Tuthilltown Spirits, in the process of becoming New York State's first micro-distillery since Prohibition days, and being crowned 2010 Craft Distiller of the Year by the American Distillers' Institute, has attracted a throng of 7,102 friends on Facebook, the world's dominant Internet social network. Technically, that's too many friends according to Facebook rules. When you attract more than 5,000 friends, they're no longer "friends": they are "fans."

So Tuttletown now has a Facebook fans' page, which, in a fitting matter, confirms the young Gardiner, NY, firm's rock-star status in American craft distilling. Its success story has been very rapid: installation of the physical plant began in 2003; the first products rolled out the door in 2006; within weeks of winning the Distillers Institute award, there was an even bigger prize and honor: a partnership with the great Scotch whiskey house, William Grant & Sons, with its flagship Glenfiddich and Balvanie brands.

The co-founders of this local economic success story, Ralph Erenzo and Brian Lee, decided to celebrate their good fortune by inviting all their Facebook fans to the distillery for a big bash on June 18. The festivities centered on free tastings of the wares, and guided tours of the distilling process, from grinding and cooking locally produced grain into a mash for fermentation, and then all the way through distillation in gorgeous copper stills, and hand bottling of the final product.

Since most of Tuthilltown's Facebook fans are spread across the country, and some across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, most were not able to travel the hundreds or thousands of miles to join the festivities. But 227 fans who live in Gardiner and surrounding towns, plus a designated driver for each car, braved a very hot Sunday afternoon to taste whiskies, get a crash course on how whiskey is distilled, listen to the old timey music of the Shoe String Band, enter a drawing to win a whiskey barrel (devoid, alas, of whiskey), and buy one of only 168 small 375ml bottles of the special run of New York Whiskey that was created for the Facebook friends' celebration.

In the interest of science, this intrepid reporter sampled Tuthilltown's selection whiskey which is based on a unique and unorthodox blend of different grains that went into a mash that ultimately emerged from the still and barrels as a fine, idiosyncratic whiskey. It's a whiskey with unique tastes that reflects the partners' mastery of the distilling craft over the past seven years — and their enthusiasm for breaking convention. After an introductory sampling, I promptly purchased a bottle before the very limited supply of 168 bottles disappeared from the shelves of Tuthillhill's on-site store.

Gable Erenzo, Tuthilltown's "brand ambassador," offered this precise description of the tastes that make this New York Whiskey unique. This New York Whiskey is representative of what Lee and the Erenzo's aim to accomplish as distillers. Rather than staying within the grooves of the taste qualities established by the major brands, good as they are, Tuthilltown wants to walk its own walk.

"This is slightly spicier than our typical Bourbons due to the high Rye count, though slightly lighter in profile than the standard line. This particular batch was older than most as it was aged in used Tuthilltown barrels, imparting more delicate flavors than a new oak barrel would. A dash of our single malt, over aged in a very small barrel added herbal tea qualities that create total distinction from all of our other bourbon mash products."

The Tuthilltown team doesn't always hit the bulls eye, but most of the time they do, and quite nicely in the case of their limited run New York Whiskey. That's definitely the case for bottle 123 of 168, which now occupies a place of honor in our family's whiskey collection.

In anticipation of the 2011 Tuthilltown Facebook Fans Day, it's well worth loading www.facebook.com into your browser, and then enrolling as a Tuthilltown fan in order to receive an invitation to next year's annual fest.