Craft Beverages
Klocke Estate Distillery: The Hilltop Dinner
A hilltop brandy distillery in Columbia County with fine dining, Catskill views, and a small-batch program that rewards the drive.
Klocke Estate is the Valley craft-beverage destination most visitors don't plan for. A working brandy distillery on a hilltop in Columbia County, with a restaurant that could stand on its own without the spirits program, panoramic views of the Catskills, and a grape-and-fruit brandy program built on traditional cognac-making methods. It's a real "drive to Claverack on a Saturday afternoon" experience, and if you haven't done it yet, it's worth the effort.
The setup
Klocke sits on a hilltop overlooking the Hudson Valley, with the Catskills visible across the way. The estate includes:
- The distillery itself — brandy production plus a range of spirits
- A fine-dining restaurant
- Outdoor decks and terrace seating
- Event and tasting spaces
The scale is serious, this is not a converted-barn farm operation, it's a $21M purpose-built estate on 160 acres, with 60 acres under vineyard and orchard. The aesthetic is European-vineyard-meets-American-craft, and the architecture is part of the experience.
The brandy program
Klocke makes brandy in the tradition of Cognac — grape-based spirits made in copper alembic stills, aged in oak barrels. The fruit program extends to apples grown on-site and other regional fruit, distilled and aged in similar fashion. Among American distilleries, the commitment to traditional cognac-method brandy at this scale is rare.
For drinkers unfamiliar with the category: Klocke's offerings are aromatic, fruit-forward, and smooth enough that they work as a dinner-ending sipper in the way a good cognac or armagnac would. The vermouth program sits alongside the brandies on the tasting list.
The tasting flight walks through 3–5 offerings. Start there; you can buy bottles from the gift shop if something lands.
The restaurant
Klocke's restaurant is the part most casual visitors underestimate. The menu is seasonal and farm-driven, drawing from the estate's orchards and vineyards alongside regional producers, and the execution is at the level of the Valley's better tablecloth restaurants. Prices are tablecloth-restaurant prices; expect $80–150 per person for dinner with wine (or brandy pairings).
Lunch is the more accessible way in, shorter menu, lower price point, same kitchen. Seating is outdoors in warm months (the terrace overlooks the view) and indoors in the more formal dining room year-round.
The wine list is substantial, with both European selections and Hudson Valley producers represented. For readers not drinking alcohol, the beverage program includes sparkling water, high-end sodas, and occasionally a curated non-alcoholic pairing option, ask when booking.
When to go
Summer and early fall are peak Klocke. The outdoor terrace is the destination, the views are clearest, and the restaurant menu is at its most seasonal.
Late fall (October and early November) captures the Catskills foliage from one of the best viewing points in the region.
Winter the restaurant is excellent but the outdoor component is lost. Worth the drive if you want a specific kind of fine dining; less compelling as a general Valley destination.
Spring is the quietest season, shoulder-season pricing and no crowds, but less dramatic than summer or fall.
How to build an afternoon
A practical Klocke plan:
- Book lunch for 1 PM (reservations essential; this isn't a walk-in place).
- Arrive at 12:30 to do the spirits tasting in the distillery tasting room first. 20–30 minutes.
- Lunch for 90 minutes, ideally on the terrace in warm months.
- Post-lunch walk around the estate grounds. The views are different from different angles.
- Optional post-lunch purchase of a bottle from the gift shop if something from the tasting landed.
This gives you a 3-hour visit that's the right kind of slow. Trying to stack Klocke with two other tasting rooms in the same day is possible but shortchanges it.
The cannabis-lifestyle fit
Klocke is not a cannabis-friendly operation in any literal sense, it's a licensed distillery and restaurant, cannabis consumption doesn't happen on the premises. But the demographic overlap is strong: the wellness-forward, provenance-conscious, slow-evening-over-good-food audience.
A practical cannabis-inclusive pattern: a pre-Klocke afternoon dispensary stop in Hudson (a short drive away, see our directory), followed by a late lunch at Klocke without any cannabis in the afternoon program, followed by the rest of the evening back at a private rental or home. The lunch and the view hold without assistance.
What to expect price-wise
Tasting flights: $25–40.
Lunch: $50–90 per person without drinks.
Dinner: $120–180 per person with wine or spirits pairings.
Bottles: $40–80 for the core spirits range, $100+ for older brandies.
This is the premium end of Valley craft-beverage pricing. Priced accordingly, and worth it on the right occasion, a special-occasion dinner, a tourism-season destination meal, a Saturday that you're building a proper afternoon around.
What we'd improve
Klocke's visitor experience is strong but could be better at a few specific things: accessibility for walk-ins (booking-required is limiting); pricing transparency (the tasting fees and menu prices are not always visible until you arrive); and non-alcoholic programming (the NA options exist but aren't at the level of the Valley's mocktail-program leaders, see our mocktail guide).
Small complaints. The core experience is excellent and it's one of the Valley's distinctive craft-beverage destinations.
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