• MSNBC/AP, Monday, July 16, 2007 10:49 AM

People who pay more for hand-crafted cheese, bread, beer and wine are showing a willingness to do likewise for distilled spirits. Tiny Tuthilltown Spirits--which makes bourbon, rye, corn whiskey and vodka--is selling faster than it can be bottled.

Owners Ralph Erenzo and Brian Lee cook up whiskey that can run $40 for a half-sized bottle in a jerry-rigged still installed in a barn in Gardniner, N.Y., 70 miles north of New York City. Tuthilltown also rides the wave of the "buy local" movement. Their vodkas are made from local apples--Erenzo stresses that it's not apple-flavored vodka, but rather vodka made from apples.

Craft spirits remain a tiny niche in the U.S. spirits industry, which rings up $58 billion a year in sales. But the little distillers have the wind at their backs. Not only are artisan products popular, but the spirit industry is growing with the help of high-end products. Sales of so-called super-premium products, like Grey Goose vodka and Johnnie Walker Blue, grew 72% from 2002 to 2006.

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