New York’s tradition of spirits production dates back to America’s colonial-era. Distilling was an option for farmers to preserve excess fruit and grain, as well as produce a value-added commodity. Then, Prohibition devastated New York’s spirits industry; however the passage of the 2007 Farm Distillery Act enabled the industry to rebound by making it significantly easier to establish a distillery and sell to consumers. New York now has the highest concentration of distilleries of any state east of the Mississippi.