WhistlePig founder Raj Peter Bhakta donates Vermont college campus to Christian groups
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The founder of a Vermont-based whiskey brand wants to give away a college campus he bought during the war — as long as the new owner shares his vision for “the renewal of our country and our civilization.”
Raj Peter Bhakta is offering to donate the defunct Green Mountain College campus in Poultney, Vermont — a property he estimates will cost $200 million to rebuild — to a Catholic or Christian institution that shares the same belief that a return to Western civilization “is predicated on a spiritual revival.”
The founder of WhistlePig and Bhakta Spirits, 50, credits his entry into the industry to President Donald Trump — who fired Bhakta when he was a contestant on the second season of “The Apprentice.”
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“I got into the whiskey business at the behest of the president of the United States,” Bhakta told Fox News Digital.
After a failed convention involving an elephant and a mariachi band, he found himself “dead alone and alone” on a rundown Vermont farm during the 2008 recession. Identifying a gap in the premium American whiskey market, he founded WhistlePig.
Raj Peter Bhakta, founder of Bhakta Spirits, is donating the campus formerly known as Green Mountain College after purchasing it in 2020. (Bhakta Spirits)
Despite the rise of the brand, Bhakta’s time at WhistlePig ended in a high-profile business dispute.
After a dispute with the company’s board, Bhakta sold his stake in WhistlePig in 2019, according to his website, and “began a sabbatical to seek new discoveries in the world of spirits.”
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Armed with the profits from his travels, Bhakta launched his namesake spirits company in 2020.
Bhakta then turned his attention to what he described as the “great, great tragedy” of American higher education. In the summer of 2020, amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 shutdown, he purchased the shuttered campus of Green Mountain College at auction for $4.5 million. That was much lower than its original price of $20 million.
“There is a deep, very important need in this country, and that is to return to our Christian roots.”
“I bought this place, and I quickly learned that starting college was more difficult than I thought at first, especially when I started to start a new life,” she said.
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His vision for the campus is based on the belief that the nation’s values are collapsing and that technological or secular fixes are not enough.
“There is a deep, very important need in this country, to return to our Christian roots,” Bhakta said.
A partial view of the Green Mountain College campus in Vermont is shown. Bhakta bought it a year after the school closed. (Bhakta Spirits)
Although he initially intended to lead the new institute himself, Bhakta is now scouting for “credible beneficiaries” who have the “do-able” power to realize his vision.
His first preference is the Catholic institution – followed by the Christian group.
“And if I don’t find one of those, I’ll sell it,” he added. “But I don’t think I’ll have to sell it.”
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Green Mountain College closed in 2019, citing declining enrollment. It was one of three private colleges in Vermont that closed that year, along with Southern Vermont College and the College of St.
Sarah Pelkey, former director of community development for the city of Poultney, told The Associated Press in 2020 that Green Mountain College is “a beautiful place, a beautiful campus — and someone has been robbed.”
Green Mountain College closed due to declining enrollment in 2019. (Bhakta Spirits)
Fox News Digital reached out to Pelkey, who recently left his position to join the Chamber & Economic Development of the Rutland Region, for further comment.
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A Bhakta is firm about his beliefs.
“We’ve had two big events in this country before, and I think we’re at the dawn, God willing, of a third big awakening,” said Bhakta.
“And that hopefully, by the grace of God, will lead to the revival of this great country and this great civilization.”
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He added, “That, in fact, is worth fighting for.”
His website notes, among other things: “We know that humanity’s greatest achievements come from humility and service, and that humility and service are at the heart of our destiny.”
