Decades ago Lyon Mountain was known for producing some of the purest iron ore in the world. Now the northern Adirondack community has another claim to fame, as home to the largest birch-sap and -syrup producer in the world. And not just the largest, but one of the best. Last year, Forest Farmers’ New Leaf Tree Syrups won first place at the World Birch Sap Festival, in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Yes, that’s a thing.)
CEO Michael Farrell, who cofounded the business in 2016, was formerly the director of Uihlein Forest, Cornell University’s sugar maple research station in Lake Placid. His 10,000-acre operation—about 7,000 in the Adirondacks and another 3,000 in Vermont—looks beyond maple to sustainably harvest birch, beech and butternut sap as well. Its state-of-the-art steam evaporator, which produces 800…