Mead and Meat, Wine and Whiskey, Beer and Bands
Jesse Sommer, founder of Albany County-based New Scotland Spirits, is no stranger to the pages of True Brew Magazine. That’s no accident. As part of a deliberate strategy to generate awareness for his company’s products, Jesse has postured his company to participate in any (every) event that highlights the Capital District’s community of craft beverage producers.
“We’re nothing without our partners,” Jesse told me over the phone this past week. “Literally. Albany Distilling Company sponsors our license, Schenectady Distilling Company warehouses our spirits, ten local brewers are serving our spirits in their tasting rooms, and there are, like, six or seven other critical partners up and down our supply chain without whom we couldn’t operate. I couldn’t even have released our ‘Helderberg Whiskey’ brand without a grant of trademark rights from Helderberg Meadworks.”
It’s with that latter craft beverage outfit that Jesse is participating in the “Christmas in July” event on Saturday, July 8th at the Helderberg Meadworks meadhall in Esperance, NY, to raise funds for Wreaths Across America.
Since 2018, Helderberg Meadworks has been instrumental to the success of New Scotland Spirits.
Back then, Helderberg Meadworks owner Peter Voelker entered into a Trademark Consent Agreement that enabled Jesse to secure the trademark for his “Helderberg Whiskey” brand. More recently, Peter assisted Jesse’s team in learning how to apply the wax seals that have since become a praised and prominent feature of his bottles. Then, earlier this year, Peter’s Troy installation began offering a specialty cocktail consisting of—what else—Helderberg Meadworks and Helderberg Whiskey.
“As fellow Hilltown neighbors, they’ve lived up to every promise of neighborly support,” Jesse says of Helderberg Meadworks. “It’s like a good old fashioned ‘barn raising.’ When I get a chance to return the favor, I leap at it.”
So it was that this past February, when Helderberg Meadworks event planner Jessica Pyle reached out to Jesse to help wrangle participants to join the fundraiser, Jesse sprang into action.
“I reached out to John Curtin [Albany Distilling Company] and Guy Bucey [Mixed Breed Brewing], and told them this event was a must,” Jesse says. “John is the ‘ground zero pioneer’ for distilling in this area, and Guy is a serial entrepreneur and fellow combat vet. Any event going by the name ‘Christmas’ needed to include these folks.”
True enough. When Albany Distilling Company launched operations in 2012, it claimed distinction as Albany’s first distillery since Prohibition. But even that isn’t where John’s influence ends, as he’s also the longtime President of the Capital Craft Beverage Trail—an organization he co-founded in 2015 to promote craft and farm-based beverage producers in the Capital Region.
Meanwhile, Guy is the most conspicuous member of the five-man outfit which launched Mixed Breed Brewing in April 2021—right in the midst of the pandemic—to critical acclaim and fanfare. Like Jesse, Guy served overseas in Iraq. That’s why it’s particularly fitting his brewery is “finishing” a line of beer in three New Scotland Spirits bourbon barrels at this very moment!
“Christmas in July” is Jessica Pyle’s brainchild. As part of the initiative she conceived, Helderberg Meadworks will be donating $1 from every drink sold to Wreaths Across America while additionally collecting funds from patrons and event participants.
“Every year in December, thousands of volunteers across the U.S. and oversees pay respect to our fallen soldiers by laying donated wreathes upon their graves and saying their name aloud,” Jessica wrote in an email to participants explaining the purpose behind the event. “Wreathes Across America vows to remember the fallen, honor those who serve, and teach children the value of freedom.”
Jessica has been tenacious in orchestrating this event. Most notably, attendees will be treated to a delicious barbecue spread by Colonie-based Big Body Butcher, consisting of brisket, beer can chicken, Thor’s Hammer roasts, mac-and-cheese, and more.
The fact that Cody Shields—proprietor of The Big Body Butcher and a genuine meatsmith—is participating in the event at all is a miraculous redemption story, given that his shop was devastated by a freak fire on June 8th, exactly one month prior to the event.
Cody and wife Jess Smith lost everything in the blaze, from their substantial meat inventory, processing equipment, and display cases (to say nothing of the shop itself). As of press time, the Smiths are about halfway towards reaching their $20,000 GoFundMe goal to help rebuild the business.
Jessica has lined up a slew of beloved local bands to perform, including Albany-based “Under the Den” and “The Phoenix & The Raven,” as well as “Keelie,” a Toronto band which will be performing its first-ever gig in the United States.
“The music and tastings are free, but donations to WAA will be greatly appreciated,” Jesse says. “This is one of the ways New Scotland Spirits can both pay back and pay forward everything that Helderberg Meadworks has done to help get our business off the ground. Or, in the case of The Big Body Butcher, to help get a business back on its feet.”
In addition to tastings by the Albany Distilling Company, New Scotland Spirits, and Mixed Breed Brewing, Fultonville-based Hummingbird Hills Winery will also be providing samples of its handcrafted white, red, and specialty wines.
But Jesse claims there’s even more up Jessica’s sleeves. “She orchestrated a special guest appearance by Miss Military Star New York.” (According to the website, “[t]he Military Star pageant is a charity organization founded to raise funds and goods to send to active service members and veterans in need.”)
“I don’t know where Peter found her,” Jesse says of Jessica Pyle, “but the moment I figure out how to steal her for our company, I’m disavowing everything I’ve said about neighborliness. She’s a beast… and unless Peter shares her with us, too, I’m retracting every fawning compliment I’ve given him!”
Asked to clarify whether he was kidding, Jesse’s response is brief: “Nope.”
“Our trade name is a reference to my hometown [of New Scotland], but this company depends on a much broader community to survive,” Jesse says. “Until Jessica starts planning our events, too, it’s clear that Peter is actively sabotaging us.”
I’ve come to learn that asides like these are par for the course at New Scotland Spirits!
Food tickets to the Saturday “Christmas in July” event are $20 to the public or $15 for veterans. For mead and meat, wine and whiskey, beer and bands, come on out to the Helderberg Meadworks meadhall at 6144 State Hwy 30 in Esperance, NY!