Jason Grizzanti

“Success in Black Dirt”

Jason Grizzanti’s success story begins amongst the sweet-smelling orchards of the Hudson Valley region of New York. His father, Dr. Joseph Grizzanti (aka “Doc”), purchased fertile orchard land in 1989 which ultimately became the family’s enterprise, Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery. And it was amid these fruit trees, only about 50 miles north of New York City that shaped the farm-to-table ethos of a young man that has led to a gleaming future in whiskey-making.

Born in 1978, Jason quickly took seriously his early introduction to pomology. At age twelve his parents gave him about 200 apple trees and encouraged his entrepreneurial spirit, which soon became a small “pick-your-own” operation. With that foundation he graduated high school, then pursued formal education, and 4 years later, he graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Fruit Science. After that, he left home and family to formally study brewing and distilling at Scotland’s Heriot‑Watt University as well as the prestigious Siebel Institute in Chicago.

Then, in the early 2000s, Jason and his long-time friend and business partner, Jeremy Kidde, began to think about adding distilled spirits to the family business. The winery had already established hard cider and fruit-based products, but recently changing laws in New York had made craft distilling more viable than ever before. So in 2002, the duo produced apple brandy under the winery’s label and had triumphantly graduated to their first 200-gallon bottling by 2004. 

Once Jason established success at fruit brandies of each of the apple, pear, sour cherry, and currant variety, the move to whiskey came as a natural evolution. And although the family’s orchard and fruit-based production provided a foundation of tasting, fermentation, and distillation skills, he knew that whiskey demanded new input: grains, mashing, longer aging, barrel work, and a different mindset. Despite the challenges ahead, in 2012 Jason and Jeremy formally created the Black Dirt Distilling LLC entity, and by 2013 the distillery in Pine Island, New York, included a 4,000 square foot building with a 60-foot distillation column that was built to handle whiskey production. The name “Black Dirt” was chosen in reference to the region’s rich, dark soil created from an ancient glacial lake’s legacy. That soil happens to be ideal for growing corn, and good corn is the key mash ingredient for great bourbon.

Once the permitting and business portion of Black Dirt Distillery was settled, Jason’s role quickly shifted into the whiskey domain: he took on the mantle of Master Distiller for the new enterprise and was immediately active in the final build-out of the facility. Grizzanti obtained a Christian Carl copper-pot still from Germany and decided on a mash bill for their flagship bourbon of 80% Black Dirt corn, 12% malted barley, and 8% rye. The bourbon was to be aged in new American oak barrels with a #3 char for a minimum of two to three years. 

Jason now speaks of the terroir connection between using locally grown corn and working with nearby farmers to determine the exact flavor profiles in his other grains. He has said that moving into whiskey was “a little outside [my] comfort zone” because he had “never worked with grains and the extra mashing step” when compared to his fruit-distilling past. Nevertheless, the result was that Black Dirt Bourbon has quickly achieved acclaim, including winning a Double Gold medal at the super-competitive San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2024.