Cheryl founded Delaware Phoenix in 2009. She was the first women-owned distillery and the first absinthe maker in New York since the absinthe ban was lifted in 2007.

Tianna began collaborating with Cheryl to grow ingredients for the distillery at Lucky Dog Farm in 2011. She continued to grow for Cheryl when she and Walter Riesen began Star Route Farm in 2015; and then, in 2018, we dedicated our home garden in the Charlotte Valley to her distillery. Tianna and Cheryl’s camaraderie laid the foundation for conversations about us continuing the distillery as Cheryl approached retirement.

In 2018, she took us both on officially as apprentices to make the transition over the next three years. As time went on, she opened up to us more and more - both in how to run a distillery and in life.

She had many pursuits that went beyond her mastery of distilling: A devout Buddhist, she taught herself Tibetan to translate prayers and hand-make prayer books for her local monastery. She was ranked #2 for women over 65 and #10 for women over 50 by the U.S. Chess Federation with a rating of 1736. Her past careers were equally impressive: She was a front-end developer for the Apple 1 computer; wrote code to sequence genes during the early days of the Human-Genome project; then dropped out and became a prolific water-color painter living in a yurt in New Mexico. When she moved to New York, she tried her hand farming at Stone and Thistle Farm, an organic livestock farm, before starting Delaware Phoenix. As we continued to work together, our friendship felt more like family.

It’s not often you get to experience a person who embodies the steadfast pursuit of compassion for others, the quality in making something beautiful, and the politics of punk.

In 2021, she suffered a fatal heart-attack. Her ashes are now buried beneath the wormwood in our garden, along with her two cats and dog from previous years. We re-homed two of her other cats and continue to live with Tom, her ancient outdoor cat - who has slowly ventured to indoor life.

With no will and testament in her name, we began what became a two year bureaucratic slog to get the distillery running again. The outpouring of love and support we received after Cheryl’s passing, from personal letters to comments made in all corners of the internet has been heart-warming. It’s what has kept us going despite myriad setbacks.