The Ultimate Spirits Getaway in Progress: A Revisit to Bhakta-Griswold in Vermont
Back in 2023, David was one of the first journalists to visit Bhakta-Griswold, the brand campus-cum-booze camp owned by the notorious spirit innovator Raj Bhakta. The stories he recounted of this former Vermont college that now houses and showcases one of the largest vintage spirits collections in the country were, in a word, unusual. It seemed at the time like the kind of ambitious and eccentric enterprise that might not be long for this world. Imagine my surprise then when Drinkhacker was recently invited for a follow-up visit.
In the two years since David last visited Bhakta-Griswold, the Bhakta brand hasn’t taken its foot off the gas. While single vintage brandy releases continue apace, the brand is now anchored by a flagship brandy-influenced blend, 1928. This blend of rye whiskey, Calvados, and vintage Armagnac is the cornerstone of a new single barrel program (more on that later). Bhakta is also slowly rolling out a new, mid-tier bourbon and Armagnac blend, dubbed Hogsworth (Raj, who founded WhistlePig, clearly has a thing for swine). That expression is still being tweaked a bit, but from our discussions, it should eventually be well-distributed. Add to all that a handful of unique one-offs, from rum to Indian single malt, and you get a sense of how much product momentum Bhakta has going into the future.
The campus itself isn’t moving quite as quickly. There were some notable updates on our revisit, but for the most part, my three days there this winter looked a lot like David’s time two years earlier: copious spirit sampling, bonfires (when the wintry weather allowed), and a not-quite-spa experience in the college’s well-appointed athletic facilities. There’s a lot of work still yet to be done, but if you squint hard enough, you can almost see it.
New Additions to the Bhakta-Griswold Campus
As David recounted, the Green Mountain College campus boasts unlimited potential as a hospitality property, especially for someone with Bhakta’s resources and creative vision. Several stately buildings, impressive river frontage (the so-called ‘Poultney Riviera’), and well-manicured grounds all center around the grand, colonial-style building from 1837 that housed the original all-girls school, which, if plans materialize, will become a luxury hotel. The scale of such a renovation would be sizable, so it wasn’t surprising that no one from Bhakta would tell us when, or if, that vision would materialize.
While the hotel hasn’t made any noticeable headway since our last visit, several other buildings on campus have come online. One building is being slowly refurbished to potentially offer booze-themed art activities (making your own barware from clay was mentioned), and the school’s former 500-seat theater may once again host shows for visitors. In its heyday, headliners like Gorillaz and Phish performed for the students (which perhaps helps to explain how the money dried up).
Raj’s impressive car collection, housed in the school’s gymnasium, appears to have also grown with a pair of vintage Rolls Royces, a particularly gorgeous Austin Healey, and a late model Maserati joining the late Dave Pickerel’s old Cadillac, FDR’s presidential Lincoln, and a spare-no-expense Packard easily worth the same money paid at auction for the entire Green Mountain campus. New to the car show is vintage year Armagnac pairings for each automobile corresponding with their production year, allowing visitors a taste of something as old as the car they’ll probably never be able to own.
In addition to these annual press trips, dubbed Winter Carnivals, Bhakta continues to host corporate partners and distributors for similar outings, as well as off premise retailers who visit primarily to blend their own, bespoke bottles of 1928, essentially a private barrel program which we had the opportunity to experience during our visit.
Our Visit
Chief Minister of Hospitality Morgan French was our guide and host for most of our three days in Poultney. The weather was particularly Vermont-y with plenty of slush and unmelted snow on the ground that nevertheless made an already attractive campus that much more beautiful. The mixed weather during my visit was a reminder of how the remote (1.5 hours from the closest airport) yet picturesque location both helps and hurts Bhakta’s grander plans for making it a booming tourist destination.
Approximately 15 writers and influencers, from both the wine and spirits world, attended the three-day event, residing in minimally updated dormitory housing, complete with communal showers (although my room thankfully had its own toilet and sink). I knew this going into the event, and while the idea gave this middle-aged man some concern, the accommodations were perfectly comfortable.
Upon arrival we were shown the prospective new art building, theater, gymnasium car collection, and athletic facility-cum-spa complete with an ice bath and sauna adjoining Vermont’s first in-ground, Olympic size swimming pool. Each stop included pours of vintage-dated Armagnac, rum, or whiskey, all of which made for the booziest college tour I’ve ever been on. And I went to a state school.
Dinners (and all other meals) were served family-style in the impressive dining facilities, which doubled as a pre-dinner cocktail bar. Morgan was also our mixologist, churning out unique and impressive brandy-based cocktails with a different menu each night. It was too cold on our first night for drinks by the campfire, so we all retired to a clubby space in the basement for yet more creative cocktails and cigars.
The lone full day on campus began with breakfast and breath-based meditation in the gymnasium, the so-called Griswold Method (hence the campus name). It was surprisingly reinvigorating after a long night of drinking. The recommended cold plunge/sauna combo afterward was a tempting invitation except for the small size of the sauna and the ice bath, both of which still seemed more catered toward college athletes than tourists.
Before lunch, we headed to a lab room adjacent to the school’s impressive library, where most of Bhakta’s barrels slumber, for a bitters making class with Morgan using Bhakta spirits as the base. The new programming was a bit of a work in progress, but the idea was embraced by many of us with roots in the bar and cocktail space excited to see a bounty of exotic spices on hand for a quick bit of take-home alchemy.
Lunch was followed by an afternoon deep dive into vintage Armagnac, again led by Morgan. The tasting included samples as young as 1982 and as old as 1962 and offered a glimpse at Bhakta’s chateau in Gascony, the source of much of his vintage library. After that, the entire group had a sit-down with the man himself, Raj Bhakta, in his smoke-filled office. It was the only time we really got to interact with the Willy Wonka behind this brandy factory, but it was one of the more direct and frank conversations I’ve witnessed between a brand owner and media.
Following this, it was back to another lab room in a different part of the campus for a short blending exercise. A recent Bhakta offering for off-premises is a small-scale private barrel program (as little as 12 six-packs) based on the 1928 blend. We built our own by selecting from three different Calvados finishes and eight different vintage Armagnacs to complement the mandatory 60% rye whiskey base. For those with plans to do this, choose all French oak Calvados and 1982 Armagnac if you can. You won’t be disappointed.
The packed final day included one more night of cocktails, dinner, and revelry, this time concluding around a roaring bonfire with plenty of 1928 to warm the parts of us the fire could not. There’s still a long way to go to make Bhakta-Griswold a luxury resort for the discerning, booze-loving traveler, but as a totally unique tourist destination, especially for industry types, it’s already worth putting on the bucket list.
Photo Credits: Homer Horowitz and Drew Beard
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