A Hudson Valley Almanac day-trip guide
Orange County holds the deepest historical root of all — Brotherhood's 1839 cellars in Washingtonville — and the densest single cluster in the whole region, the Warwick orchard belt, where a farm winery bought in 1989 helped kick off the modern era. 24 producers in all, from the Black Dirt grain fields to the Delaware River.
This one hamlet carries eight producers on its own. Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery opened to the public in 1994 and makes Doc's Draft Hard Apple Cider, one of the oldest hard ciders in the state, plus the American Fruits brandy line from the first fruit microdistillery in NY since Prohibition. Its sister operation, Black Dirt Distillery, runs a 60-foot column still producing bourbon and Apple Jack. Applewood Winery has been family-run for 25-plus years with lake and orchard views, and shares its campus with Naked Flock Hard Cider & Mead and with Apple Dave's Distillery, which distills 1840s-style freeze-distilled Apple Jack on the 130-acre orchard David Hull began planting in 1950. Round out the cluster with Pennings Farm Cidery in an Amish-built barn, Drowned Lands Brewery on a creek-side property named for the region's pre-drainage swamp era, and Fence Road Farm Brewery, a 47-acre farm brewery and disc-golf destination that opened in 2025.
Brotherhood in Washingtonville is America's oldest continuously operating winery, founded in 1839, with stone-walled underground cellars that survived Prohibition by making sacramental wine. A short drive away in Montgomery, City Winery Hudson Valley turned a 130-year-old mill into the brand's first non-city location — wine production alongside a year-round concert venue.
At Brown Barn Farms, Orange County Distillery distills vodka from sugar beets and whiskey and gin from grain grown on the same Black Dirt farm, and Orange County Brewing Company shares the site, aging some beers in barrels from the distillery next door. Orchard Hill Cider Mill makes European-inspired ciders and pommeau from Soons Orchards, farming apples since 1910.
Clemson Brothers Brewery occupies the historic 1890s Clemson hacksaw factory, and Equilibrium Brewery, founded by two MIT graduates, has built a national following on hazy IPAs and pastry stouts. In Monroe, Foreign Objects Beer Company built a cult following distributing hoppy ales and lagers regionally.
Newburgh Brewing Company was Orange County's first brewery, set in a renovated industrial building on the river, and Spirits Lab Distilling Company distills small-batch spirits nearby in the historic waterfront district.
Long Lot Farm Brewery grows most of its own hops on a fifth-generation dairy farm, and Rushing Duck Brewing Company pours a wide range of hop-forward and Belgian-influenced styles nearby. In neighboring Sugar Loaf, Tin Barn Brewing rounds out a natural double- or triple-stop day.
Warwick alone is worth a full day — eight stops within a few miles of each other, most walkable or a short drive apart. The rest of the county spreads wide, so pick one cluster (Warwick, the Black Dirt farms, or the city stops in Newburgh and Middletown) rather than trying to cross the whole county in one trip. Bring a designated driver.
The full, filterable list lives on the Almanac: Orange County craft beverages. For the region-wide picture, see The Hudson Valley Craft-Beverage Trail, and for a curated day loop through the orchard cluster, A Saturday in the Warwick Valley.
Eight stops in one orchard hamlet, cellars older than the Civil War — Orange County doesn't spread thin.