The BHAKTA-GRISWOLD Experience

Reviving Old PLaces

Though our ambitions in the realm of fine spirits are vast, we see beyond the ephemeral. Field by field, stone by stone, we are revitalizing farms, businesses, and communities.

Chateau Bhakta

Built before the French Revolution, Château BHAKTA is an historic 18th century manor and chai in the heart of France’s Armagnac region. The property most recently passed through five generations of the noble Ryst-Dupeyron family. Now, in its first generation of Bhaktas, Raj has begun the painstaking task of restoring the baroque glory (and yes, a touch of ostentation) to the abode of the oldest spirits known to man.

The BHAKTA-Griswold Campus

Founded as a college in 1834—and most recently operating under the name of “Green Mountain College,” the campus closed its doors in 2019. With 22 buildings comprising over 400,000 square feet set on over 130 acres in the bucolic foothills of the Green Mountains, this historic campus has evolved into a one-of-a-kind experiential destination for the spirits industry.

BHAKTA Ranch

Initially developed by Dutch immigrants after World War II as a flower farm—including a sophisticated set of dykes and berms patterned after those used in Holland— The BHAKTA Ranch is located in Vero Beach, Florida. Its 900 acres are home to more than 500 cattle (and countless alligators and wild hogs). Raj is developing the property into a “cane to glass” rum distillery.

The Rich Farm

Established in 1781, the Rich Farm in Shoreham (named for its founder Thomas Rich) encompasses 700 acres of rolling fields and woodlots in Vermont’s Champlain Valley. Once the prosperous home of an innovative agriculturalist and five-term U.S. Congressman, it had fallen into disrepair. Today, the grand farmhouse has been restored and the fields planted with grapes and grain.