Pollinator Power
A conversation with genius queer distiller, Claire Marin
Queer Aperitivo could not actualize our vision fully without our partnership with Claire Marin of Pollinator Spirits.
Over a year ago, when I was searching for spirits that could match both our standards and our commitment to supporting local, ethical producers, someone from PM Spirits said: "Oh ‘Queer Aperitivo’? Have you had the amaro this queer woman is making in the Catskills?" … and here we are a year and a half later serving the Crimson Spritz at every community event and party we do. Claire is someone who understands that you can be profitable while paying everyone fairly, that you can create exceptional quality while supporting local agriculture, and that the work of building the world we want to live in happens through every single choice we make.
Working with Claire and Pollinator Spirits, I get to serve gorgeous queers the gorgeous drinks I desire while learning so much about the role that distillers can play in sustaining a regenerative local food system.
So without further ado, I’m excited to share our conversation about what it means to build an ecosystem of values-driven pleasure.
Ora: Claire, I can't believe it's been just over a year since Leo from PM Spirits connected us. I was looking for an amaro producer, and he immediately said, "You need to meet Claire". Such kismet! I literally can't imagine Queer Aperitivo without you as a partner.
Claire: Thank you—and honestly, the feeling is mutual. When Leo connected us, I felt something click on a really deep level. What you've created with Queer Aperitivo has this incredible warmth and inclusivity that everyone can feel when they walk into the space. There's so much love in the room, and that generosity is exactly what we need more of.
Ora: As I am creating a space for queers to drink, connect, flirt, eat, and find some release in these intense times, I couldn't do it without producers like you creating the spirits that match our values and are as excellent as I believe our community deserves. But finding that is really difficult to achieve. A queer woman who's locally based, intentional, community-oriented, and ecologically minded—producing such delicious spirits—is everything I wanted for Queer Aperitivo.
Claire: I think values are at the forefront for both of us, and for all of the producers you work with. We both straddle this interesting space where we're running transformative businesses that balance personal enjoyment, purpose, and supporting our environment and community, while also striving to make a living from it in a really responsible way.
Ora: Can you help our community understand what makes your spirits different from the big brands they may be more familiar with? A part of my mission is to support people understanding how wine and spirits are agricultural products, that the ingredients and labor that goes into what we’re drinking matter greatly for our bioregion. And that purchasing Pollinator Gin and Faccia Bruto for our house cocktails rather than Campari or Hendricks Gin, for instance, keeps our money in our region, rather than continuing to consolidate wealth for giant companies and the billionaires who own them.
Claire: The biggest thing is understanding that we are an ecosystem. I became enamored with beekeeping in 2003—it was just a weekend hobby while I was still in media sales. But it helped me understand that if we ran the world like a hive, we wouldn't be where we are today. That transformative moment, combined with my awareness of the lack of support for agriculture in upstate New York, led me to start Catskill Provisions in 2010.
I was seeing farmers about to lose their land, younger generations not wanting to go into farming, no farm stands in the western Catskills—which I found very odd compared to Long Island or northern New York. The focus was only dairy farming and feed corn where I was. How could that be? To this day, I have to go to the Finger Lakes for my grains because they figured out how to be “the bread basket to New York."
Ora: It's wild how capitalism hates self-sufficiency. Before Prohibition, farmers could distill their own fruits and grains legally, right?
Claire: Exactly! That right was taken away from people doing backbreaking work to feed us. I saw the farm distilling movement just beginning in 2009 and started playing with whiskeys in my kitchen using maple and honey. What I continue to see in our industry is a lack of focus on quality of grain and fruit used. There's a lot of corner cutting, and I get it—it's an expensive business, you need deep pockets to afford the startup capital. But we are profitable in a way that lets me have a good living and my team paid well so…
Ora: You're saying it is possible to be a small, locally sourced, integrity-driven producer and make a decent living.
Claire: Yes, absolutely. Though it's still a very male dominated space—when I started, I was the only woman distiller in New York State. Now maybe there are six of us. And queer representation is just not common at all. There's more diversity in brewing because there's less of a barrier to entry—the startup capital, equipment, and education required to become a masterful distiller creates barriers for people who don't come from certain wealth or access.
Ora: When I got to work with you at the distillery—literally lifting bags of corn grown by New York farmers, helping you pour it into the still yourself—it was so empowering. Life under capitalism is so alienating, where the systems through which people get their food and drink are deliberately opaque. And here I was experiencing so much intimacy and knowledge in that process with you.
I want my principles reflected in every single element of production. I'm not interested in just branding something as "queer"—I want us generating resources for a local sustainable food economy in which queer/trans people are actively participating in building a better world. Our principles are only real if they show up in how we do what we do and who we do it with: you're a queer woman supporting local agriculture in the Catskills, Faccia Bruto is in my neighborhood in Crown Heights and making the aperitivo amaro we use in our negroni with all natural ingredients, Wild Arc Farm (whose vermouth we use in our Super Wet Martini with your gin!) is part of a network of SWANA producers upstate.
Claire: Without a doubt. You need clear conviction and attention to the ultimate goal and values, especially when you're going against the grain. The system is set up to make it hard to do things the way we're doing them. There are so many forces in this industry not allowing smaller producers to grow; there's a system in place to keep us from succeeding.
Ora: Im seeing that in action! I went into a wine store the other day where the buyer loves both of us and loves Pollinator Spirits, and he told me that Campari sets order minimums at $3-5K so it automatically eats up his whole purchasing budget and blocks out small producers like you.
We are what I'd call mission-driven hedonists! And I love that along with our epicurean interests, we can talk about the business aspect because we can't transform the dominant destructive agricultural and economic systems without getting down to the brass tacks.
Ok but now let's talk about some spirits…
Claire: Our vodka drinks a little more like a tequila—it has body. It's 100% organic corn with a five-day on-the-grain fermentation, so there's a lot of flavor and expression.
Ora: Don't you use a touch of your own honey in the distilling process?
Claire: Yes! On the third day of fermentation, it gets a little sluggish, so I feed it honey and it just livens up again. I'm convinced that it yields more flavor. There's a natural sweetness to it, but all the honey is distilled out—nothing is added after, which is something most vodkas do. Adding sugar after distillation is very common because sugar hooks people.
So it stands up to coffee beautifully and almost becomes creamier. And then the nocino—
Ora: Wait, I have to pause here. When we were at your distillery having a beautiful aperitivo—we dont just do it for others, it’s our ritual for ourselves!—I was trying to figure out a recipe for our new Espresso Martini and you said, "You should try it with our nocino." You made us a round and I immediately fell in love. Thank you for putting me onto the most perfect marriage.
Claire: Nocino is something every family in northern Italy makes because they have a black walnut tree. In upstate New York, we're in the mountains and there are black walnut trees everywhere but – other than the original peoples of this land– people here don't know how to make anything with these walnuts. Everyone says, "This messy tree, I want to chop it down."
Ora: Right. Yet another piece of Indigenous knowledge lost upon settler society.
Claire: Exactly! My partner Kathy and I had gone to northern Italy several times, and every time we came back with little samples of nocino thinking, "Why can't we do this?" Ours is a little more dense than most, so instead of a full ounce, a half ounce gives you so much flavor and texture. And you don't have to sweeten the drink because there's sweetness built in—no simple syrup needed, which just takes flavor and personality away from things.
The base for the nocino is the vodka I make, so I think that's even more reason why it's creamy. You could drink that nocino over ice cream—it's really good.
Ora: That's what I loved—our Espresso Martini has no simple syrup added. All we need is the more nuanced and earthy sweetness of your nocino. And we use coffee brewed for us by our loves at Hot Boy Cold Brew using beans from Buddies, a Puerto Rican roaster based in Brooklyn.
Ora: I feel so grateful to be able to create this fabulous beverage made by an incredible queer woman using all local ingredients—some even wild. We’re here to show you can party and have it be nourishing and ethically responsible.
Claire: Totally. And honestly, hangovers are minimal when you drink my stuff.
Ora: Best promo ever! Speaking of which…our take on a classic negroni is made with your Beespoke Gin which I know is made with grapes from the Finger Lakes. And our iconic Crimson Spritz we make with your Crimson Amaro, which gives that jewel-like visual experience without any chemicals and dyes.
Claire: You've inspired me so much since we've met. It's wonderful to feel supported, to feel like we're on the same page and doing what we're doing with no question about our commitment and our lack of compromise. This is what we do, this is how we do it.