That watery substance is what’s left after milk is curdled and strained to make cheese.

But upstate liquor craftsmen Dan Paquin, 43, and John Whiteman, 25, have found a use for that dairy byproduct.

The owners of Mountain Spirit Distilling, at 35 Florida St., use a special enzyme to convert that lactose into glucose — a fermentable sugar.

It’s a tricky conversion, U.S. Navy veteran Paquin admitted.

Mountain Spirit Distilling makes a selection of whiskey and vodka. (Provided photo— Kayla Breen, Press-Republican)

Whiteman said typical distillers avoid the conversion process by using starch-based ingredients like potatoes.

When asked why the pair goes through the trouble, the Mountain Spirit distillers were happy to place blame on the upstate region.

“We’re in dairy country,” Whiteman said. “It’s a 100 percent New York state ingredient.”

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Distilling molecules

Whiteman started brewing beer as a teen after he stumbled upon his grandfather’s old production equipment.

“It was illegal to buy beer,” he said, “but it wasn’t illegal to make it.”

It wasn’t until some years later that Whiteman, who also works at the F.W. Webb Company, started to dabble in distillation.

But Paquin learned the process in his military years, producing aviators’ breathing oxygen and industrial nitrogen.

“They used to produce it right on the ship,” Whiteman said. “It’s called cryogenics.

“You’re literally distilling molecules out of air, but instead of at high temperatures, you’re at negative temperatures, because you’re turning oxygen into a liquid.”

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Like driven snow

Using their combined skills, Paquin and Whiteman ferment the newly converted glucose before triple distilling it at their onsite operation.

“Vodka is all about purity,” Whiteman said. “We run no less than 190 proof coming off the still. That’s 95 percent alcohol — more flammable than gasoline.”

It’s the level of purity that gave their whey-based vodka its name: Driven Snow.

“There’s nothing more pure than driven snow,” Whiteman explained. “It’s snow in its purest form — windblown.”

Mountain Spirit Distilling’s Morning Wood vodka uses the same whey base, but with a twist.

“We age it with coffee from Adirondack Coffee Roasters and a little bit of oak chip,” Whiteman said. “So wood and coffee: Morning Wood.”

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The stripping still

The distillery’s bestseller, Workin’ Man’s Whiskey, steers clear of any conversions, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to make, Paquin said.

Production starts with corn and malted barley, each made into a pulp-like liquid known as mash.

To get it there, the ingredients are cooked at high temperatures and their grains are sparged off, Whiteman explained.

“Then you add a little bit of sugar, throw it in our fermenter and let it ferment for five to seven days.”

That’s when the distillation comes in.

The mixture is run through Mountain Spirit’s stripping still first.

That self-automated machine runs itself after various parameters have been set, like flow and heat rates.

“It’s continuously introducing mash that is fermented with alcohol in it,” Paquin said. “It’s continuously processing distillate; it’s continuously overflowing waste.”

Once finished, Whiteman said, the liquid is sent through the final still one last time until it’s 150- to 160-proof alcohol.

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Hand-filled bottles

Up next is the bottling.

The local operation began selling spirits in fall 2017 with a New York State Farm Distillery License.

“We’re actually regulated by the state to use 75 percent New York state ingredients,” Whiteman said.

That includes their glass bottles.

Like a majority of the Mountain Spirit process, canning their liquids is done by hand.

“Start to finish,” Whiteman said. “We hand fill the bottles. We hand label them. We hand seal them.

“We touch every bottle that goes out the door.”

And that’s some 150 bottles, or more, a month, he said.

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Steeping gin

In addition to their Driven Snow Vodka, Morning Wood Vodka and Workin’ Man’s Whiskey, Paquin and Whiteman make Adirondack Glow White Whiskey.

“Distilled from a Bourbon Mash, this whisky is so pure/virgin that fresh off the still you can taste the amazing local ingredients we use in this recipe,” their website says.

“Hence “White Whiskey,” our version of what a moonshine is supposed to be.”

And Paquin said a gin is coming soon, too.

Their test batches have been done by taking a grain-neutral spirit and steeping it through botanicals.

“So kind of like making tea, but with really strong alcohol,” he said. “What that does is the oils come out of the botanicals and go into the alcohol.

“We just filter off the botanicals and what’s left over is more raw gin.”

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