JEFFERSON – As the 2026 season begins, the RevSpirits distillery is opening its tasting venue, The BeeYard, offering visitors a unique agritourism destination rooted in honey, handcrafted alcoholic beverages, and beekeeping traditions in the northern Catskills.
Revolutionary Spirits, branded as RevSpirits, was founded by longtime friends and beekeepers Bill Parker and Phil Potak, who combine decades of experience with a shared passion for turning raw, local honey into distinctive spirits. The business operates in Jefferson, north of Stamford, and draws heavily on the region’s farming landscape and natural resources.
The BeeYard outdoor tasting venue and bottle shop serves RevSpirits’ own products alongside other New York state liquors, as well as beer, wine, and snacks. Plans for the summer season include food trucks, live music, and outdoor seating overlooking Mount Jefferson. The venue is designed to create an educational and recreational experience for locals and visitors alike.
“Our customers can experience a newly constructed tasting room, outdoor pavilions, and beautiful views of Mount Jefferson,” said Bill Parker. “We plan to create an educational agritourism site featuring a large honeybee observation hive, information on the honeybee life cycle and biology, and pollinator friendly plantings.”
Parker and Potak each have more than 20 years of beekeeping experience. They formed their LLC in 2016 and launched RevSpirits to the public in 2019. Their approach sets them apart from traditional distilleries by starting not with grain, but with bees.
“They’re the hardest workers on our staff,” Parker declared about the bees.
Raw, natural honey harvested by their bees is used to create mead, which is then distilled into a range of spirits. Their products span 25% to 43% alcohol, or roughly 50 to 86 proof, and feature flavor profiles that include honey, vanilla, lemon, butterscotch and raisins.
“Our spirits are unique,” explained Parker.
RevSpirits’ products are a form of mead, an ancient alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water and yeast. Also known as “honey wine,” mead is technically its own category of alcohol, known as one of the oldest alcoholic beverages in human civilization.
One of RevSpirits’ unaged offerings, Honey Moon, begins as a honey-based mead before distillation. Other spirits, including Thirteenth Moon, Conundrum, Libration and Over the Moon are finished in port or American oak barrels and aged for up to a year or more.
“Honey Moon has the same uses as a vodka but we can’t call it vodka because of our process,” Parker said. “Thirteenth Moon is aged in oak barrels, but we can’t call it a whiskey or bourbon because it contains no grains.”
RevSpirits also operates a sister brand, Beeline Meadery – which is New York’s first Meadery approved by the state’s Grown & Certified Program.
Education is a key part of the business. Parker said his favorite aspect of RevSpirits is connecting with customers and explaining how their products are made. That focus carries into The BeeYard, which is intended to highlight the role of honeybees in agriculture and the environment.
“[We get] to talk and educate people on honeybees and what mead is,” explained Parker. “Most people have no idea what mead is and how it’s produced. Mead is the oldest alcoholic beverage.”
RevSpirits’ products can be enjoyed on their own or mixed into cocktails, offering flexibility for seasoned spirit drinkers and newcomers alike. The use of 100% local honey and small-batch production reflects a broader commitment to place-based craftsmanship and sustainable practices.
Parker reflected on the impact of building the business from the ground up.
“RevSpirits has given us an opportunity to turn our honey into a unique product, meet great people and hopefully provide an opportunity for our kids,” he said.
The BeeYard tasting venue is located at 1283 State Route 10 in Jefferson. The tasting venue is open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons. RevSpirits sells at the Cooperstown and Troy farmers markets. Seasonal updates, events, and announcements are available through its RevSpirits Instagram page (@revspirits).
This story was created by student reporters through the OnNY Community Media Lab, a program of SUNY Oneonta and the SUNY Institute for Local News.
Some of the spirits made by RevSpirits
Their outside venue
The logo for the BeeYard venue
Phil Potak
Enjoy your chilled drink by the fire this summer!
