
“Two years later, we’re carried in three states [Tennessee, Texas and New York] and slowly growing,” says Corleto. “We’re in 100 stores in Tennessee, a bunch in Texas, and in New York about 10 liquor stores and three restaurants and bars — we’re getting the name out there and starting to get some recognition.”
That recognition has extended to some big-stakes spirits competitions as of late as well, including a silver medal in the bourbon category from the American Craft Spirits Association.
“I love bourbon because it’s uniquely American. I’m a wannabe farmer into nostalgia of American culture and the uprising as far as where American bourbon came from and that historical perspective,” says Corleto (who also likes to bring out his vintage pick-up to tastings). “We’re starting from the ground-up. We wanted to make something that we like to drink.”
The tasting at Wines By Nature is from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 6, where they will also be giving away rocks glasses, Heritage Road Whiskey T-shirts and other swag, and the bottle will be available for purchase as well.
