A line of limoncellos and other alcoholic drinks will launch as part of the new distillery that will open this weekend in the СŷƵ.
Hausman Fruit Farm will hold a grand opening for the distillery at 9 a.m. Saturday at 2824 Limeport Pike in Lower Milford Township, a news release announced, with a ribbon cutting at 1:30 p.m.
Co-owner April Hausman said the distillery will join the farm’s retail store and relocated bakery to form the new Behind the Barn Farm Market Bakery & Distillery, where customers can not only buy the limoncellos but also vodka, rum, whiskey, gin, moonshine, fruits, vegetables, milk, honey, pies and bread.
“The most recent [limoncello] that we just bottled up, and will be for sale for the first time this weekend, is a strawberry limoncello and it is phenomenal,” she said. “It’s made with our own strawberries and it’s so good.”
The grand opening will feature a tour of the distillery, samples from the distillery and bakery, pony rides, hayrides, fruits and vegetables, and visits from farm animals like goats and miniature Highland cows, the news release added.
Hausman owns the farm, which began in 1916, with her husband Justin and children Lacey, Brent, Greg and Lillian.
She said the farm already offered alcohol through guest vendors like the Doan Distillery but that they wanted to open their own distillery so that they could support their children as potential employees of the farm with the extra revenue.
“A family farm’s biggest challenge, as the next generation comes up, is the umbrella that the revenue covers,” Hausman said. “So under this umbrella is one family, and that’s great for that family until … there work is there, the works needs to be done. But the farm needs, say, five to eight people to work it, but it only makes enough money to pay two to four. So we figured this extra avenue here, the distilling and stuff — it’s definitely a lot of work but it’s something that we can do in our spare time or our off time.”
The retail store also switched a few weeks ago from an honor system, where customers left money and took the products, to having an employee there to help with transactions.
Behind the Barn will operate 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
