Long Island Bootleggers, new micro-distillery, opens next month with specialty moonshine

Long Island Bootleggers, a new micro-distillery in Riverhead, plans to open for business on Sound Avenue in three to four weeks.

Owned and operated by local wife-and-husband duo Patricia and Joe Cunha, the distillery will offer several varieties of flavored moonshine, grappa and brandy.

The distillery will be located east of Church Lane at 5506 Sound Avenue.

Bootleggers will benefit from almost a century’s worth of distilling knowledge passed down by Joe Cunha’s grandfather, who operated a distillery in Portugal from 1926 until his death in 2004.

“Joey used to go to Portugal in the summers and watch him distill,” said Patricia Cunha. “Nobody else in the family has really pursued it, so Joe decided to start his own distillery to carry on his grandfather’s tradition.”

After several months of renovations, the interior of the Sound Avenue distillery is rustic and welcoming. The bar features a stained pinewood top, and rough-cut pine panels the walls of the tasting room. “We want people to come in and sample the moonshine,” said Joe Cunha. “We’re right on the wine trail, so we’re in a great location for that.”

Some of Bootlegger’s specialty moonshine flavors include apple pie, strawberry and honey. The moonshine will be distilled on premises in a back room of the building. All fruits and materials will be fresh, all-natural and locally sourced, Patricia Cunha said.

“It’s very important to us to keep everything local,” she said. “We’ve lived on Long Island all our lives, and we really appreciate what we still have out here.

“I love that you can still pull up to a farm stand, put your money in a box, and take your produce,” she added. “It reminds me of when I was a kid. We need to do everything we can to keep the local farmers in business.”

Bootleggers will offer tasting specials, said Patricia Cunha, which will include a complimentary Portuguese shot glass as a souvenir. Moonshine will be available in 375 milliliter bottles, priced at around $20 each.

“It’s very tasty,” Patricia Cunha said. “We’ve sampled with a few members of Joe’s family, and it’s been a big hit.”

Joe and Patricia Cunha have been living in Riverhead for about 20 years. “I wanted to keep it close to home,” Joe Cunha said. “When we first saw this property about a year ago, I knew it was the right spot.”

Although moonshine has been in Cunha’s family for many decades, this is the couple’s first time venturing into a distillery business. Joe has primarily made his living in the construction industry before he decided last year to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, a lot of running around, but it’s finally coming down to the wire,” Patricia Cunha said. “We’re very excited to see what people think.”

The Cunhas hope to open in about a month.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Long Island Bootleggers is located in Baiting Hollow.