Fifth State Distillery was founded with the purpose of creating amazingly flavorful spirits using only real, natural, and local ingredients of which we could have a hand in cultivating. Sourcing local has been at the forefront of our purpose from the beginning. We have wanted to create long term relationships with all persons and organizations along the journey from farm to bottle.

We create our base alcohol from corn and then hand-craft vodka, gin, whiskey and specialty spirits. Connecticut corn has a rich creamy flavor when properly distilled and we wouldn’t use any other product. Distiller Rob Schultens’ talents really shine during the finishing processes as he ultimately decides personally the flavor range of each spirit and bottle. The gin is vapor infused giving it a crispness that other methods do not allow for.

Our partners are 3rd and 4th generation Connecticut farmers producing the best products for distilling. Whether its hand selecting rows of corn in the fields or carefully watching harvest time for botanicals and fruits, our family works side by side on the farms ensuring that only the best are chosen to create the spirits we bottle.

Distiller Rob Schulten, a former chemical engineer, designed and created the distillery by hand using a combination of copper and stainless equipment specially designed for his craftwork which involves a multitude of small batch spirits. The distillery is always humming with activity as each spirit is hand crafted from fermentation to the bottle.