Jeffrey Baker
Hillrock Distillery
Jeffrey Baker grew up on the cusp of agriculture and ambition. Raised in Western New York, Baker’s upbringing included time working on farms. He has said that the “farm-boy” background stayed with him even after he moved to the city. After completing formal education, including design, planning or architecture credentials, Baker pursued a career in investment banking and real estate before turning increasingly back toward the land and, ultimately, toward whiskey.
In the early 2000s, Baker and his wife Cathy Franklin purchased a property in Ancram, New York, in the Hudson Valley Highlands, overlooking the Berkshire Mountains and amid prime grain-growing soils. On that land sat a historic 1806 Georgian farmhouse once belonging to a Revolutionary-War grain merchant. Baker dismantled and re-erected it on the property to become the heart of their estate operation.
It was on this acreage that Baker’s ambition for whiskey took shape. He conceived of whiskey not as a commodity, but as a product of place: the soil, the field, the grain, the water. “I view us as being the Napa Valley of the East Coast,” said Baker, “what we’re doing is field to glass.” In other words: whiskey that is grown, malted, distilled, matured and bottled under one roof, with full provenance; and Baker has pursued this vision deliberately.
By 2010 the planning was underway, and the distillery operation began in earnest in 2011. Baker engaged the late legendary master distiller Dave Pickerell to design the process, including mash bills, distillation protocol, malting and finishing. The result: Hillrock’s malt house, the first malting floor at an American distillery since Prohibition, capable of producing floor-malted barley grown on-site, and smoked with imported peat and other custom treatments. Baker’s whiskey approach also included estate-grown corn, rye and barley and careful finishing via a solera-aged system for bourbon and peated single malts aged from estate grain. He viewed terroir as central: the idea that the field where grain grew influences the spirit..
Where the professional side meets the personal side, Baker remains the visionary and estate farmer-distiller wife and partner Cathy Franklin handles sales, marketing, distribution and events from their restored farmhouse on the estate. Recently, she worked with the distillery team to craft the bestselling “Cathy’s Cuvee,” her own special blend of their flagship Solera Aged Bourbon Whiskey. Simultaneously, Cathy remains one of Manhattan’s top real estate brokers of luxury properties as well as mother to three grown sons. Baker and Franklin also enjoy their other “family,” a pair of rambunctious Australian Shepherds.
Hillrock Cathy’s Cuveé #8, third release (2025), with Premier Cru Sauternes, Tawny Port, and Pedro Ximénez finishes.
Throughout the 2010s and into the 2020s, Baker’s whiskey program at Hillrock continued to gain recognition. Their solera bourbon and American single malt, grown, malted, distilled, aged and bottled wholly on the estate, were cited as world-class and unique in the United States. Baker’s emphasis on terroir, estate-grain and artisan distillation set Hillrock apart from many craft whiskey brands that source bulk spirit before finishing. He has been outspoken about the estate whiskey movement and the importance of transparency in whiskey provenance.
Today, Baker’s story is one of convergence: the farmer became the distiller. The Wall Street executive became the barley field guardian. His passion for provenance and place led him to design a whiskey house that is rooted in soil and story as much as in barrel and bottle. In a landscape where craft distilling is increasingly crowded, Baker’s Hillrock stands out because its origin story begins not in bulk sourcing or marketing gimmicks, but in rich dirt, good seed, floor-malting and a view that whiskey can reflect a farm—and on a western New York farm boy’s dedication to his craft.
Sources:
American Whiskey Magazine, “Tapping into Terroir” February 2020, Tina Eves, americanwhiskeymag.com
Whisky Advocate, “Jeffrey Baker and Cathy Franklin: Grain…”, whiskyadvocate.com
BourbonPlus Magazine, “Young Spirits: Hillrock Estates”, www.bourbonplus.com
Hillrock Estate Distillery website, hillrockdistillery.com/home
The Millbrook Independent, “Interview with Jeffrey Baker…”, Rona Boyer, hillrockdistillery.com
Spirits & Distilling, “Estate Whiskey Alliance…”, www.spiritsanddistilling.com
Dutchess Magazine, “Hillrock Estate Distillery”, dutchessmagazine.com
Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee
