Local residents can now add moonshine to the list of locally made libations. Twin Stills Moonshine on Sound Avenue in Riverhead celebrated its grand opening this afternoon.
And the mood was celebratory indeed inside the distillery’s cozy tasting room, where family, friends, neighbors and the just-plain-curious bellied up to the tasting bar for free sips of Twin Stills’ flavored moonshine.
The grand opening has been a long time coming for owners Joe and Pat Cunha of Baiting Hollow. They were ready to open almost a year ago, but were hung up waiting for approvals from the federal government. The bureaucracy was frustrating, Joe Cunha said, and especially maddening because they were paying rent on the property the whole time without being able to earn any revenue.
In the interim, they changed their trade name from Long Island Bootleggers to Twin Stills Moonshine because another company was using “Bootleggers” as a brand name.
But all that’s behind them now and they’re excited to be open for business. Their specialty moonshine flavors include apple pie, strawberry and honey. The moonshine is distilled on premises. Twin Stills also features Greenport Harbor beer on tap.
Twin Stills benefits from almost a century’s worth of distilling knowledge passed down by Joe Cunha’s grandfather, who operated a distillery in Portugal from 1926 until his death in 2004.
“Joey used to go to Portugal in the summers and watch him distill,” said Patricia Cunha.
The apprenticeship paid off. The result is a smooth, delicious flavored liquor that had visitors in the tasting room raving today.
Twin Stills Moonshine is located at 5506 Sound Avenue, about a half-mile west of Manor Lane.
