Craft Spirits January/February 2024

VOL. 6, ISSUE 1 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024

CRAFT SPIRITS

MATURATION

BEYOND OAK BARRELS

RAW MATERIALS

ALTERNATIVE GRAINS

THE ART, SCIENCE AND BUSINESS OF DISTILLING

THE DRINK YOU SEE IS ALCOHOL-FREE

ZERO-ABV SPIRITS, LOW- & NO-PROOF COCKTAILS, & MORE

A PUBL ICATION OF THE AMERICAN CR AF T SPIRITS ASSOCIATION

CONTENTS

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024

30

FEATURES 30

Aiming Low Though still just a fragment of the industry, low- and no-alcohol spirits and cocktails are increasing their presence in craft distillers’ portfolios.

BY KATE BERNOT

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36

MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS Getting to Know ACSA Member Producers Profiles on Blaum Bros. Distilling Co., Du Nord Social Spirits and Tobacco Barn Distillery

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DISTILLING DESTINATIONS Volunteers Welcome Craft distillers in Tennessee embrace historic roots while forging new paths.

BY JOHN HOLL

Cover photography: Nole Garey

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DEPARTMENTS

23

10

Editor’s Note

11

Contributors

NEW SPIRITS 12

Recent releases from Catoctin Creek Distilling Co., Garrison Brothers Distillery and more

IMBIBER’S BOOKSHELF 16 INDUSTRY UPDATE 18

48

Montanya Distillers Acquired by Team with Deep Ties to Distillery

LEW’S BOTTOM SHELF 26

Allies: The Boilermaker and His Helper

BY LEW BRYSON

ACSA AFFAIRS 28 Craft Spirits Producers Sold More than 14 Million Cases in 2023 Study Nominations Open for ACSA Board of Directors

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DATA DISTILLED 35

The Zero-ABV Spirits Market

WHAT’S STIRRING 48

Flavorful concoctions from ACSA members

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RETAIL: ON-PREMISE 52 The Sipping Scene

Exploring the wide world of bars and tasting rooms

MATURATION 54

Wood’s Expanding World of Flavor New wood varieties and processes are opening up new possibilities for craft distillers.

BY ANDREW KAPLAN

PACKAGING 58 Top Gear

A look at some of the latest innovations in bottle closures

BY JEFF CIOLETTI

RAW MATERIALS 60

Cereal Entrepreneurs Adventures and misadventures with alternative grains

BY JEFF CIOLETTI

MENTAL HEALTH 64

Intentional Acts of Kindness

60

BY MATT VOGL

LEGAL CORNER 66

Trade Practice Checkup A new year is a good time to create or update your company’s policies and procedures.

BY ALISON HERMAN

SNAPSHOTS 67

Images from Tobacco Barn Distillery

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CRAFT SPIRITS MAGAZINE C EO, A M E R I C A N C R A F T S P I R I T S A S S O C I AT I O N | Margie A.S. Lehrman, margie@americancraftspirits.org E D I TO R I N C H I E F | Jeff Cioletti, jeff@americancraftspirits.org S E N I O R E D I TO R | Jon Page, jon@americancraftspirits.org A RT D I R EC TO R | Michelle Villas M E D I A S A L E S R E P R E S E N TAT I V E | Annette Schnur, sales@americancraftspirits.org CO N T R I B U TO R S | Kate Bernot, Lew Bryson, Alison Herman, John Holl, Andrew Kaplan and Matt Vogl AMERICAN CRAFT SPIRITS ASSOCIATION I T S T R AT EG I S T A N D T EC H N O LO G Y I M P L E M E N TAT I O N M A N AG E R | Akshay Anikhindi, akshay@americancraftspirits.org E D U C AT I O N M A N AG E R | Kirstin Brooks, kirstin@americancraftspirits.org D I R EC TO R , M A R K E T I N G A N D M E M B E R S H I P | Anna Klainbaum, anna@americancraftspirits.org A D M I N I S T R AT I V E AS S I S TA N T | Albab Melaku, albab@americancraftspirits.org D I R EC TO R O F M E E T I N G S & E V E N T S | Stephanie Sadri, stephanie@americancraftspirits.org ACSA ADVISORS S T R AT EG I C CO M M U N I C AT I O N S | Alexandra S. Clough, GATHER PR L EG A L | Ryan Malkin, Malkin Law, P.A. P U B L I C P O L I C Y | Jim Hyland, The Pennsylvania Avenue Group S TAT E P O L I C Y | Michael Walker, The Walker Group, LLC ACSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS, 2023-2024 P R E S I D E N T | Gina Holman, J. Carver Distillery (MN) V I C E P R E S I D E N T | Kelly Woodcock, Westward Whiskey (OR) S EC R E TA RY/ T R E A S U R E R | Jessica J. Lemmon, Cart/Horse Distilling (PA) EAST Jordan Cotton, Cotton & Reed (DC) Becky Harris, Catoctin Creek Distilling Co. (VA) Jessica J. Lemmon, Cart/Horse Distilling (PA) Tom Potter, New York Distilling Co. (NY) Colin Spoelman, Kings County Distillery (NY) Jaime Windon, Windon Distilling Co. (MD)

CENTRAL & MOUNTAIN Gina Holman, J. Carver Distillery (MN) Colin Keegan, Santa Fe Spirits (NM) Amber Pollock, Backwards Distilling Company (WY) Mark A. Vierthaler, Whiskey Del Bac (AZ) Thomas Williams, Delta Dirt Distillery (AR)

PACIFIC Lucy Farber, St. George Spirits (CA) Jeff Kanof, Copperworks Distilling Co. (WA) Kelly Woodcock, Westward Whiskey (OR)

EX OFFICIO Thomas Jensen, New Liberty Distillery (PA)

ACSA PAST PRESIDENTS 2 0 2 0 -2 0 2 3 | Becky Harris, Catoctin Creek Distilling Co. 2 0 1 8 -2 0 2 0 | Chris Montana, Du Nord Craft Spirits 2 0 1 7-2 0 1 8 | Mark Shilling, Genius Liquids/Big Thirst 2 0 1 6 -2 0 1 7 | Paul Hletko, FEW Spirits 2 0 1 4 -2 0 1 6 | Tom Mooney, House Spirits

ACSA PAC Jordan Cotton, Cotton & Reed (DC)

CRAFT SPIRITS MAGAZINE EDITORIAL BOARD Lew Bryson, Alexandra Clough, Sly Cosmopoulos, Kamilah Mahon, Prof. Dawn Maskell, Teri Quimby For advertising inquiries, please contact sales@americancraftspirits.org.

For editorial inquiries or to send a news release, contact news@americancraftspirits.org.

P.O. Box 470, Oakton, VA 22124 © 2024 CRAFT SPIRITS magazine is a publication of the American Craft Spirits Association.

REGISTER NOW!

DENVER, COLORADO FEBRUARY 26-28, 2024 ACSA’S 11TH ANNUAL

DISTILLERS’ CONVENTION & VENDOR TRADE SHOW

Thank You, Sponsors!

ABE Equipment

ABE Equipment will drive cutting-edge innovations and industry-leading service to ensure entrepreneurs can maximize their opportunities to succeed. Our parent company is Norland International, a leading supplier of turn-key beverage equipment and more. abeequipment.com

ABM Equipment

ABM Equipment has been the leading provider of integrated grain handling solutions to craft distilling spaces for nearly 30 years. Their unique value proposition is “sturdy, creative layouts that are built to move and scale with your space.” abmequipment.com

Amoretti

Amoretti specializes in super concentrated natural infusions for artisan craft beverages.

Amoretti sources the freshest and tastiest fruits, herbs, spices and more, paying attention to quality and consistency to ensure an impeccable, consistent brew in every barrel. amoretti.com

The Barrel Mill

The Barrel Mill is a familyowned cooperage specializing in premium white oak aging barrels, infusion spirals, and more. Our products are made from the finest materials we can find, hand-selected, hand-crafted, and aged to perfection. thebarrelmill.com

Berlin Packaging

Berlin Packaging, the only Hybrid Packaging Supplier® of plastic, glass and metal containers & closures, supplies billions of items annually, along with package design, financing, consulting, warehousing and logistics services. berlinpackaging.com

Fermentis

FIVE x 5 Solutions

Glencairn Crystal

Harvest Hosts

Malkin Law

MGP

Moonshine University

Park Street

Strategic Sourcing Hub

Supercap

Tapì

Thousand Oaks Barrel Co.

Fermentis is an agile and expanding company, dedicated to fermented beverages. It is a unit of Lesaffre Group, global key player in yeast for over 160 years. Our roots are strong while having an audacious spirit. As things happen during the fermentation … our goal is to discover them in terms of taste, flavor and pleasure. fermentis.com/en/

Malkin Law focuses on serving the needs of the alcohol beverage industry.

We regularly assist with licensing, review of industry specific agreements, trade practices and navigating state laws. Malkin Law is also honored to be Legal Counsel for ACSA. malkinlawfirm.com

The Strategic Sourcing Hub specializes in globally sourcing high-quality bulk and barreled aged spirits. With expertise in overseas importing and exporting logistics, contract packaging and new make distillation, The Strategic Sourcing Hub is a comprehensive creative solutions partner. strategicsourcinghub.com

FIVE x 5 Solutions believes that distillery software should scale with you.

We’re more than a service provider: we’re a committed partner in your distillery’s success and take pride in providing the most complete solution for your growing operation. We take your business as seriously as you do.

Fx5solutions.com

At MGP, every step of creating a premium distilled bourbon, whiskey, rye, gin and vodka is guided by a passion bordering on obsession. We tirelessly collaborate with our partners, regardless of size, to develop and consistently produce the exact flavor profile that’s right for their brand. And for their discerning consumers. mgpingredients.com/distilled-spirits

Supercap has been producing closures for spirits since 1999. We are present in the United States with a great sales network with partners and agents, thus being able to help and advise you in the choice of the best stopper for your spirits. supercap.it

Glencairn Crystal is a leading manufacturer of bespoke crystal and glass. For over three decades, this family business, based in Scotland, has gained an international reputation for fine crystal and glassware. Best known for the creation of the Glencairn Glass, the official glass for whisky. glencairn.co.uk

The nation’s premier educational distillery, bringing together specialists from every facet of the industry to provide education, training and professional services to start-ups and existing companies. Moonshine University is housed next door to sister company Flavorman, an international custom beverage development company. moonshineuniversity.com

Tapì is an international group specializing in the design and production of miniature packaging design masterpieces. Our closures are based on cutting-edge functionality and technology, with an exclusive style that elegantly showcases each product. tapigroup.com

Harvest Hosts connects over 225,000 self-contained RVers to a network of thousands of small businesses (hosts).

Hosts simply offer RVers a one-night stay on their property, and, in return, RVers patronize the business while spending the night. Our program is a cost-free opportunity and 100% of the money spent onsite goes straight to the Host. harvesthosts.com

Park Street delivers productivityenhancing and cost-saving back-office solutions, advisory services, working capital, compliance management, export solution, integrated accounting and human resources management solutions. parkstreet.com

Thousand Oak Barrel Co. manufactures barrels to age and serve your spirits. All products offer a variety of options for customizing and branding with your personalized design.

1000oaksbarrel.com

The American Craft Spirits Association would like to thank all of our annual sponsors and our key supporters of education. We are grateful for all of your support throughout the year. Cheers!

Briess Malt & Ingredients Co.

BSG Distilling

Since 1876, we’ve been supplying the highest quality malts in the industry. We’ve developed the most extensive line of specialty malts in the world. We provide everything from malts to pure malt extracts, brewers flakes and filtering aids. briess.com

BSG Distilling has been focused on supplying distillers with the best ingredients from around the world. Today, the craft distilling market trusts BSG Distilling to deliver the finest ingredients at competitive prices, without sacrificing customer service. bsgdistilling.com

Independent Stave Co.

ISTS

We’ve been in this industry for over 100 years, during which time we’ve learned a thing or two about what makes a great barrel to age great spirits. Partnering with distillers, we think outside the box to develop new products that push your vision forward. iscbarrels.com

ISTS makes workplaces safer, employees ready and compliance uncomplicated. ISTS has extensive experience working with the spirits industry, so our programs are totally customized to address your site. istsky.com

Chevalier Casks

Chevalier Casks is a distributor of high-end wine and whiskey casks and a broker of bulk spirits. chevaliercasks.com

Kason Corporation

Kason Corporation is the industry-leading global spent grain processing equipment manufacturer that distilleries can count on for efficiency, cost savings and reducing waste and disposal costs. kason.com

CIE

CIE is a state-of-the-art, 75 million wine gallon, beverage and industrial graded, commercial scale, alcohol facility located in Marion, Indiana. CIE supplies pure and denatured alcohols to a wide range of customers. cie.us

Kraftwork

Kraftwork provides inexpensive and eco-friendly in-store displays for the beverage industry. Brands can choose from our extensive library of stock designs or request a custom design that is specific to their capacity or promotional needs. kraftwork.com

Deutsche Beverage + Process

Deutsche Beverage + Process specializes in creating cuttingedge custom and automated distilling equipment to enhance the quality and consistency of your craft spirits and beverages while increasing operations efficiency. deutschebeverage.com

Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits

The leader in supplying fermentation products and services to the distilled spirits industry, we specialize in the research, development, production, and marketing of yeast, yeast nutrients, enzymes, and bacteria. lallemanddistilling.com

S PECIFIC

brewing distilling

Saverglass

Saverglass provides for premium and super-premium spirits, still & sparkling wines and craft beers. Recognized for its innovation, its glass-making expertise and the quality of its glass, products and designs, Saverglass is the partner of choice. saverglass.com

True Essence Foods

Soderstrom Architects

Soderstrom Architects’ Ferar Wine & Spirits Studio has been involved in the design and master planning of more than 70 wineries and distilleries.

Our studio was founded with a passion for design that conveys the special sense of place inherent in the site. sdra.com

True Essence Foods is a technology company with proprietary solutions that meet the needs and solve the diverse challenges of customers in the spirits industry. We provide impact by improving product quality and flavor and maximizing resources and sustainability. trueessencefoods.com

Ultra Pure

Sovos ShipCompliant

Sovos ShipCompliant has been the leader in automated alcohol beverage compliance tools for more than 15 years, providing a full suite of cloudbased solutions to distilleries, wineries, breweries, cideries, importers, distributors and retailers. sovos.com/shipcompliant

Signature Spirits, a division of Ultra Pure, is the leading independent supplier of bulk spirits in the U.S. and has the largest selection of alcohols stocked across its nine warehouses.

We supply approximately 1,000 distilleries and brand owners with virtually every type of alcohol. ultrapure-usa.com

Specific Mechanical Systems

Steric Systems

Since 1984, Specific Mechanical Systems has handcrafted brewing and distilling systems for the craft beer and spirits industries, in addition to supplying various industries with complex processing equipment. specificmechanical.com

Whalen Insurance

Whalen Insurance is a second-generation insurance agency owned and operated by Peter Whalen. He started a program for craft breweries in the mid 1980s and expanded to craft distilleries almost 10 years ago. It provides all property and liability coverages needed to safely operate a distillery. whaleninsurance.com

The Steric Systems PureSmooth process is a method of “polishing” distilled spirits to reduce alcohol burn, open up and balance flavors, and improve mouth feel.

It works on both aged and unaged spirits. stericsystems.com

WV Great Barrel Co.

The best-performing whiskey barrel on the market, precision built in the heart of Appalachia. Infrared toast and controlled char standard on every barrel. wvgbc.com/

Editor’s Note

ZERO HOUR? If you would’ve told me five years ago when we were starting this magazine that we’d be featuring zero-ABV spirits on the cover, I probably would’ve said, “I think you’ve got us confused with another publication.” But here we are.

And the reason we’ve chosen the low- and no-ABV movement as our centerpiece feature for this edition— expertly written by one of our top regular contributors, Kate Bernot—wasn’t so much about the changing consumer habits that have been a key driver for the nascent non-alcoholic spirits segment. Consumers have been embracing healthier lifestyles and moderation—all good things—for decades and I’d been reporting on that for about as long.

The topic is gracing our cover because it has recently become clearer where these products fit in within the context of our industry.

In short, they’re not as much about specific consumer demographics as they are about the varied occasions within a legal drinking age consumer’s imbibing activities.

Anecdotally, many consumers have integrated it into their regular nights out—and not just on the evenings that they’re choosing not to drink. They may alternate between a full-strength-spirit-based cocktail and a zero-ABV mocktail over the course of a happy hour or dinner. Or, they could be dividing up their weekend bar outings—Fridays might be mocktail night and Saturdays might be cocktail night, or vice versa. And then, of course, there are all of the age-old reasons to abstain: pregnancy, designated driving, medication that precludes alcohol consumption, work commitments—you name it.

Additionally, some zero-ABV spirits companies have designed lower-ABV riffs on classic cocktails. At Bar Convent Berlin last October, a speaker showcased a concoction called a Low-groni, where the gin was swapped out in favor of an alcohol-free version of the botanical spirit, while the Campari and vermouth remained intact. It didn’t eliminate the alcohol content,

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but it reduced it dramatically.

The point is that responsible consumption doesn’t have to be about the absence of beverage alcohol products, but the presence of something innovative.

From a value standpoint, it can be additive, rather than subtractive.

And that’s where the opportunity lies for craft producers. The craft spirits industry is all about innovation and choice—and non-alc spirits represent one more choice to add to your repertoire, making social gatherings more inclusive for those who might otherwise exclude themselves. It makes the hospitality industry a bit more hospitable.

Having said that, zero-ABV spirits remain a drop within a drop within a drop in the bucket—just a tenth of a percentage point of the entire spirits industry, according to NielsenIQ. That share has grown rapidly year over year, but it’ll likely be the end of the decade before they represent 1%of the market. And it would likely be a minuscule fraction of a craft spirits producer’s overall sales, if that producer were to choose to play in the space. It would, however, be an opportunity to challenge the small handful of brands that dominate the modest space. There’s a real “Emperor’s New Clothes” aspect to some of them, to put it politely, and they’re ripe for disruption from craft.

If anyone’s not going to phone it in, it’s our industry. ■

Jeff Cioletti Editor in Chief

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Contributors

Lew Bryson has been writing about beer and spirits full-time since 1995. He was the managing editor of Whisky Advocate from 1996 through 2015, where he also wrote the American Spirits column, and reviewed whiskeys. He is currently a Senior Drinks Writer for the Daily Beast, and also writes for WhiskeyWash.com, American Whiskey and Bourbon+. He is the author of “Tasting Whiskey” (Storey Publishing, 2014), a broad survey of the whiskeys of the world, their history and manufacture. He has also written four regional brewery guidebooks.

Kate Bernot is a reporter covering beer, food and spirits. She regularly contributes to Sightlines and Craft Beer & Brewing; her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Imbibe and elsewhere.

She is a BJCP-certified beer judge and the director of the North American Guild of Beer Writers. She lives in Missoula, Montana.

Matt Vogl is an internationally-recognized mental health advocate and a rarely-recognized standup comic. Matt has spoken on mental health across the globe, including Stanford and Harvard and a well-received TEDx Talk. Matt founded and ran mental health organizations such as the University of Colorado’s Depression Center, the National Mental Health Innovation Center, and he’s currently the founder/CEO of VXVY Mental Health. As a comic, Matt has performed at clubs and venues across the country.

John Holl is a journalist covering the beer industry. He’s the author of several books including “Drink Beer, Think Beer: Getting to the Bottom of Every Pint” and “The American Craft Beer Cookbook.” He is the co-host of the podcast Steal This Beer, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wine Enthusiast and more. John has lectured on the culture and history of beer and judged beer competitions around the world.

Andrew Kaplan is a freelance writer based in New York City. He was managing editor of Beverage World magazine for 17 years and has worked for a variety of other food and beverage-related publications, and also newspapers. Follow him on Twitter @andrewkap.

Alison Herman is an attorney with more than 29 years of experience in the alcohol beverage industry. She joins Malkin Law as Of Counsel to help expand the firm’s regulatory trade practice. Herman spent the past 15 years with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits as general counsel and then as senior counsel of regulatory and compliance.

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New Spirits

Purcellville, Virginia-based Catoctin Creek Distilling Co. is celebrating its 15th anniversary on Feb. 14. The distillery—owned by husband and wife team Scott and Becky Harris—will mark the milestone by unveiling its most mature release to date, the six-year-old Rabble Rouser Bottled-in-Bond Rye Whisky.

Distilled exclusively from 100% rye during the fall season of 2017 and bottled in bond, this 100-proof expression of Rabble is blended from the first set of 53-gallon charred, new oak barrels used by the company for maturing their signature rye whisky.

Eugene, Oregon-based Wolf Spirit Distillery announced the fifth release in its award-winning Puncher’s Chance Bourbon portfolio of whiskeys. Puncher’s Chance THE UNIFIED BELT is a limited-release, three-cask blend of fine bourbon and Irish whiskey, serving as the follow up to Puncher’s Chance THE UNDISPUTED Bourbon.

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Hye, Texas-based Garrison Brothers Distillery is proud to announce the release of 2024 Guadalupe.

This award-winning bourbon whiskey finished in a port wine barrel will release on Feb. 3 at the distillery and become available nationwide by the end of February.

Wyoming Whiskey of Kirby, Wyoming, released its fourth national batch of Barrel Strength Bourbon, its most elusive offering.

Aged for five years, the whiskey is bottled at 122.4 proof and offers a distinct flavor profile that reflects its Wyoming origin. The distillery also released its 96-proof Single Barrel Bourbon in Wyoming and select U.S. markets.

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New Spirits

Denver-based bottled cocktail company Uncle Tim’s Cocktails is releasing its newest ready-to-drink craft cocktails. The series evokes warmth with flavors like maple and clove, but allows each taster to find what they love. The Old Fashioned Series is the third in its line of three-bottle tasting sets, adding to its current Negroni and Manhattan offerings, and includes three variations on this timeless recipe: a Classic Old Fashioned, Gin Old Fashioned and Maple (Rum) Old Fashioned.

Louisville, Kentucky-based Rabbit Hole Distillery announced the release of Amburana, a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey finished in new Brazilian oak barrels. Amburana is the latest release in the brand’s highly coveted Founder’s Collection and is 125.4 proof.

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Following a successful launch in the U.K., Never Say Die Bourbon is returning home to make its highly anticipated U.S. debut after re-importing several thousand cases of its bottled whiskey. The 95-proof spirit has truly blazed a trail as the first Kentucky Bourbon to be both ocean-aged on a six-week trip across the Atlantic, and then further matured in barrels in England where it is bottled.

Seattle-based Copperworks Distilling Co. introduced the 100-proof Copperworks Barleywine Cask American Single Malt Whiskey. “Our latest special whiskey release is our first collaboration with Seattle’s Urban Family Brewing Co.,” said Copperworks Distilling co-founder, co-owner and president Jason Parker. “This seven-year-old American single malt whiskey was finished in a cask that previously held Copperworks American Single Malt Whiskey and Urban Family’s Treehouse in the City Barleywine.”

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New Spirits

Los Angeles-based Broken Barrel Whiskey Co. has introduced Honey Smoke Reserva, which builds off its immensely popular Honey Smoke Rye released last year.

This new offering features a Kentucky-distilled American whiskey aged for six years, finished for five months using 50% honey barrel staves and 50% Texas sotol barrel staves, and bottled at 110 proof

Central Standard Craft Distillery co-founders Evan Hughes and Pat McQuillan announced that the latest release in the Milwaukee distillery’s Brewmasters Brandy Series was a familiar one: a “re-collaboration” with Hofbräu München, the renowned 400-plus-year-old brewery. The beer brandy combines Central Standard’s North Brandy with Hofbräu’s doppelbock seasonal special Hofbräu Delicator.

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Sugarlands Distilling Co. of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, announced the latest addition to its award-winning portfolio of craft spirits. Created in collaboration with Mark Ramsey and Eric “Digger” Manes, stars of the hit television show “Moonshiners,” Mark and Digger’s Mountain Legacy Corn Whiskey is an homage to classic homemade spirits that once thrived in secrecy all over Appalachia. Mark and Digger’s Mountain Legacy Corn Whiskey is a 120-proof, unaged whiskey crafted from a traditional mash bill using corn sourced from Mark and Digger’s native Tennessee.

Maverick Distilling of San Antonio announced the launch of Samuel Maverick Straight Triticale Whiskey BottledIn-Bond. The extremely limited release from a single barrel marks the first ever bottled-in-bond whiskey from the distillery. The 100-proof spirit was distilled in April 2019 and aged in Maverick’s subterranean bank vault for a minimum of four years.

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New Spirits

Columbus, Ohio-based Watershed Distillery released batch four of its beloved Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Nocino Barrels. This 120.9-proof spirit is part of the Watershed Distillery Fall Finishing Series, a celebration of the flavors and feelings inspired by autumn. Aged five years and bottled at barrel strength, this bourbon is crafted by hand-selecting a small number of mature bourbons and then finishing them in barrels that previously held Nocino, the distillery’s black walnut liqueur offering.

Blanco, Texas-based Milam & Greene Whiskey introduced its fifth and final release in the 2023 Wildlife Collection,the 131.2-proof White-Tailed Buck Single Barrel Bourbon, a limited-edition, caskstrength bourbon. Each release in the Milam & Greene Wildlife Collection highlights how the weather in the Texas Hill Country impacts the aging process of their whiskey and honors the local Texas wildlife that thrives in this challenging environment.

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Bend, Oregon-based 10 Barrel Brewing announced the release of White Out, a canned White Russian made without dairy. Ben Shirley, the mastermind behind the 13.9% ABV White Out, set out to create something traditional White Russian drinkers would love, but with a modern twist that appeals to more people. “After experimenting with a ton of different ingredients, including milks and milk substitutes, oat milk stood out for having a more pronounced flavor we were looking for along with right texture for this type of cocktail,” said Shirley.

Thompsonville, Michiganbased Iron Fish Distillery has announced a new release in its Arctic Grayling Whiskey Series.

The series celebrates the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative, nearly 50 organizations working since 2016 to restore selfsustaining populations of Arctic Grayling in Michigan rivers. The five-year-old whiskey is distilled from 95% rye grain grown on the Iron Fish Farm and 5% northern Michigan barley malted at Great Lakes Malting Co. in Traverse City. The label features a beautifully hand drawn Grayling print by Michigan artist Dani Knoph.

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Imbiber's Bookshelf

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Every Cocktail Has a Twist Authors: Carey Jones and John McCarthy Publisher: Countryman Press Release Date: Nov. 7, 2023 Shake up your cocktail routine with this easy-to-follow guide from the authors of “Be Your Own Bartender.” Providing all the tools you need to create delicious new concoctions, this comprehensive collection reconfigures 25 timeless tipples, from Bloody Marys, Daiquirís and Manhattans to Margaritas, Negronis and Old Fashioneds. Whether you’re a new enthusiast or a seasoned expert, these original riffs will transform your go-to drinks.

Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice Author: Toni Tipton-Martin Publisher: Clarkson Potter Release Date: Nov. 14, 2023 “Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice” spotlights the creativity, hospitality, and excellence of Black drinking culture, with classic and modern recipes inspired by formulas found in two centuries’ worth of Black cookbooks. From traditional tipples, such as the Absinthe Frappe or the Clover Leaf Cocktail, to new favorites, like the Jerk-Spiced Bloody Mary and the Gin and Juice 3.0, Toni Tipton-Martin shares a variety of recipes that shine a light on her influences, including under heralded early-20-century icons, like Tom Bullock, Julian Anderson and Atholene Peyton, and modern superstars, such as Snoop Dogg and T-Pain.

The Mocktail Club Author: Derick Santiago Publisher: Adams Media Release Date: Jan. 2 “The Art of Mixology” meets mocktails in this collection of 75 alcoholfree recipes for classic drinks, new flavor concoctions, and twists on old favorites, so you can experience the joy of cocktail creation without the booze. As more and more people embrace alcohol-free options, the range of mocktail recipes continues to grow. From plays on classic cocktails to mocktails to new flavor concoctions, the options are endless.

The Lost History of Tennessee Whiskey Author: Drew Hannush Publisher: Travel Fuels Life LLC Release Date: Dec. 9, 2023 Think Jack and George are the complete story of Tennessee whiskey? Think again. For far too long, the real history and legacy of Tennessee whiskey has been hidden from whiskey fans. It’s a history that not only predates Kentucky Bourbon but also the Whiskey Rebellion. From its early days, it is filled with amazing stories, legends and villains. “The Lost History of Tennessee Whiskey” will take you back to the very origins of the spirit and the state.

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It’s time to STEPUP!

An internship program that is a STEP above the rest Partnering with member distilleries and wholesalers throughout the United States, we provide a comprehensive training program and provide job exposure for those of different races, color, national origins, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations.

LEARN MORE AT STEPUPINTERNSHIP.ORG

Industry Update

MONTANYA DISTILLERS ACQUIRED BY TEAM WITH DEEP TIES TO DISTILLERY After 15 years of breaking barriers, educating and changing perceptions, Montanya Distillers founder and owner Karen Hoskin has sold the Crested Butte, Colorado-based rum brand to CRN Ventures, a team with deep ties to the company.

The new ownership group—consisting of current head distiller Megan Campbell, former head distiller and operations lead Renée Newton, and Houston-based brand strategist Sean W. Richards—plans to build on Montanya’s foundation of exploration, sustainability, diversity and community engagement while continuing its production of award-winning rums with respect to its high-mountain legacy.

Hoskin expressed confidence in the new ownership, stating, “I have spent my 15-year distillery career advocating for better equity and diversity in the spirits industry. These buyers represent one of the most diverse and powerhouse owner teams in craft spirits history to date. They are some of the smartest and most capable people I could ever choose to take the helm. I am so excited to see what they will do together to keep the legacy of Montanya Distillers vibrant and to take the brand to new heights while retaining its values and culture.”

The decision to purchase Montanya Distillers was personal for Newton and Campbell, a culmination of their shared passion for craft distilling and 12 years of hard work producing exceptional spirits under Hoskin. Campbell states, “We are ready to lead with a blend of tradition and innovation. As I embark on this journey with expertise in production, I harmonize crafting spirits with science and art in mind. This trio of new ownership is fueled

by a passion for excellence and a dedication to crafting moments that linger in the heart.”

Newton, whose history with Montanya goes back even further, echoed, “Ten years ago, I never imagined I’d be the owner of Montanya Distillers. From leading events and managing the tasting room to holding the title of head distiller, I’ve journeyed through almost every department of this international company.

Growing up with Montanya has been a dream come true, and now, as an owner, I am thrilled to work alongside Megan and Sean. I am excited to continue the legacy we’ve built, steering Montanya Distillers toward an even brighter future.”

Richards, who was introduced to the two through Hoskin and brings 20 years of brand and cultural marketing experience to the mix, adds, “Our team possesses a wealth of knowledge, spanning distillation, production, marketing and agriculture, which positions us well for our journey ahead. I am honored to play a part in shaping Montanya’s future narrative alongside Megan and Renée. Expanding our reach and engaging both our longstanding supporters and new audiences, while contributing to the story of this Uniquely American Rum.” Hoskin followed up with, “A lot of people have asked me if this feels bittersweet after giving my life’s blood to this company. It doesn’t. It feels 100% sweet. I am so pleased to hand the torch to these amazing folks. It brings my personal goals full circle and it will be great for Montanya.”

The new owners’ plan for the future includes a renewed focus on community engagement, collaborative partnerships,

increased production with innovative new expressions, and limited edition releases. Continuously innovating while remaining true to Montanya’s culture and founding principles, they are committed to consistently delivering award-winning, super-premium rum to the public.

Megan Campbell and Renée Newton

Sean W. Richards and Karen Hoskin

AMERICA’S CREDIT UNION ANNOUNCES DISTILLING, BREWING SCHOLARSHIPS AT SPSCC America’s Credit Union has announced new scholarships that will enhance the lives of students at South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) in Olympia, Washington.

Beginning this spring, two ACU Craft Brewing and Distilling Scholarships will be available to students who are interested in leaping into the exciting and growing industry. With a new branch in the Tumwater Craft District and having financed Heritage Distillery and the SPSCC classrooms there, it’s a natural connection.

“ACU and SPSCC make a perfect team,” says Phil Prothero, ACU president. “We see

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this as an investment in our community.

The students who take advantage of these scholarships will be tomorrow’s entrepreneurs. We want to be part of that future. The seeds of opportunity we plant today bloom into successful businesses and livelihoods of tomorrow.”

In addition to the scholarships, ACU is supporting SPSCC’s athletics programs. “Many of us live in Olympia and Tumwater and we have been anticipating the opportunity to contribute to our community. With a new branch in Tumwater, we will be more involved than ever!” said Prothero.

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Industry Update

GOLDEN MOON DISTILLERY ANNOUNCES PLANS TO SELL Golden Moon Distillery owner and master distiller Stephen Gould has announced plans to sell the promising distillery located in Golden, Colorado. The award-winning distillery will be offered fully equipped including the intellectual property, WIP, finished product and transferrable licensing.

Golden Moon produces award-winning American single malt whiskeys, other whiskies, gin, and other spirits from its Colorado production location, and distributes to 14 states as well as internationally. Golden Moon’s American single malts have all won gold or double-gold medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Golden Moon’s award-winning tasting room, Golden Moon Speakeasy, is offered as part of the sale. The Speakeasy has received numerous accolades including being named as the Best Classic Cocktail Bar in Denver in 2015 and the Gin Bar of the Year (a global award by Icons of Gin / Gin Magazine) in 2021.

“This is a great opportunity for parties interested in continuing to build an established and proven family of whiskey and spirits

brands,” said Eric Weiler, principal of New Mill Capital. “Stephen defines master distiller and the awards he and the Golden Moon team have received are the proof. Stephen is willing to transition, consult and potentially remain on board as the master distiller, which is an incredible advantage for an operator looking to advance in the whiskey and spirits market.”

The distillery has substantial infrastructure in place for continued operations, revenue growth and is in the heart of the craft beverage world in Colorado. Golden Moon is 15-minutes from downtown Denver.

“I have poured so much effort into this project over the last 15 years and want to see Golden Moon Distillery and its brands grow to their potential,” said Gould. “We faced challenges during covid as everyone has in the beverage world, but we emerged even stronger. The reality is that Golden Moon Distillery needs more horsepower to scale and utilize what we’ve already built to reach the company’s full potential. There’s only so much I can do alone as a master distiller and business operator. We have a great runway waiting

for someone with a passion for the distillery business and I’m committed to supporting the venture going forward in any way I can.”

Interested parties may contact Eric Weiler at 312-515-0253 or ericw@newmillcapital.com for more information.

STAGHORN OPENS GARRARD COUNTY DISTILLING CO. IN KENTUCKY Atlanta-based premium spirits company Staghorn is pleased to announce the opening of its first distillery, Garrard County Distilling Co., which has officially begun production in Lancaster, Kentucky. With its towering dual 45 feet tall 36” Vendome Copper and Brass Works column stills, Garrard County Distilling Co. is the largest all-new independent distillery in Kentucky. The $250-plus million project is capable of producing up to 8.5 million proof gallons or 150,000 barrels of whiskey a year, while supporting the local economy with more than 60 new jobs. This is the first commercial distillery in the formerly dry county since the 1800s.

Located 30 minutes south of Lexington, the 210-acre site includes the 50,000-square-foot distillery, as well as two 20,000-square-foot rickhouses, with plans for a total of 24 aging warehouses by 2030,

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each holding nearly 25,000 barrels. A visitor center with tasting room and restaurant is scheduled to open by the end of this year. The company already has nearly 17,000 sourced whiskey barrels aging onsite.

“Staghorn’s vision for Garrard County Distilling Co. is to craft the finest whiskeys and spirits in the world at scale to make an immediate impact in the market,” said Staghorn founder and president Ray Franklin, a near 25-year industry veteran. “To support this goal, we will be hiring nothing but the best in the business, respecting long-honored traditions and craftmanship to assure our products are nothing short of remarkable.”

“Garrard County Distilling Co. is Staghorn’s first distillery and the dedication and size at which they are entering the category is a true testament to the worldwide appeal of bourbon from our great commonwealth,” said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. “Staghorn’s investment is a welcome addition to the Lancaster and Garrard County communities, as well as to Kentucky tourism. I want to thank the company’s leadership for their vision to grow in the commonwealth, contributing to Kentucky’s position as the bourbon capital of the world.”

Garrard County, which was dry until November 2023, was previously home to about 10 small distilleries in the 1800s when it was an important railroad hub for hemp, flour and whiskey. The distillery property was formerly owned by Revolutionary War hero James Speed.

Onsite production will utilize limestone-rich water from the Lancaster Public Spring aquifer, first tapped by settlers in 1776. Whiskey will be crafted using proprietary yeast and grain sourced locally from within 50 miles of the distillery. Barrel resources will be provided by Independent Stave and ZAK Cooperage.

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Industry Update

FOLEY FAMILY WINES NAMES CHIP TATE AS MASTER DISTILLER FOR INNOVATION Foley Family Wines, the Santa Rosa, California-based family-owned wine and spirits company, has announced that Chip Tate has joined the company as master distiller for innovation. Foley Family has continued to increase its footprint in the spirits business since the 2023 acquisition of Minden Mill Distilling, and the U.S. launch of Charles Goodnight Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey and New Zealand Lighthouse Gin. Foley Family made the strategic decision to add spirits to its growing luxury wine portfolio as the total spirits market continues to grow and has reached nearly 300 million cases as of January 2023.

Chip Tate

“We are honored to have Chip join Foley Family as our spirits portfolio continues to grow and our production at our Minden Mill facility expands,” said Shawn Schiffer, president of Foley Family. “Chip’s reputation and experience using techniques from centuries of distilling tradition and adding his own innovative ideas will help us as we launch our next generation of spirits.”

Best known as the founder of Balcones Distilling, Tate’s career in the spirits industry is a storied journey. Originally from Lynchburg, Virginia, Tate received a philosophy degree from the College of William & Mary and studied theology at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond. In 2002, he followed his wife to Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he served as an assistant dean. The same year, he earned a diploma in brewing and distilling from the Institute of Brewing & Distilling. Since Texas had multiple breweries but no distilleries, Tate turned to whiskey and in 2008 founded Balcones Distilling. Working out of a former welding shop near the Baylor campus, Tate designed and built his own copper pot stills and distillation equipment. He crafted a line of Texas whiskeys including Texas Single Malt Whiskeys, Texas Rye and Baby Blue, an award-winning corn whiskey.

“I am very excited to be joining the Foley Family team,” said Tate.

“As master distiller for innovation, I look forward to expanding Foley’s growing portfolio of spirits, as well as collaborating with the other Foley Family master distillers, Joe O’Sullivan in Minden and Rachel Hall in New Zealand, to create a collection of spirits that set the bar for quality and craftsmanship.”

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Industry Update

CEDAR RIDGE DISTILLERY NAMES SIEFKEN PRESIDENT, MURPHY QUINT MASTER DISTILLER Swisher, Iowa-based Cedar Ridge Distillery recently announced two promotions. Jamie Siefken will assume the role of president and general manager of the privately held distillery and Murphy Quint will assume the master distiller role while continuing in his role as director of operations. Founder Jeff Quint will remain CEO of the company.

“Building Cedar Ridge with my wife Laurie has been the greatest achievement of my career,” says Jeff Quint. “We’re proud we’ve been embraced by the local Iowa community and that our products have won over the taste buds of whiskey enthusiasts across the country.

We’re especially proud our son Murphy will take over as the secondgeneration master distiller and know that the distillery is poised for continued growth under an experienced executive team being led by Jamie Siefken.”

Over the past several years, Cedar Ridge Bourbon has become the best-selling bourbon in Iowa, outperforming all other 750-mL bourbons in terms of sales. Under Siefken’s leadership the sales team has expanded the footprint at retail and is now available on- and off-premise in 32 states, through a strategic partnership with Chopin Imports Limited. During this time, Murphy has also expanded the portfolio with highly sought after limited editions.

“The growth of Cedar Ridge has been remarkable both as a brand and as a destination in Iowa and beyond,” added Jeff Quint.

Under Murphy’s direction, the distillery has expanded its portfolio of award-winning bourbons and introduced The QuintEssential, one of the first American Single Malts launched and the winner of several double gold and gold medals.

“It’s an incredible honor to receive the title of master distiller,” says Murphy. “While this badge bears my name, it wouldn’t exist without the unwavering support and dedication of the entire Cedar Ridge operations team. Their passion fuels mine, and together we’ll write a bold new chapter in our whiskey legacy.”

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Industry Update

RED RIVER DISTILLERY TASTING ROOM OPENS DOORS TO PUBLIC Red River Brewing Co. & Distillery of Red River, New Mexico, has announced the grand opening of its tasting room at 619 E. Main St. The Red River Distillery Tasting Room is open daily from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. and offers a variety of craft cocktails, a bottle shop and gifts for visitors to enjoy.

“We’ve created a cozy and inviting space where customers can sample our award-winning line-up of craft spirits made right here in Red River, including Vodka, Gin, Whiskey, Rum, Bourbon, Rye Whiskey and Sotol,” says Sharon Calhoun, owner and operations manager at Red River Brewing Co. & Distillery. Customers can sample any of the spirits made at the distillery, located in the same building, and purchase bottles of their favorites to take home or as gifts for their friends and family. “We are proud to open our tasting room and invite everyone to come and taste our products. We hope to provide a memorable and enjoyable experience for our customers and become a destination for locals and tourists alike.”

Red River Distillery’s master distiller, Gavin Whealy, said he is thrilled to share his passion for craft spirits with the community. “We’re one of the highest elevation distilleries in the world. The low atmospheric pressure up here means we distill at relatively low temperatures which makes for very smooth and mellow flavor profiles. Plus, as everyone knows, the Red River water we use is really, really good.”

The distillery has won many awards and accolades for its products, including double-gold and gold medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Ascot Awards, San Diego International

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Wine and Spirits Challenge, Los Angeles International Spirits Competition, SIP International Consumer Siping Awards, The Fifty Best and many others.

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Industry Update

MIDDLE WEST SPIRITS COMPLETES DISTILLERY EXPANSION Middle West Spirits has completed a new distillery in Columbus, Ohio, making it one of the largest independent distillers in North America.

The expansion increased distillation capacity by tenfold, adding a state-of-the-art 75,000-square-foot distillery along with grain processing and bottling facilities to supplement the capacity of its original distillery on Courtland Ave. in the Short North District.

The distillery expansion has brought economic benefits to the east side of Columbus, with the reuse and improvements to land and existing structures, tripling the employee base with more additions to come in 2024, plus management of over 25,000 acres of local grain farmland, and bringing additional revenue to the Bexley community.

Middle West Spirits was co-founded in 2008 by head distiller and CEO Ryan Lang and was built on a passion for crafting the highest quality spirits. Lang comes from a family heritage of distilling and agriculture spanning four generations, which inspired his journey to learn every aspect of whiskey making. With over 15 years of experience producing award-winning spirits, the Middle West team has extensive knowledge and now has ample capacity to pay it forward by supporting fellow whiskey makers at any part of their journey, from small batch to large format and seed selection to bottling.

“Along the journey of our own whiskey making development and growth, we have collaborated with partners at every stage and size of the process, from testing to full-scale commercial production. Now that our expansion is complete, we are excited to continue these partnerships and help more fellow distillers by assisting with all aspects of

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whiskey-making while we continue growing and innovating our own brands,” said Lang.

Middle West Spirits currently produces 15 of its own branded products, and its partnership team has collaborated with dozens of companies, such as Horse Soldier and Old Line Spirits, to develop unique products. With the expansion complete, the team is ready to add new partners in need of grain sourcing and processing, state-of the-art distilling, bottling and blending, barrel maturation and finished goods storage aged, barreled and bulk whiskey and fulfillment.

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Industry Update WEST FORK WHISKEY CO. ANNOUNCES CAPITAL RAISE Central Indiana-based whiskey distillery, West Fork Whiskey Co., announced a partnership with Indianapolis-based Ouabache Investments. The additional capital will allow the distillery to dramatically expand production and accelerate growth.

While initial investment totals $3 million, an additional $10-15 million will be spent supporting production contracts and real estate development.

“We are constantly looking for ways to grow our company.

Throughout our history, we’ve had to limit our growth several times due to a lack of inventory. This partnership and investment will allow our company to dramatically expand our whiskey inventory, marketing, and sales, leading to significant expansion,” said Blake Jones, co-founder and co-CEO. “We couldn’t have found a better, locally based, partnership to help us reach our goal of creating world-class whiskey and bourbons here in Central Indiana.”

Just a little over 12 months ago, the company opened a nearly $11 million tourism facility based in Westfield, Indiana, right next to Grand Park Sports Complex. This new funding will also allow West Fork to further develop its land on 191st Street in Westfield.

Additional land development will give the company the ability to host outdoor concerts and improve its tourism experience by breaking ground on a new rackhouse. This new aging facility will give the distillery the ability to highlight how both barrels and the overall aging environment affect the flavor of its bourbon and whiskey.

UNCLE NEAREST’S HBCU OLD FASHIONED CHALLENGE RETURNS TO RAISE $1.4M Shelbyville, Tennessee-based Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey has announced the launch of its second annual HBCU Old Fashioned Challenge, a nationwide initiative to raise funds for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This year’s challenge will see the company work to raise $1.4 million, amounting to one full instate tuition scholarship per accredited HBCU. The initiative kicked off on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and will run through Juneteenth.

In 2023, it was widely reported that federal officials told 16 states that they have been underfunding their HBCUs by nearly $13 billion over the past 30 years, according to an analysis from the U.S. Department of Education. Tennessee—Uncle Nearest’s home state—underfunded its school’s land grants the most, according to the report. Through the Old Fashioned Challenge, Uncle Nearest’s goal is to not only raise money for these institutions but to shine a light on how HBCUs, which make up less than 3% of colleges, have a proven record of removing barriers to degree completion and postgraduate success, with their graduates making up 50% of Black doctors and Black attorneys, 40% of Black engineers and Black members of Congress, and 80% of Black judges.

“Before we sold our first bottle of Uncle Nearest, we were already funding the college education of Nearest Green’s descendants,” said Fawn Weaver, founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest. “Every semester, writing those checks brought me immense joy, knowing the significant impact they would have on each student’s life. This same feeling resurfaced when I began writing tuition checks to HBCUs for our Old Fashioned Challenge.”

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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

lew's bottom shelf

ALLIES: THE BOILERMAKER AND HIS HELPER

BY LEW BRYSON

It’s a rough world; but it’s less so with someone by your side.

I just hosted an event for a distillery’s tasting room that reminded me of the simple appeal of a shot and a beer. Now commonly known as a Boilermaker, in the 1930s, the drink was called a Boilermaker and His Helper.

At least, so we’re told by drinks historian David Wondrich, and I rarely have reason to doubt him.

The event was designed to find three Boilermaker combos at the tasting room for Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey, just up the river from Philadelphia in Bristol. In and around Philly, the Boilermaker has become known as The Citywide Special, so named by Bob & Barbara’s Lounge in the 1990s, when the Citywide was a pounder of PBR and a shot of Beam for $3. It was a primo bang for the buck.

That’s not what the good folks at Dad’s Hat wanted me to come up with. They wanted locally-brewed beers to pair with three of their best-selling rye whiskeys. So I tasted the whiskeys, and thought about what I was tasting, looked at what beers were available, and made my choices.

The Classic: young, dominated by the herbal, grassy rye; pair with a saison’s spicy, earthy character.

The PA Straight: much more oaky caramel and vanilla; pair with a doublebock’s malty sweetness.

The Vermouth Finish: herbal, zippy; pair with a rye IPA for its bitter zest and rye companionship.

Those three are going to be on the tasting room cocktail menu; which is appropriate, because I’ve said that the Boilermaker is the only so-called “beer cocktail” that I’m interested in drinking. At least one of the brewers was also

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interested in bringing in the whiskey to pair with their beer in their establishment.

And that’s finally what we’re here to talk about. Maybe more so than any other drink, the Boilermaker—the Citywide, a beer and a bump—openly represents and encourages cooperation, partnership between two brands, two companies. It’s two drinks, almost always made by different companies, standing on their own, but leaning on each other for mutual aid and enjoyment. The spirit provides power, the beer provides cooling; the spirit provides hot concentration, the beer provides quaffable volume.

It doesn’t have to be whiskey, either. I’ve had brandy and beer, genever and beer, mezcal and beer, and I’ve had a lot of vodka and beer. Admittedly, some of the vodka occasions were ill-advised Depth Charges, when the shot is dropped in the beer, glass and all. I was much, much younger.

The point is that the Boilermaker represents a tailor-made opportunity for co-marketing.

Start by tasting your spirit, tease it apart and find flavors and aromas that make you think of beer: fruit notes, the bitter hint or spicy nose of rye, the cushioned sweetness of malt, the bursting herbal bouquet of botanicals, the vanilla and caramel of oak.

Then think of a beer that would go with that. When I set up the pairings for this event, I had at least three different types of beer that would go with each whiskey, and then went looking through the list of brewers that Dad’s Hat carried at the tasting room, till I found three good candidates that ticked the flavor boxes I had found in the whiskeys.

Then work with your partner on how both of you can sell the pairing. Their customers will learn about your great spirits, and your customers will learn a new way to enjoy the

products they already know about. Synergy.

Worried about the wrong kind of drinkers?

The Boilermaker can be a bit … purposeful, but you can easily slow down the craziness with the right approach. No shot glasses, which encourage slamming the spirit at a gulp among the inexperienced. Try a Glencairn, or an Old Fashioned glass, something that signals to the drinker that this is something to be savored. Serve the beer with some flair: an unexpected glass, like a zombie, or a red wine glass, again a communication to stretch the enjoyment out over several drinks.

Maybe I love this idea so much because I’m constantly switching between beer and whiskey, or so often drinking them together.

The beer will soothe the heat of the spirit; the spirit will punch through the volume of the beer. You need drums and guitar for a driving band, you need gooey cheese and crisp crust for a great pizza.

But I’m also thoroughly convinced of the value of businesses working together, as I said in the very first of these columns. You will each know things the other does not, have capabilities that enhance each other. Whether it’s another distiller or rectifier, a farmer, a candymaker, a coffee roaster, or a brewer, we go farther when we travel together. ■

Lew Bryson has been writing about beer and spirits full-time since 1995. He is the author of “Tasting Whiskey” and “Whiskey Master Class.”

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The beer will soothe the heat of the spirit; the spirit will punch through the volume of the beer.

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ACSA Affairs

CRAFT SPIRITS PRODUCERS SOLD MORE THAN 14 MILLION CASES IN 2023 ECONOMIC STUDY, WITH $7.9 BILLION IN SALES The American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA) and Park Street presented highlights from the 2023 Craft Spirits Data Project (CSDP) at its Annual Craft Spirits Economic Briefing in mid-January. Margie A.S. Lehrman (CEO, ACSA), Gina Holman (President, ACSA and Founding Partner, J. Carver Distillery), and Emily Pennington (Senior Manager, Park Street) shared key sales data and insights from the 2022 calendar year.

According to the report, U.S. craft spirits market volume reached 14 million 9-liter cases in retail sales, growing at an annual rate of 6.1%. In value terms, the market reached $7.9 billion in sales, growing at an annual rate of 5.3%. Also, the number of active craft distillers in the U.S. grew by 2.4% over the last year to 2,753 as of August 2023.

The CSDP, introduced in 2016, is a first-of-its-kind research initiative that aims to provide a solid and reliable fact base for evaluating performance and trends in the U.S. craft spirits industry. The CSDP, which seeks to quantify the number, size, and impact of craft spirits producers in the U.S., is an effort led

by ACSA and Park Street.

SEE THE 2023 CRAFT SPIRITS DATA PROJECT

REGISTER NOW FOR ACSA’S 11TH ANNUAL DISTILLERS’ CONVENTION AND VENDOR TRADE SHOW ACSA’s 11th Annual Distillers’ Convention and Vendor Trade Show is fast approaching! Join us in Denver, Colorado, Feb. 26-28, where our theme, MOVING MOUNTAINS TO HELP YOU SUCCEED, is all about reaching new heights by working together to secure a bright future for craft spirits. You won’t want to miss this convention!

This is the place where producers and the top industry suppliers connect to find solutions to specific business issues and complex challenges within the craft spirits community.

Learn from the industry’s best and brightest, who will share their wisdom. From distillers, owners, marketing teams, front of the house, bottlers, brand managers, and sales teams, to equipment and ingredient purveyors, label designers, packaging experts, insurance and compliance experts, to educators and learners, among others … there’s something for anyone who is invested in craft spirits.

Visit our website to register and learn more about featured events.

Please note that ACSA members must log in to access discounted rates. Need to join or renew? Contact us at membership@americancraftspirits.org.

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR ACSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Do you see problems within the spirits industry? Do you want to commit to helping solve them? Join ACSA’s Board of Directors! We are accepting nominations until Feb. 5, 2024.

LEARN MORE Members of the ACSA Board of ABOUT Directors play an integral role in shaping the craft spirits industry.

NOMINATIONS Throughout a three-year term, each member shares a common goal of carrying out ACSA’s mission to elevate and advocate for the community of craft spirits producers.

The voting membership will elect five board seats in March 2024. ACSA expresses its gratitude for the following directors whose terms will expire upon election and certification of the new board in April 2024: Gina Holman, J. Carver Distillery, MN (Central/Mountain region) Jake Holshue, Spirit Works Distillery, CA (Pacific region) Colin Keegan, Sante Fe Spirits, NM (Central/Mountain region) Jessica J. Lemmon, Cart/Horse Distilling, PA (East region) Tom Potter, New York Distilling Co. NY (East region) For questions, contact ACSA Election Chair, Renee Bemis (Driftless Glen, WI) at renee@ driftlessglen.com.

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ACSA Affairs

JUDGING WRAPS IN DENVER In early January, 24 judges from across the country and from many sectors of the beverage alcohol community brought their expertise to Ironton Distillery & Crafthouse in Denver to evaluate hundreds of entries in ACSA’s annual Craft Spirits Competition.

We’d like to extend our gratitude to all of the judges, stewards (including our friends at The Family Jones and Bear Creek Distillery), judging co-chairs Colton Weinstein and Jeff Wuslich, and of course to Ironton for generously hosting the judging event. All gold silver and bronze medalists, as well as Best in Show, Best in Category and Innovation Award honorees, will be announced during an awards luncheon at ACSA’s 11th Annual Distillers’ Convention and Vendor Trade Show, February 26-28 in Denver.

STEPUP FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES THIRD CLASS OF INTERNS, MENTORS, PARTICIPATING DISTILLERIES AND NEW DONOR PARTNERS ACSA and the Spirits Training Entrepreneurship Program for Underrepresented Professionals (STEPUP Foundation) recently announced its third class.

The 2024 interns include Alexcia Pugh and Erica Paul. Returning once again as a host distillery is Baltimore-based Sagamore Spirit Distillery, along with Black Button Distilling of Rochester, New York. Mentors include Melinda Maddox, production manager for Old Elk Distillery, and Johnny Jeffery, an independent consultant with Feiba Peveli LLC and former master distiller and general manager at Bently Heritage Estate Distillery. Republic National Distributing Co. also returns as a distributor partner.

Newly added donors at the Bricklayer level include: DuNord Foundation, Sagamore Spirit Distillery, Catoctin Creek Distilling Co., Michter’s Fort Nelson Distillery, Westward Whiskey and Prestige-Ledroit Distributing Co. These new contributors join STEPUP’s existing donors like Diageo North America.

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ACSA, ELECTED OFFICIALS HONOR TOBACCO BARN DISTILLERY In December, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, U.S. Congressman and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Kevin M. Atticks joined ACSA CEO Margie A.S. Lehrman in formally honoring Tobacco Barn Distillery with the 2023 Heartland Whiskey Competition’s Top Farmer-Distiller award at Tobacco Barn’s tasting room in Hollywood, Maryland. Tobacco Barn, the inaugural recipient of the Farmer-Distiller award, received a custom wooden plaque produced by Thousand Oaks Barrel Co. of Manassas, Virginia.

“You cannot understand the history of American whiskey without understanding Maryland’s role. The team at Tobacco Barn Distillery has reached back into our history and used it to inspire a new era of leadership in the whiskey business not just here at home, but all across the country,” said Gov. Moore. “I’m proud to support Maryland’s whiskey industry and the excellent work being done across Maryland’s agricultural sector.”

The Heartland Whiskey Competition, generously sponsored by state corn marketing associations, took place last August, in St. Louis. ACSA facilitated the judging process and its recent Board President Chris Montana, owner of Du Nord Social Spirits, served as Judging Director. Judges selected from the Missouri and Illinois spirits industry by ACSA were chosen for their knowledge of craft whiskey.

Read more about Tobacco Barn Distillery in this issue’s Member Spotlights ACSA CEO Margie A.S. Lehrman (left) and former House Majority and see more photos Leader Steny Hoyer (right) with Dan Dawson, Scott Sanders and Sean of the award presenCoogan of Tobacco Barn Distillery tation on page 67.

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Aiming Low Though still just a fragment of the industry, low- and no-alcohol spirits and cocktails are increasing their presence in craft distillers’ portfolios.

BY KATE BERNOT

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PHOTOGRAPHY: (OPPOSITE PAGE) NOLE GAREY

S

ince they hit shelves and back bars roughly six years ago, non-alcoholic spirits have largely come from standalone, start-up companies—not craft distilleries. But in recent years, that’s slowly changing.

There are several reasons craft spirits makers have taken up the challenge of producing nonalcoholic spirits and cocktails. Many are inspired by the desire to moderate their own alcohol consumption. Others see plenty of white space in zero-proof products compared with existing alcohol categories. And still others simply see low- and no-alcohol products as an undeniable, long-term part of the hospitality industry.

Sales of low- and no-alcohol adult beverages have accelerated since leading brand Seedlip hit U.S. shelves in 2017. The segment is still a minuscule slice of the overall market, but it’s growing fast. According to Nielsen IQ analysis of sales data between August 2021 and August 2022, dollar sales of non-alcoholic drinks in the U.S. stood at $395 million, representing +21% year-over-year growth. Together, low- and no-alcohol adult beverages still make up less than 2% of overall beverage-alcohol volumes in the U.S. and Canada, however.

Alcohol-free and -reduced spirits are an even smaller sliver of that small pie. Compared with zero-proof beer and wine, non-alcoholic spirits are a drop in the bucket, at just 1% of overall non-alcoholic adult beverage sales. Yet they’re the subset that showed the largest growth rate from 2021 to 2022 as attitudes among consumers and distillers are changing.

As better-tasting products debut, many craft distillers who were once skeptical of

non-alcoholic spirits and cocktails have been convinced. Los Angeles-based Greenbar Distillery is one such company. For the past four years, Greenbar’s co-founder and spiritsmaker Melkon Khosrovian has applied what he knows about housemade flavors and botanical infusions to non-alcoholic, canned cocktails.

That line—with products like UnSpritz and UnRum + Cola—is sold in Whole Foods and now makes up half of Greenbar’s sales volume.

“The concept of non-alcoholic cocktails five years ago wouldn’t have even made sense to us. If someone said ‘non-alcoholic cocktail,’ I would have said ‘oxymoron,’” Khosrovian says.

“But you live and learn. Even old dogs can learn new tricks.”

REPLICATING THE EXPERIENCE Khosrovian’s initial doubt about the viability of non-alcoholic cocktails and spirits isn’t uncommon. To many distillers, low- and especially non-alcoholic products seem to run counter to their whole business and ethos.

While there are some technological and methodological differences between full-strength and non-alcoholic spirits, spirits makers, bartenders and drinkers alike increasingly view the two as complementary.

Derek Brown understands that evolution.

A decade ago, he was the owner of some of the most awarded cocktail bars in the U.S., including The Passenger and Columbia Room.

His career behind the bar had resulted in a relationship to alcohol that Brown describes as problematic. At first, he couldn’t imagine a way to reconcile not consuming alcohol with his existing career. “I was like, what am I going

“My goal is to try to help create options for adult, sophisticated drinks that are not syrupy mocktails or old, bad malty beverages.

I want something just as delicious or just as sophisticated as spirits.”

—Derek Brown C R AF TSPIR ITSMAG.COM

to do now? Real estate? But in there was the solution all along,” Brown says.

Today, Brown is the author of “Mindful Mixology: A Comprehensive Guide to No- and Low-Alcohol Cocktails,” and has founded Positive Damage, Inc., a company dedicated to creating a culture of mindful drinking. His lightbulb moment came when he realized that non-alcoholic drinks didn’t have to mean just club soda with lime or a Diet Coke; alcoholfree cocktails and spirits could present all the same complexity and drinking experience as their full-strength counterparts.

“It’s about producing really great liquid, as long as it’s something designed for adults,” Brown says. “My goal is to try to help create options for adult, sophisticated drinks that are not syrupy mocktails or old, bad malty beverages. I want something just as delicious or just as sophisticated as spirits.”

This is the new frontier of low- and noalcohol spirits and cocktails. Since 2017, the market for complex, non-alcoholic spirits has exploded. In 2021, cocktails and spirits writer Camper English tallied 115 brands of nonalcoholic spirits; he added at least 17 more in 2022—and doubtless, new ones are launching right now. Some, such as Free Spirits Bourbon or Ritual Rum Alternative, explicitly mimic full-strength spirits. Others chart new territory, existing as botanical- or fruit-spiked concoctions all their own. Regardless of the approach, what sets non-alcoholic spirits and ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails apart from soda or juices is that they are adult beverages meeting all the same sensory criteria as standard alcohol.

“Yes, [companies] love the margins on selling spicy water for liquor prices. But what we’re learning is that doesn’t work so well with the public,” Khosrovian says. “Our non-alcoholic cocktails have to do the job of a cocktail.”

That means creating alcohol-free cocktails that help drinkers enter “relaxation mode,” just like a full-strength cocktail would. In his book, Brown outlines four criteria for successful adult non-alcoholic cocktails and spirits that distinguish them juice or tea or soda: Intensity of flavor. “You should know it’s a spirit,” he explains.

Piquancy or bite. “What makes something an adult, sophisticated beverage is there’s an ingredient in there people don’t enjoy in isolation—something very bitter or alcoholic.”

Volume or length. This applies mostly to cocktails: “For something to be a non-alcoholic cocktail, it really can’t just be lemonade. It has to have some portion of it that isn’t juice

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“The concept of nonalcoholic cocktails five years ago wouldn’t have even made sense to us. If someone said ‘non-alcoholic cocktail,’ I would have said ‘oxymoron.’ But you live and learn.

Even old dogs can learn new tricks.”

—Melkon Khosrovian of Greenbar Distillery

32 | JAN UARY/F EBRUARY 2024 Greenbar Distillery founders Melkon Khosrovian and Litty Mathew

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“You can see firsthand the effect it has on people, the fact that they are able to sit there with a drink and laugh just like they were sitting there with a [standard] cocktail.”

—Sean Watterson of Burnt Church Distillery or sugar.”

Texture or weight. “There’s a difference between alcohol and water in terms of mouthfeel and weight.” Non-alcoholic spirits and cocktails can capture this through ingredients like thickeners, fruit pectins, salt tinctures and aquafaba.

For Greenbar’s canned non-alcoholic cocktails, hitting this mark requires a high complexity of flavor, a high degree of carbonation, and a degree of heat and/or bitterness to encourage sipping rather than guzzling.

Khosrovian says that he applied what he learned about layering flavors from making liqueurs and amari to his non-alcoholic drinks.

“We wanted to make them so beautiful that you’d want to drink them slowly.”

LESSONS FROM DISTILLING Some craft distillers are perhaps more prepared than others to dive headfirst into the world of low- and no-alcohol spirits. Those

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who already produce botanical-, spice- or fruit-infused spirits like gin and amaro, or those who produce low-ABV liqueurs, may have a technical leg up on those who produce only bourbon.

When Sean Watterson first tried to tinker with non-alcoholic spirits, he relied on what he’d already learned making gin and other infused spirits at Burnt Church Distillery in Bluffton, South Carolina.

“I’m going to do what I know how to do: Take a little still … start out with a lot of botanicals and fruits and make some pairings and try to understand what this could be,” Watterson says.

Watterson admits that these experiments at first tasted like “flavored water.” They lacked the viscosity and complexity of spirits, and not every fruit or herb held up to the distillation method. Through trial and error and the layering of multiple types of flavors on top of each other, Watterson finally achieved a product

he’s proud of: Amethyst, Burnt Church’s nonalcoholic spirit in flavors including Grapefruit Basil and Lemon Cucumber Serrano.

The cocktails served at distillery tasting rooms can also be a source of techniques for building flavors and textures in non-alcoholic spirits and drinks. Because its liquor license stipulates it serve only products made inhouse (and because its cocktail menu rotates seasonally), bartenders at The Block Distilling Co. in Denver, Colorado, have ample experience in making shrubs, syrups, tinctures, bitters, oleos, milk punch and more. Building those flavors and textures helped The Block create its non-alcoholic aperitif.

“We’ve had to get really good at developing flavor profiles and extracting flavor. And being a distillery, we have access to equipment.

You don’t have to use a still to make alcohol; you can make essential oils,” says co-founder and head distiller Kraig Weaver.

Additionally, The Block has a minimum

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RETHINKING TEETOTALERS While non-alcoholic spirits and cocktails are certainly a way to offer hospitality to people who don’t ever drink alcohol, they’re actually more likely to appeal to people who do.

Research across non-alcoholic beer and cocktails shows that the majority of people who consume them also drink alcohol. A December 2023 study from behavioral research platform Veylinx found that the cohort of “alcohol reducers” were most interested in non-alcoholic cocktails, even more so than non-drinkers.

They’re turning to alcohol-free products as a way to moderate their alcohol intake: Sometimes that means switching between non-alcoholic and full-strength products on different nights of the week. And sometimes that means switching between full-strength, low- and no-alcohol options all within the

34 | JAN UARY/F EBRUARY 2024 Zero-proof cocktails at The Block Distilling Co. in Denver

same occasion.

“What’s becoming more common is sometimes referred to as ‘tempo drinking,’ where the person drinks in a way that keeps them in the moment that night,” Brown says.

“Maybe they choose a non-alcoholic drink, then a drink with alcohol, then a low-alcohol drink so they can preserve the moment and stay present.”

Distilleries and bars are seeing this behavior from across the bar. Watterson estimates that 10% of visitors to Burnt Church’s tasting room don’t drink at all, but even those who are drinking sometimes choose to add Amethyst to their flight. They might want a non-alcoholic respite in between full-strength liquors, or they’re simply curious. And nonalcoholic cocktails made with Amethyst sell as well if not better than gin-based cocktails.

Watterson says that with a non-alcoholic spirit on the menu, the rigid lines between drinkers and non-drinkers fade.

“You can see firsthand the effect it has on people, the fact that they are able to sit there with a drink and laugh just like they were sitting there with a [standard] cocktail,” he says.

THE SCALE OF THE OPPORTUNITY Even distillers who currently make non-alcoholic spirits suggest beginning with modest expectations for their financial success.

Greenbar’s non-alcoholic RTDs cost 25% more to make than the distillery’s standard RTDs, and Khosrovian says the attention to food safety has to be “through the roof” without alcohol in the mix. Early buy-in from Whole Foods—which came to Greenbar with the idea of producing a non-alcoholic RTD—was key to making the finances work.

Amethyst saw a slower start, Watterson says. Today, its sales are on par with the

distillery’s moonshine, but it took years to get there. Marketing investment, including social media cross-promotion with other non-alcoholic brands, has helped Amethyst become a self-sustaining, largely separate brand from Burnt Church.

“At first it needed a sugar daddy, I suppose.

It needed somebody to fund it,” Watterson says. “When it started gaining traction, we recognized it as its own player and brand. It just grew up to stand on its own.”

Dhōs also took roughly three years to find its footing—years during which Walker says he was often the brand’s biggest customer.

Ransom considered shutting down production of Dhōs, but a switch finally flipped in 2022 as bartenders in particular began fully embracing the non-alcoholic spirit. (Roughly 70% of Dhōs’s sales come from the on-premise.) Walker can’t pinpoint what prompted the sudden uptick in interest, but he says that marketing by other, larger non-alcoholic spirits and cocktail brands has created greater awareness of the category among drinkers and bartenders. Whether it’s Lyre’s or Ghia or Dhōs, a rising tide lifts all ships.

“At first, there was hardly anyone else in the space. We were just trying to convince people it was a thing,” Walker says. “Now, it seems like people are convinced.”

Success so far, for Dhōs and other craft non-alcoholic spirits, has been modest. But the recent acceleration is heartening, and some are bullish on the long-term future for this emerging category.

“Right now this will be a small part of [craft distillers’] portfolios, but it will be something that grows and is part of the future,” Brown says. “It’s not whether or not it’s going to happen, it’s whether the distillers who are out there want to participate.” ■

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PHOTOGRAPHY: (THIS PAGE) MELISSA OSTROW

of four gins for sale at all times, with many specialty gin offerings throughout the year.

This means Weaver has experience with an extensive collection of botanicals and spices— also a boon to the creation of that alcoholfree aperitif.

It’s a similar story at Ransom Spirits in Sheridan, Oregon. There, president Ari Walker says the technical creation of nonalcoholic spirit Dhōs has the most in common with the process of making gin or vermouth.

Dhōs launched at the end of 2019 and today comes in three iterations: Gin Free, Bittersweet and Orange.

“We use traditional-ish equipment in the sense that we extract many of the flavors through steam distillation. … The biggest challenge is that alcohol is just a wonderful solvent,” Walker says. “Building it without alcohol like we do takes one part trial to three parts error.”

Data Distilled

THE ZERO-ABV SPIRITS MARKET Total Non-Alcohol Spirits Market

$0.8 M

$1.9 M

$4.7 M

$9.5 M

Retail Dollar Sales (Off-Premise), 2019-2023*

$0.3 M

Just a handful of years ago zero-ABV spirits didn’t even exist. Brands began to emerge on the scene toward the end of the last decade and then, over the past few years, the number of such alcohol-free products seemed to increase exponentially—most visibly in Europe, where trade shows like Bar Convent Berlin have served as high-profile platforms on which to launch those new products.

In the past five years, retail revenue from zero-alcohol spirits increased nearly 30-fold, thanks to consumers’ overall focus on moderation and promotions like Dry January. And that surge is likely to continue for years to come, as spirits producers integrate no-proof offerings into their overall portfolios.

However, their share of overall spirits sales remains miniscule, just barely above a tenth of a percentage point of the total mark. Still, that share is nearly double what it was a year ago, and more than 20 times what it was five years ago. And, given the brands’ current trajectory, it’s not farfetched to project that zero-ABV spirits could command at least a full percentage point of sales within the next few years.

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

*52 weeks ended in early December of each year

Top Non-Alcohol Spirits Categories

by Sales (Off-Premise) 52 weeks ended, December 2, 2023

Non-Alcohol Share of Overall Spirits 2019-2023*

RTD & RTS Cocktails

$5.4 M

2019

0.005%

Cordials/Liqueurs

$1.4M

Whiskey

$1.1M

2020

0.01%

Tequila/Agave

$704,470

2021

0.02%

Gin

$628,609

Rum

$196,498

2022

0.06%

Vodka

$80,122

2023

0.11%

*52 weeks ended in early December of each year Source: NielsenIQ

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Member Spotlights

WHO’S WHO IN CRAFT SPIRITS Getting to know ACSA member producers

Fine Spirits, Pure Craft, No Shenanigans Blaum Bros. Distilling Co. Galena, Illinois blaumbros.com

part of the Good Guy Distillers group since its inception, and those are some of the best folks out there—always willing to help others.

Founders: Matt and Mike Blaum Year founded: 2013 Blaum Bros. recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, and brothers Matt and Mike Blaum share some thoughts on the last decade and what’s coming next.

Distilled Down: We are all about doing things the right way without taking shortcuts that may sacrifice quality.

We use traditionally large format barrels and age our spirits for a long time.

The two of us are engaged every day and don’t leave it all up to employees.

Vibe: We have a very relaxed vibe at the distillery. Overstuffed leather couches and chairs with a lot of barrel furniture and unique tables. It’s very laid back. The work culture is the same.

We treat everyone as if we’re a big family; and we are.

Playlist: We play a lot of bluegrass covers of popular songs. Other than that, it’s a lot of ’80s. Anything from Taking Heads to Wu-Tang to Gorillaz.

Inspiration: When we first started, we got a lot of help and advice from the boys at Mississippi River Distilling Co. Outside of them, the boys at Bear Creek Distillery keep us on our toes as they are always doing cool things.

They are good friends of ours and we opened around the same time.

Otherwise, we’ve been humbled to be a

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Flagship Spirit: Whiskey, all day, everyday. Whiskey is the reason we did this. Bourbon is what we sell the most of, followed by our Rye Whiskey.

We are constantly putting out one-off whiskey products as well.

Additional Notable Spirits: Outside of our whiskeys, we sell a lot of gin, rum and a hot pepper vodka called Hellfyre Vodka. That one has garnered a huge cult following.

Availability: Currently distributed in Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. Moving back into Iowa in Q1 and will also be sold online to 41 states due to a new relationship with our friends at Big Thirst.

Buzzworthy: We are beyond excited to release our own 10-year-old American Single Malt Whiskey in the spring/summer. We will also be opening a second location in March, so we are pretty excited (and stressed) to get that open.

The Distant Future: Ten years from now we’d love to see us laying down even more barrels and hopefully working with more and more equipment. As long as the demand keeps coming, we will continue to grow and expand.

Advice for anyone thinking about starting a distillery: Don’t do it [laughs].

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Matt and Mike Blaum

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Chris Montana

Real Good Booze that Does Real Good Du Nord Social Spirits Minneapolis dunordsocialspirits.com

Flagship Spirit: Prominence Gin will always be my baby; I paid the iron price figuring that one out.

Founders: Chris and Shanelle Montana

Additional Notable Spirits: Our coffee liqueur is also very special to me. It is named after a teacher who conspired with my recent-adoptiveparents to drag me through high school. Teachers are badass.

Year founded: 2013 Last year, Du Nord Social Spirits celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Among other illustrious achievements, the distillery was selected as an on-air beverage partner of Delta Air Lines in 2021. Chris Montana, who is also a past president of the American Craft Spirits Association and a board member of the STEPUP Foundation, reveals more about the spirit of the company and plans for a restaurant.

Distilled Down: Product quality has always been critical for me; I need to be able to proudly stand behind every bottle. I also need to be able to stand behind the company, so how we show up for people is also important. I don’t want a great company that produces garbage booze or a company that wins awards for its products while treating people poorly.

Vibe: Comfortable. We work very hard to bring in people who don’t take themselves too seriously because we all have to admit several times a week that we are all still learning/growing.

Playlist: Totally depends. When I was the only guy there it was WuTang and Jurassic 5. Now we are all over the place. I will note that the recipe for Cafe Frieda Coffee Liqueur REQUIRES that Idris Elba (yes he is also a DJ) be playing.

Inspiration: I want to be Headframe Spirits when we grow up. Great people, great products, always willing to help, and the first place I visited where I left thinking, “I can do this!”

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Availability: Most places by shipping. We are all over the place with airline bottles, but we are easiest to find in Minnesota, Georgia, Louisiana and Florida.

Buzzworthy: This year we are opening our bar/restaurant. Our cocktail room has been shuttered since 2020 but it is being resurrected into a historic building that was burned in the unrest following George Floyd’s murder.

In the Near Future: Not in the next few months, but we are working on our new distillery and it’s gonna have a ton of floor drains; if you can’t get excited about that, you don’t know production.

The Distant Future: If we do our jobs right, it will look and feel the same as it does now. I also hope to have made at least one staff music video (preferably to “Turn Down for What”).

Advice for Anyone Thinking About Starting a Distillery: Be sure you LOVE production. Making stuff is key to who we are, so it makes sense to have a distillery.

Most people seem to be most interested in having a brand and think that requires a distillery (it doesn’t). Also, there are no “selfmade men/women” in this industry so, if you do start a distillery, be part of the industry at some level and give back.

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Scott Sanders, Sean Coogan and Dan Dawson

Homegrown Spirit Tobacco Barn Distillery Hollywood, Maryland tobaccobarndistillery.com Partners: Sean Coogan, Dan Dawson and Scott Sanders Year founded: 2014 Last August, Tobacco Barn Distillery captured the Top Farmer-Distiller honor in the Heartland Whiskey Competition. The distillery’s owners offer a look at the distillery and the farm, operated by Dawson, which has been family-owned for more than 100 years.

Distilled Down: All our spirits are mashed, fermented, distilled, aged and bottled by us.

We grow our corn on our farm and source rye and wheat locally. All of our spent grains feed local livestock. All of our cooling water is recycled. We offset 35% of our production energy via solar, geothermal fields, etc. We started the distillery to make the best bourbon possible in the birthplace of America’s bourbon history (i.e. Basil Hayden).

Vibe: Collaborative. Social. Scientific.

Transparent. Partnership. Family. Friends.

Playlist: Our tastes are eclectic ranging from classical to country, jazz, soul, rock and metal.

Our master distiller (Dawson) played for over 30 years in local bands, so we generally make sure to get local bands that made good in the rotation (Sam Grow, Any Given Sin, Brothers Osborne, etc.). We even have our own distillery song (“Spirit Run”) written and performed

by Sam Dawson.

Inspiration: We are fans of Garrison Brothers Distillery and what they are doing in Texas.

Colin Spoelman at Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn is great about leading the way in “transparency” for the craft industry. Outer Banks Distilling in North Carolina makes some superb rums. And, of course, our brother and sister distilleries in Maryland.

Flagship Spirit: We release all our Bourbon as Single Barrel. We sell out every barrel. We only make around 100 barrels/year. It’s why we started the distillery.

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Additional Notable Spirits: Single Barrel Bottled in Bond Bourbon, Single Barrel Straight Rye Whiskey (Maryland style – 25% corn in mash bill) and Maryland Bourbon Cream.

Availability: Maryland, and we can ship to military bases in most states. We have a large veteran following.

Buzzworthy: We don’t enter many competitions, ... We took a chance on the Heartland Whiskey Competition this year, as it was sponsored by the state corn marketing associations. ACSA has a solid reputation also.

We felt that gave it some credibility as to less “marketing” in the competition and more about the craft of making your own spirits.

We were pleasantly surprised to win the inaugural Top Farmer Distiller award as well as one of the few gold medals for our Single Barrel Bourbon. Being ranked with other great craft bourbons like Garrison Brothers was an honor. We always knew we were making a solid bourbon and our current customers really like it, but it’s nice to see we’re in a solid peer group within the industry.

In the Near Future: We will be releasing a 6-year old whiskey aged in a Cabernet Sauvignon wine barrel; a 5-year-old bourbon we are aging in a port barrel from our local award-winning winery (Port of Leonardtown Winery); and a 5-year-old wheat whiskey.

The Distant Future: On March 25, 2023, we barreled four barrels of bourbon to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Maryland in 2034.

Ten years from now, we plan to be sitting at the tasting room with friends and family drinking a 10-year old Bottled-in-Bond Tobacco Barn Distillery Bourbon and it will be the best bourbon in the world.

Advice for Anyone Thinking About Starting a Distillery: Start when you are young; don’t source your juice; don’t compromise quality or time; find partners that share the vision and can compartmentalize the tasks (production, marketing and compliance); and have three times the money you think you will need.

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Volunteers Welcome Craft distillers in Tennessee embrace historic roots while forging new paths.

BY JOHN HOLL

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A

Leiper’s Fork Distillery in Franklin

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ny conversation about spirits in Tennessee is likely to contain a few minutes, or at least a nod, toward the distillery in the town of Lynchburg, not far from the Alabama border.

Jack Daniel’s, that venerable Tennessee sour mash whiskey, is one of the most famous brands of liquor in the world and has brought in tourists from around the globe, inspired country music songs, and been responsible for countless epic tales among friends.

For years the familiar black label with white lettering gave a nod to its production city, noting the population of Lynchburg: 361. When updated Census numbers were released more than a decade ago, showing the area was now home to more than 6,000 residents, that stat was dropped.

As the tiny town in Moore County has grown, so too has Tennessee’s craft spirits industry. It lives in Jack’s shadow but still shines brightly with ingenuity and a burning passion for tradition.

“Few states have the deep distilling history and traditions of Tennessee,” says Greg Eidam, the master distiller and director of Gatlinburg-based Sugarlands Distilling Co. He points out that in 1810 there were 4,191 registered distilleries in the state. That number was decimated after Prohibition and that both Jack Daniel’s and George Dickel (produced by Cascade Hollow Distilling Co. in Tullahoma) kept the spirits flame alight until around 1999 when the craft distillery movement started.

He notes that the Tennessee Distillers Guild was formed in 2014 “to help pave the way for this blossoming industry and is now the country’s second most powerful distilling guild.”

In total there are more than 70 licensed distilleries in the state, all but three of them craft.

This includes nationally recognized names like Nearest Green Distillery (makers of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey), Corsair Distillery, Old Dominick Distillery, and Ole Smoky Distillery, which offers more than 25 moonshine flavors and 17 whiskey flavors from its various distillery locations.

“The distilling community in Tennessee is truly that, a community,” says Eidam.

“Seeing so many different distilleries working

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Matt Cunningham of Old Glory Distilling Co.

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together, sharing knowledge, and collaborating is amazing. Those efforts help individual distilleries succeed and strengthen the overall craft spirits industry throughout Tennessee. ” His distillery launched two co-branded products with Eggo last year—Eggo Nog and Eggo Brunch. “These products helped put Sugarlands in front of an entirely new audience while giving our current fans something new to be excited about.”

It’s part of some big growth Sugarlands has experienced in its 10 years. Eidam likes to say it’s the company that caught a tiger by the tail and they “have been holding on for dear life ever since.”

The distillery recently completed construction of a new $30-million-plus production facility that is the home of the largest whiskey pot still in the country. As a result of this new production capacity, Sugarlands has been able to open up distribution to additional markets, giving it a presence in 47 states.

“The bulk of our growth has come from tourists having a great time at our distillery, and returning home looking for it in their local liquor stores to share with friends and family,” Eidam says. “Therefore, much of our focus now is growing our distribution channels by utilizing our family values and tremendous partnership marketing relationships to make our products more readily available throughout the entire country.”

Tourism is key to the success of most Tennessee distilleries. In addition to individual visits, a whiskey trail was launched in 2014. Today the trail has more than 35 participating distilleries.

“Most people don’t realize that Tennessee has more whiskey distillery visitors than any other place in the world,” says Brielle Caruso, CMO at Nearest Green Distillery. “With over 8 million visitors to distilleries and $2.05 billion spent by tourists, Tennessee has seen a $3.45 billion economic impact for the state supporting 30,000 jobs and $441.1 million in total tax revenue.”

Caruso says that local officials anticipate that more than 20 million people will visit Nashville alone next year specifically looking “for whiskey distilleries to visit.”

Nearest Green Distillery is in Shelbyville, about an hour from Nashville, and Caruso says even with tourism, “the locals are our bedrock, and our most loyal consumers.”

To that end, Caruso says that the distillery, which sits on 432 acres, is making sure it honors and supports them through local partnerships, functions and charities.

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With a nod to the politics of both the state and nation, Caruso made the point about reaching out to all consumers.

“In an increasingly divided America, our company continues to foster inclusivity and bring people together,” says Caruso. “When visitors arrive, the first sign they see says ‘Welcome Whiskey Family’. All are welcome on these grounds.”

Each of the state’s distillers have embraced different ways of doing business and different revenue models, says Bill Lee, the founder and master distiller of Gate 11 Distillery in

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“Few states have the deep distilling history and traditions of Tennessee.”

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Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville

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Chattanooga. “For us it was initially focused a lot on in-store sales for tours, tastings and bottle sales complemented in a big way by cocktail bar sales,” he says. “Because we are now making high-quality spirits that are really targeting conventional spirits in the market, we see our opportunity to greatly expand our sales to on-premise bars and restaurants.”

Leiper’s Fork Distillery in Franklin is working toward being a regional brand but remains “hyper-focused on our local community being Middle Tennessee, and Tennessee as a whole,” says Lee Locke Kennedy, the distillery president and chief distiller. “We are proud to be a completely grain-to-glass distillery,” he says. “We grow a portion of our own grain and the rest of our ingredients come from within a 10-mile radius of the distillery. We are trying to create as much of a terroir whiskey as we can.”

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Other businesses like Old Glory Distilling Co. have taken a slow approach to opening and getting whiskey to the public. Matt Cunningham, the proprietor, has been laying down whiskey since 2016. He says Old Glory has been producing 15 barrels a day since then but has never released anything until it was ready.

“Right now we have five- and six year-old product that’s about to come onto the whiskey scene and it will compete with anything out there,” he says.

For all of the distillers in the Volunteer State, there is an unmistakable pride that comes out when talking about their own businesses and those around them.

“Compared to the distilled spirits industry in Kentucky, I believe the Tennessee craft spirits industry is much more diverse in terms of ownership and spirits offerings,” says Lee. ■

Bill Lee of Gate 11 Distillery

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WHAT’s Stirring

DRINKS TO SAVOR FROM ACSA MEMBERS Frieda’s Negroni Teachers have the power to change lives. One such teacher, Louise Bormann— nicknamed Frieda by her students—did just that for Chris Montana, the founder of Minneapolis-based Du Nord Social Spirits. In Frieda’s honor, Montana named the distillery’s Coffee Liqueur after her. This inspiring twist on the classic Negroni just might dare to change your life too.

Ingredients 1 ounce Prominence Gin 3/4 ounce Cafe Frieda Coffee Liqueur 1/4 ounce Campari 1 ounce sweet vermouth Directions Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Stir from bottom to top. Strain and pour into a lowball glass filled with ice.

Garnish with an orange peel.

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The Holloway Inspired by country lanes dabbled with wild herbs and botanicals, this cocktail from Berlin, Maryland-based Forgotten 50 Distilling wants to be the classic Hanky Panky’s springtime cousin. The distillery’s crisp, citrus-forward gin is superb with the herbaceous fresh ingredients and complex Holloway syrup, adding to the bitter and floral qualities of the amaro and fernet. Don’t be shy of shaking this martini, which, like its predecessor, was created in mind to be a reviver, bringing the half dead to life with bright, fresh flavor.

Ingredients 2 1/2 ounces Forgotten 50 Gin 1/2 ounce Holloway syrup 1/2 ounce Lo-Fi Amaro 3-4 mint leaves 3 sprays of Fernet-Branca Directions Combine the gin, Holloway syrup, amaro and mint in a shaker and shake for 20 seconds, until very chilled.

Double strain into a chilled Nick and Nora glass. Garnish with a fennel frond and atomize the Fernet Branca over the top of the cocktail. Serve quickly!

Holloway Syrup Ingredients 2 cups water 1 fennel bulb 15 sage leaves 2 whole orange peels 1/4 teaspoon rose blossom water Pinch of salt Sugar Holloway Syrup Directions Chop the Fennel into 1-inch pieces, reserving the fronds for garnish. Bring the water to a boil, add the fennel and sage and reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the liquid and allow to cool, add the orange peel, rose blossom and pinch of salt and let sit overnight.

Remove the peel and add equal volume of sugar to water. Keep sealed and refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Hatfield Prickly Pear From Hatfield & Sons Distillery in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Hatfield Prickly Pear is an exceptionally well-balanced cocktail that can be enjoyed in any season. The bold citrus notes of the Hatfield & Sons American Gin perfectly complement the sweetness and herbal freshness of the other ingredients for a delightful, easy-to-sip drink.

Ingredients 1 1/2 ounces Hatfield & Sons American Gin 3/4 ounce yellow Chartreuse 1 ounce lime juice 1 ounce prickly pear syrup 3 dashes lemon bitters Directions Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a glass over ice.

Garnish with a lime wheel and enjoy!

Retro/Metro Old Fashioned This is one of the most popular drinks at Riverside, Illinois-based Quincy Street Distillery’s speakeasy cocktail bar. It features the distillery’s Bottled in Bond 4-year-old single malt rye whiskey.

Ingredients 2 ounces North American Steamship Rye 1/2 ounce simple syrup 3 dashes Angostura Bitters 2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters Directions Stir all ingredients with ice in a mixing glass until well chilled and diluted (about 30 seconds). Strain into a rocks or Old Fashioned glass over two cut ice cubes (or similar perfect ice). Garnish with a flag of lemon peel and a flag of orange peel, expressing the oils over the drink and wiping the rim before placing in the glass.

Pepon Daiquiri This is a classic cocktail with a modern spin from San Juan Artisan Distillers in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Made with freshly harvested cane juice from heirloom Puerto Rican varieties of sugarcane, RON PEPÓN Blanco Rum makes this daiquiri an aromatic experience, with notes of subtle herbal aromas.

Ingredients 2 ounces RON PEPÓN Blanco Rum 1/2 ounce simple syrup 1 ounce lime juice Directions Combine ingredients in a shaker glass with ice and shake well. Pour into a coupe glass and garnish with a lime wheel.

PPK This cocktail claimed first place in York, Maine-based Wiggly Bridge Distillery’s Spirited Elixir Challenge, an initiative conceived to spotlight the hard work and extraordinary talent of bartenders across the state. The cocktail was created by Brian Catapang of Magnus On Water in Biddeford.

Ingredients 1 1/2 ounces Wiggly Bridge Bottled in Bond Bourbon Whisky 1/2 ounce Zucca Rabarbaro Amaro 1/4 ounce Amontillado sherry 3/4 ounce Punt e Mes sweet vermouth 12 drops salted vanilla tincture

Directions Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice. Stir until the mixing glass is cold to touch, but be careful not to over dilute. Pour into a rocks glass over one big ice cube.

Salted Vanilla Tincture Ingredients 2 ounces Giffard Madagascar Vanilla Liqueur 1/4 ounce sea salt Salted Vanilla Tincture Directions Combine ingredients and mix until fully combined.

RETAIL: ON-PREMISE

THE SIPPING SCENE Exploring the wide world of bars and tasting rooms Will’s Pub/Lil Indie’s/Dirty Laundry

Orlando, FL The Scene: An eclectic, yet intimate, three-venue compound where all are welcome The Tip: Don’t miss out on live performances from local legends Kaleigh Baker and Eugene Snowden The Vibe: Beyond the neon tourist traps of International Drive and the commercial cacophony of the Mickey Mouse attractions area is where the Orlando natives in the know go to enjoy handcrafted cocktails and live indie music: The Mills/50 Corridor. Just a stone’s throw away from the downtown Orlando business center, near the intersection of Mills Avenue and Highway 50, is the complex in which Will’s Pub, Dirty Laundry, and Lil Indie’s reside.

Will’s Pub is named after owner and operator Will Walker, who has kept the upscale dive bar and music venue alive for nearly 30 years. After a relocation into another building on Mills Avenue in 2008, it found its current home and expanded in 2012 to include the speak-easy-esque cocktail bar Lil Indie’s named after Will’s daughter, Indiana. Dirty Laundry, an outdoor heavy metal-themed tiki bar, followed shortly after. Whether you want to take in a live indie/country/punk show, grab a quiet hand-crafted cocktail with some friends, or snag a Mai-Tai while listening to some Motorhead, this spot has got you covered. The entire complex is also a proud partner of the Orlando Safe Place Initiative, which ensures the safety of all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/ Questioning (LGBTQ) residents and visitors.

—Sharlí Ward

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Backstage

Hoboken, New Jersey The Scene: Relaxing cocktail bar with a nod to its rock ‘n’ roll past The Tip: Check out the photo collage on the back wall while you sip music-themed cocktails like Welcome to Paradise or Say It Ain’t So The Vibe: If you’re a music fan, it’s likely that you’ve at least heard of Hoboken’s iconic rock club, Maxwell’s—even if you’re not from or have never been to the New York/New Jersey area. So many legendary acts had graced its stage—from the Psychedelic Furs to Nirvana—and Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days” video was filmed there. After some hiatuses and ownership changes, Maxwell’s ultimately closed its doors in 2018—to say it was the end of an era would be a massive understatement.

Nothing will ever replace Maxwell’s, but at least the space has a new tenant in the form of a cozy craft cocktail bar that respects the building’s history.

Even though the owners of the new establishment, Backstage, completely redesigned what used to be the main performance space in the club, it commemorates the venue’s former life with an entire wall of photos featuring hundreds of acts that played at Maxwell’s throughout its existence. The bar is actually attached to a seafood restaurant, Sirenetta—which occupies what was Maxwell’s front tavern area, separate from the gig space—but with its own entrance and aesthetic.

That aesthetic is of the exposed brick sort, with an artisanal stone bar top and a separate lounge area a few steps up. Upholstered couches, banquette seating and armchairs (and the aforementioned Maxwell’s wall of fame), decorate the elevated section. There’s also a small armoire stocked with books to really reinforce the livingroom feel of the area.

The drinks evoke the rock-and-pop past with names like Say It Ain’t So—an obvious nod to the Weezer song of the same name, with vodka, lemon, elderflower and cinnamon; the Green Day tribute; Welcome to Paradise, featuring jalapeño tequila, lime, agave and grapefruit soda; and Made to Be Broken—which gets to have multiple interpretations, from the prominent refrain in “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls to the title of a Soul Asylum tune.

—Jeff Cioletti

Maturation

WOOD’S EXPANDING WORLD OF FLAVOR New wood varieties and processes are opening up new possibilities for craft distillers.

BY ANDREW KAPLAN

As craft distillers continue to try to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market, some are embracing the possibilities opened up by finishing their spirits with different varieties of wood or wood formats.

More exotic wood varieties, such as mizunara from Japan or amburana from South America, have been sought after in recent

54 | JAN UARY/F EBRUARY 2024 Toasting barrels at WV Great Barrel Co.

years with bottles finished in the woods flying off the shelves at higher prices.

But while these popular varieties with their interesting back-stories have gotten a lot of attention, there are many subtler ways that wood is opening up new possibilities for craft distilleries. These range from new toasting techniques for oak barrels, to a variety of different wood forms—from staves to chips and beyond—that distillers can experiment with to create something unique.

For example, in Sperryville, Virginia, Rick Wasmund, founder of Copper Fox Distillery, is aging his whiskeys using a mix of new and used wood chips from a variety of trees, including peachwood, chestnut and applewood. “To me it just opened up a whole different level of creative potential,” he says. He sources his own wood from nearby forests.

In Lexington, Kentucky, Macaulay Minton, president and chief alchemist of Dark Arts Whiskey House has been finishing his products in mizunara and amburana spirals he buys from The Barrel Mill in Avon, Minnesota. “I just get a really approachable profile out of the spirals that I find interesting,” he says, adding that another plus is sustainability in that the spirals mean not as many trees have to be sourced or shipped hundreds of miles.

THE ARTISTRY BEHIND WOOD If you want a good example of a craft distiller who has embraced the many different ways wood can be used, it would be hard to find someone better than Wasmund. He has been experimenting with different woods for 24 years.

Over the years, Wasmund’s process has evolved from throwing applewood chips into his stainless-steel vat for a number of months prior to putting his whiskey in the barrel for aging, to using a blend of new and used chips in his oak barrels to add new dimensions of unique flavors.

Being from Virginia, Wasmund favors local woods and has experimented with a lot of them over the years. “We harvest our own,” he explains, “fruitwood from local orchards mostly. We have had some special family farm trees donated after storms and such where they have been part of their lives and just wanted the spirit of the tree to go somewhere with love. We get chestnut from a secret Virginia estate but we go out with trucks and saws and pick it up. We do all the processing in house.”

On the market today, Wasmund has spirits aged with peachwood, chestnut and applewood and he can describe the different personalities of each.

“Apple is its own thing,” he says. “It’s

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beautiful, not floral, herbal, or fruity, but more earthy and nutty but just in a different way than oak is. Same thing with peachwood. All the sap and the flavor goes into the wood and it’s there and then when it’s seasoned and you split it and the seasoning is just right, all that is factored in.”

He continues, “The same tree, the same piece of wood, will have a different flavor profile when it’s green versus a year old, versus two years old, all the way through to its decomposition. There’s definitely a tremendous aromatic quality on the decomposing applewood and when it burns, it’s fantastic.”

These days, after years of experimentation, Wasmund has arrived at using a mixture of new and old wood chips from these varieties— each about half the size of a hockey puck—to get just the right extraction to subtly influence the flavor of his finished product. Or to, as he puts it, “really be creative. Typically, in a barrel, we’ll have chips that are brand new, chips that have been used once, twice and three times,” he says. “So, a series of four is our standard.

“To me it just opened up a whole different level of creative potential. To us, the goal was not complete, total extraction as fast as you could get it. If you wanted to do that, presumably you could use sawdust or super fine chips.

What we’ve been able to do with the chips and the reason we go with the size we do is in a way we’re cultivating the used chips. We actually like the used chips better. The only reason we continue to use new chips is so we can have a steady supply of used chips.”

One of the reasons Minton, at Dark Arts, likes using the amburana spirals he gets from The Barrel Mill is because they provide an affordable, and environmentally sustainable, way to always use a fresh piece of biomaterial. The cost of barrels made from amburana can run several thousand dollars a piece, he points out, compared to a few hundred dollars for a traditional American oak barrel. But he can get an amburana spiral for less than $200 each, he says.

“The reason I’m very interested in the spirals,” he says, “is that they have a very nice presence of vanillin in them, providing that vanilla note in there. If you use a traditional barrel, that’s one of the first extractables that you use. So, second time you’ll refill an amburana cask, you’ll start getting into more of the lactones, that tanning lotion kind of taste and smell, that coconutty note, and then if you continue to use it, you start getting more aldehydes.”

The infusion spirals are available in a

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“To me it just opened up a whole different level of creative potential.”

—Rick Wasmund of Copper Fox Distillery on aging spirits with wood chips from a variety of trees wide range of varieties from The Barrel Mill, including standard American and French oak, amburana, Spanish cedar, sugar maple, cherry, Aspen and Cypress. “We’re always bringing in new species to see if they have value to the craft spirits market,” says Desi Hall, spiral sales, at The Barrel Mill.

Adds Minton about the woods, “I view it as a library of flavors and aromatics. There is also the opportunity to blend different spirals together to create unique flavor profiles, like different toast profiles, to come up with something that you want as your end-result.”

BARREL PREPARATION METHODS EVOLVE In fact, when it comes to those toasting profiles, there’s been a lot of attention given to that end of the business as well as cooperages look to differentiate themselves by coming up with new barrel preparation techniques.

One getting a lot of attention in recent years is infrared toasting. For example, at WV Great Barrel Co., in Caldwell, West Virginia, Brett Wolfington, COO, says he has seen interest rising in this capability especially since the release of the company’s collaboration with Bardstown Bourbon Co. on its Blended Rye Whiskey Finished in Infrared Toasted Cherry Oak Barrels.

“With infrared, we’re able to toast a barrel very rapidly, but also extremely precisely,” Wolfington says. The process, he explains, uses temperature sensors that are located on every heating cell in the process that look at the inside of the barrel and continuously measure the temperature of that against the target profile.

“That infrared toast allows us to drive chemical changes deep into the wood of the barrel and those changes allow you to extract more flavor and more color from the wood by creating more of the chemical compounds and breaking down the cellular structure of the

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A wood spiral from The Barrel Mill

wood into the sugars that can be extracted by the whiskey and also by opening up the pores of the wood to allow the whiskey to get into there and extract those flavors easier,” Wolfington says.

Another supplier, Oak Solutions Group, based in Lebanon, Missouri, a sister company to Independent Stave Co., offers to craft distillers tank staves in its High Proof Series.

It includes flavors like Rickhouse, Sweet Shoppe, Spice Rack and Charred Barrel.

For example, Sweet Shoppe offers notes of caramel, vanilla and candied fruit, which the company says offers “rich, decadent flavor and a smooth mouthfeel.” “These are really focused on flavors that we have been told time and time again that distillers are looking for,” says Kyle Sullivan, Oak Solutions’ global managing director.

Sullivan says recommended contact time for the staves during finishing is six to eight weeks, “because you have pretty good access to the end grain. Generally speaking, the rule of thumb is the smaller the particle size, the faster the extraction.”

While using such staves and other forms of wood for tradition-heavy products like whiskey used to be more frowned upon, most

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agree that is changing as craft distilleries look to continually innovate.

As Wasmund says, “It’s been a labor of love

and I just feel like we had something to add to the whiskey world rather than try and copy what everyone else was doing.” ■ The Charred Barrel tank stave from Oak Solutions Group

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Packaging

TOP GEAR A look at some of the latest innovations in closures Bottle closure technology continues to evolve and many of the top topper and cap companies have been focusing much of their efforts on improving the user’s experience through both premium and sustainable form and intelligent functionality.

AMORIM Amorim’s Tap Series is specifically designed with security in mind. The bartop is enhanced with near-field communication (NFC) technology, which enables the transmission of data wirelessly between devices that are close to each other. In the case of the Tap Series, it communicates that information between the bartop and a smartphone. The company says it’s a safeguard against counterfeiting. By tapping the bartop with a smartphone, a person could verify the authenticity of the product. The information received from the NFC tag is sent to the service provider, which sends back the status of the product, as well as additional information like cocktail recipes, general information about the product and more.

Meanwhile, Amorim is developing the Tap Series 2.0, which features an added function, tamper evidence detection. A system inside the cork stopper is triggered when the stopper is pulled from the bottle. It will alert the consumer if the bottle has already been opened.

BERLIN PACKAGING Berlin Packaging recently won a Best in Class Award at the 2023 PAC Global Awards for a custom solution it developed for El Bocoy de José Paéz, a whiskey brand from Spanish distillery Bodegas Dios Baco.

Among its distinctive features is the custom barrel-shaped closure

Berlin Packaging’s barrel-shaped closures

that Berlin designed. The carved and stained wood closure was created to give the spirit a vintage look.

Another recent project was for the brand Pastis 12/12. A spherical element sits atop the closure, designed to evoke the traditional French game Petanque. As a bonus, the ball detaches and the consumer can actually use it to play a smaller-scale version of the popular diversion.

The closure complements the label design by artist Quentin Monge, which depicts a relaxing summer afternoon in Saint-Tropez.

VINOLOK When Berlin Packaging was developing a custom bottle solution for two spirits brands—Four Corners American Gin and Waterford Whisky, the packaging supplier turned to partner Vinolok for its glass closures. Not only do the closures bring further elegance to craft brands, Vinolok’s offerings promise no impact on aroma or flavor of the spirit

5 8 | JAN UARY/F EBRUARY 2024 Amorim’s Tap Series

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be customized according to producers’ wishes. T-Suber is a two-piece closure made of 100% natural cork and is part of the MAESTRO range that includes closures designed to dress the best high-end spirits worldwide.

• T-Monobloc Cork: Made from renewable and sustainable raw materials, T-Monobloc Cork is entirely carved from the bark of the cork oak—a 100% natural cork monopiece, without glue. T-Monobloc cork is a universal, elegant stopper for producers of spirits and liqueurs, developed by Supercap as part of the Green Tech range.

• T-Glass: Last fall at Luxe Pack in Monaco, Supercap unveiled its T-Glass, a t-shaped closure with a transparent glass top. The company says T-Glass stands out for the exclusivity of its material and the vast possibilities for customization, thanks to a label that can be applied to the top with a metallic effect or in pantone colors. The shank is available in white and black.

Supercap’s T-Suber stopper

in the bottle, easy opening and closing and minimal environmental impact. The company says that the stoppers can be endlessly recyclable with no impact on quality. They can be melted repeatedly and transformed into new closures or other glass products.

Four Corners Gin went with an art deco-inspired design for its bottle, which evokes a classic soda shop seltzer bottle. The matching glass closure, with tactile ridges, created a uniformity with the overall package.

Ireland’s Waterford Whisky teamed with Berlin to switch out the typical cork closure for a premium glass option. Waterford’s CEO had seen the custom glass closures used in the wine industry and thought it would work well with its spirit. The glass stoppers are now a key part of Waterford’s brand identity.

BOSTOCAP Bostocap specializes in the development of bespoke stoppers and capsules with a particular focus toward independent distilleries. For its wood head stoppers, it offers shelf standard varnishes, but also, in some cases, can match a specific color that the spirits producers wants to achieve, be it red, blue, silver, gold, copper, etc. Additionally, the company can customize to a specific shape or size, if the distillery customer wants to choose something beyond the standard sizes. It also offers aluminum head, plastic head, glass and super-premium stoppers that can be constructed from a material of the customer’s choosing—such as ceramic or a metallized material—depending on the distillery’s budget.

Beyond closures, Bostocap recently launched Copa Drinks, a free mobile app designed to provide spirits enthusiasts with an immersive experience, with a wealth of information on their favorite spirits. It enables users to understand spirits’ composition through tasting notes, read about the product’s history, rate the product, save it as a favorite and engage directly with the distillery. ■

TAPI Also on the sustainability front, Tapi has been showcasing its Varnishless technology, which, as its name suggests, is characterized by the complete absence of varnish in its wood closures. The wood is heat treated to achieve its desired effect, a process with three primary phases. First the wood is dried at a high temperature while its humidity is kept at a constant level to reach the desired grade of drying. Next, the thermal treatment begins. Here, the wood is treated to a very high temperature, depending on the level of desired coloration. Finally, the wood is cooled, allowing the wood to stabilize. The final aesthetic is a completely natural look for the wood, achieved without chemicals or further processing.

SUPERCAP/CREALIS GROUP Supercap is showcasing a number of new options for the spirits market: • T-Suber: Made from natural cork, the T-Suber stopper offers to spirits and liqueurs producers a new form of natural elegance. The noble material of cork oak provides an ultra-premium solution that can

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A custom closure from Bostocap

raw materials

CEREAL ENTREPRENEURS Adventures (and misadventures) with alternative grains

BY JEFF CIOLETTI

Dr. Kenneth Maverick thought he was distilling rye.

“We’d ordered rye and we were doing runs of our rye whiskey for about a month but our fermenters kept overflowing,” recalls Maverick, one half of the husband-and-wife duo who founded Maverick Distilling in San Antonio.

The distillers attempted all sorts of maneuvers to correct the situation, but nothing seemed to work. After spending several consecutive weekends cleaning the mess off of the floor of the distillery, Maverick, an ophthalmologist, decided to, quite literally, take a closer look at the issue under a microscope.

And what he saw was certainly not rye. The grain supplier confirmed that it had inadvertently mislabeled around 15,000 pounds of triticale as rye and sent it to Maverick. It was an easy mistake to make.

TRITICALE “If you pick up a handful of rye and a handful of triticale, they look pretty similar—the grains are roughly the same size,” Maverick says, which isn’t a surprise since triticale is actually a hybrid of rye and wheat. “But if you look under a microscope, they’re very different.”

The obviously apologetic grain supplier immediately made good on the rye order, but that didn’t mean Maverick was simply going to discard the already-fermented batches of triticale.

“I think we’d done a couple of initial runs on the still, but hadn’t done the spirit run yet,” he recalls. “We kind of made the decision, ‘Let’s see what happens here.’ I researched triticale at the time [and found that] some distillers had done it—Beam did a version of it, maybe, 30 years ago—but I didn’t see any on the shelf. I said, ‘Okay, let’s put it in a barrel for a while.’”

After two years in wood, Maverick put some in bottles, which quickly sold out.

At the end of 2023, the distillery released

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a bottled-in-bond version, which had sold out the day I spoke with Maverick in early January.

To be sure, it was a relatively limited quantity, but the response illustrated two things: sometimes accidents can be opportunities and consumers do have a taste for whiskeys made from alternative, often unfamiliar grains, once they’re exposed to them.

KOVAL Distillery president and founder Dr. Sonat Birnecker Hart can attest to that latter point, as the Chicago-based producer has worked with a number of such cereals, including millet, oat and spelt. The distillery produces a 100% millet whiskey and also has used the grain as 49% of the mashbill for its bourbon. It was also one of the earliest U.S. craft producers to make a 100% oat whiskey.

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Sonat Birnecker Hart of KOVAL Distillery

MILLET “Our bourbon is really on the edge of what people consider bourbon profiles because the millet adds such a different take on the bourbon,” says Birnecker Hart. “Sometimes we get people who don’t like bourbon, then taste this and say, ‘Oh, it doesn’t taste anything like the bourbon I’ve had before.’ Millet is such a different type of grain.”

Millet imparts an earthy character to the finished product, which complements the sweeter notes that corn provides.

There’s also an added agricultural benefit: The farmer who grows millet for KOVAL is able to use it as a regenerative crop. “It’s a grain that allows a farmer who grows something to regenerate the soil,” she says. “That’s something that leaves a good taste in my mouth.”

Millet was among the alternative grains that Andy Garrison, head distiller at Stone Barn Brandyworks in Portland, Oregon, has turned into whiskey, a long list that has also included spelt, oats, sorghum and others. “I was very interested in doing it because there’s a long tradition of distilling millet in Africa and Asia—it’s used in some kinds of baijiu.

There’s just hundreds and hundreds of years of distilling millet, so I was keen to try it.”

He took the distillery’s bourbon recipe and swapped out the corn for millet, resulting in a mashbill of 60% millet, 30% wheat and 10% rye. That produced a spirit with a “nutty, really dense, concentrated mouthfeel” that was not as sweet as bourbon even though it was aged in the exact same type of barrel.

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“We quite liked it and people tasting it blindly really liked it,” Garrison reports. “People tasting it blind really liked it. They thought it was bourbon, an old type of bourbon.”

But the challenge is getting people to try it when they see a bottle with a relatively unknown grain on its label.

SORGHUM The same could be said about sorghum. The grain is even more commonly used than millet in China to make baijiu, which gives it a dual distinction as one of the most fermented grains in the world and one of those with which consumers in the West are least familiar.

With some sorghum flour it procured from a local mill, Stone Barn was able to produce just enough whiskey to fill two 13-gallon barrels—one American and one French oak.

“For me [sorghum] fell in line with spelt, where the flavor is different than a typical, traditional whiskey, but it didn’t deliver a huge amount of nuance or character,” Garrison reports. “You could’ve presented it to someone and said it was rye or you could’ve said it was wheat and they would’ve been, ‘Okay, that’s what it is.’”

StilL 630 in St. Louis has had quite a different experience with sorghum. Owner and distiller David Weglarz recalls that he received quite a bit of it from the maker of his still, who encouraged him to try to make something with it. Weglarz saw it as an opportunity to showcase some local flavor, as Missouri boasts some of the largest sorghum fields in the U.S. “What I fell in love with was the flavor profile,” Weglarz says. “It has this beautiful rum-whiskey hybrid flavor profile—it’s got this rummy note, but a whiskey backbone as well.”

He produces it much like a rum, as well, in that he’s not using milled grain, but the sugary syrup that’s pressed from early-harvested sorghum—which, like sugar cane, is a grass.

StilL 630 dubbed the resulting spirit S.S. Sorghum, a nod to both river boats and Weglarz’s wife, Sidni, as in “Sidni’s Sweet Sorghum whiskey.” He says it was the “third or fourth” product the distillery released and the second it laid down to age. StilL 630 has since released two-to-three-year old versions, a four-year-old bottled-in-bond edition, and, last year, two batches whose ages each exceeded seven and a half years. “We have a

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“What I fell in love with was the flavor profile.

[Sorghum] has this beautiful rum-whiskey hybrid flavor profile—it’s got this rummy note, but a whiskey backbone as well.”

—David Weglarz of StilL 630 10-year rye whiskey and, other than that, the sorghum is the oldest thing we’ve released,” Weglarz notes.

Weglarz sees the unfamiliarity aspect as more of an asset for sorghum than a liability.

The distillery frequently attracts visitors who have developed their palate for whiskey, but certainly not one with a sorghum base.

“They don’t have a frame of reference necessarily and this really brings us back to square one,” he explains. “I have a discussion just based on the flavor notes and you get rid of a lot of preconceived notions. It blends seamlessly into a conversation about how we approach all of the other spirits. It’s a unique and amazing spirit in and of itself, but it also plays a crucial role with us about the choices we make with our standard spirits.”

The distillery uses the same yeast strain it uses for its other whiskeys to allow the base substrate to be the main differentiation point, without the yeast adding any additional nuances.

Despite the fact that Missouri grows more sorghum than most, it’s still a relatively difficult and, therefore, expensive grain to source in significant quantities. Weglarz also admits that the consistency of S.S. Sorghum, batch to batch, isn’t where he’d like it to be, as

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he’s yet to pinpoint the particular varietal that would deliver the ideal flavor profile.

“We’ve been trying to work with farmers, to identify the specific varietal that they’re planting and growing, [as they] grow several different ones and blend them all together,” Weglarz says. “We’ve been unable to identify the specific heirloom strain that we want to use.”

OATS Consumers may not be entirely aware of grains like triticale, millet or sorghum, but most have had a bowl of oatmeal at some point in their lives. They’re far less likely, though, to have had a whiskey made from oats. But a similar creamy mouthfeel they get from the hot breakfast cereal can assert itself in spirit form—even when it shares the spotlight with other substrates, as it does in KOVAL’s Four Grain whiskey. That doesn’t mean it’s without its own set of issues.

“It can be difficult to work with, given the level of viscosity in the mashing and distilling process, but it’s certainly worth it for the real flavor package you get in the end—just for the uniqueness of its mouthfeel properties,” Birnecker Hart says.

That’s why Stone Barn Brandyworks continues to produce an oat-based whiskey.

When Garrison typically receives oats, they’ve already been finely milled to the consistency of flour. “That turned out to be pretty important for our process because we didn’t have to cook it, we didn’t have to put it in a kettle and heat it up with an agitator,” he explains. “When it’s in bigger pieces you have to cook it to explode those starch molecules.”

As the temperature increases during the cook, the mixture becomes extremely thick and viscous as the grain sucks up the water.

“That can be challenging, especially at scale,” Garrison warns. “You can get sticking or burning and you can get a situation where the agitator is not mixing all of it, just carving out an area where it’s mixing. It can clog the outlet pipes so you can have trouble remixing it.”

He recommends using a high-temperature alpha amylase to make it more mixable. A typical alpha amylase has an effective range of 140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas a hightemperature version of the enzyme remains effective at 190 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

“If a typical A-amylase is exposed to 190 degrees, it becomes denatured and is no longer effective,” he points out.

Additionally, he acidifies the mash to bring the pH down, as oats tend to have a quite high pH.

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“Add a viscosity reducing enzyme and that really changes it,” Garrison says. “It takes the oat from something that’s almost like a silly puddy stiffness and, within a few moments, it completely liquefies so it looks like oat milk. …

If you don’t use enzymes, you could stand a boat oar up in [the mash].”

INVESTING IN EDUCATION Production challenges aside, choosing which alternative grains to experiment with hinges on how much of an effort a distillery is willing to make in educating consumers on them. The more unfamiliar they are, especially within the context of a distillate, the greater the learning curve. Millet, sorghum and spelt were definitely a tougher sell in that regard for Stone Barn Brandyworks.

“We put out the millet and it’s taken a year to sell out, but when we put out our bourbon, it sells out in a couple of weeks,” Garrison reveals.

“It’s just that no one knows millet. It doesn’t have the cachet that bourbon does or rye does.

There’s a lot of education that goes with it.

There are a lot of new or inexperienced drinkers in the past few years and they don’t know what to make of millet—they’re never read a review of it, a blogger never wrote about it or a Tik Tokker [never talked about it].”

As most know, sales and marketing involve a great deal of storytelling. But you’ve got to decide which grains are worthy of your limited bandwidth.

“We learned that all of these alternative grains require some educational commitment, hand-selling them to consumers,” Garrison notes. “If there’s a great story to go with it, If you’re a traditional sorghum farmer, if you’re working with a bakery and doing a spelt collaboration, it could work. For us, we have so many other stories to tell.” ■

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Mental Health

INTENTIONAL ACTS OF KINDNESS Simple acts of kindness can have a major impact on your health.

BY MATT VOGL

Imagine this morning: You oversleep and wake up at 7 a.m. only to realize that it snowed all night and there is already six inches on the ground. You have to go to work because you have an important meeting at 8. Your tires are bald and you cannot find your gloves. The news says that traffic is a snarled mess with accidents everywhere. You literally feel your stress rising and all you can think of is that book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” you read when you were a kid.

Today is going to suck.

But then you go into the kitchen to find that your roommate made coffee for you. You leave the house and see that your nextdoor neighbor cleared your sidewalk. When you hit the on-ramp, some guy slows down, makes room and waves you in. Finally you make it to the distillery and one of your co-workers is standing there to hold the door for you.

She compliments your hat. You make it to the conference room with a minute to spare and see that your boss brought donuts to thank everyone for making it in. You realize that you are calmer than when you woke up.

In fact, you are actually relaxed and smiling.

What changed? How did the frown get turned upside down?

Kindness. You discovered just how powerful even tiny acts of kindness can be.

We’ve all heard, and probably made fun of, the phrase “random acts of kindness.” I actually like the term “intentional acts of kindness”

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better, but either way, small acts of kindness— whether you are the giver or receiver—can have a big impact on your mental health. Best of all: You don’t have to spend money to do something nice for others.

Intentional acts of kindness can take many forms. It could be something like volunteering for a nonprofit or mentoring program, but even small acts can reap big benefits. I’m sure you have been in one of those “pay-it-forward” lines at Starbucks where everyone is paying for the person behind them, and chances are, it made you feel good enough that you returned the favor for the person behind you.

Other examples are giving someone a great tip. Or a compliment. I for one love it when a stranger stops me to say they like my glasses or something, and it motivates me to do the same for somebody else. When the weather is nice, my kids and I love to stop at a lemonade stand and offer to buy all the lemonade they have for 10 or 20 bucks or whatever. Then we tell the kids to give it away free to people until they run out. Everybody wins! We feel good about facilitating it, the kids giving away free lemonade feel great because they are making others happy, and of course the people getting free lemonade love it. And hopefully they all remember that feeling and decide to do something nice for someone else.

Another one we like to do is buy a couple boxes of Girl Scout Cookies when they are selling them outside of the grocery store and ask the girls to give them to a person who looks like they could use some cheering up.

They LOVE it!

The benefits of being kind and having others be kind to you are real. The body of published science supporting it is significant and growing. Different studies have shown an association between kindness/volunteering and a host of positive outcomes. The increased production of oxytocin (aka “the love hormone”) we get from these acts can

The benefits of being kind and having others be kind to you are real. benefit us in many ways. Oxytocin helps us form social bonds and makes us more trusting. It also increases our sense of optimism and self-esteem and as a result it can lower blood pressure and benefit our overall heart health. Being kind and having others be kind to us can make us feel more energetic and stimulates the production of serotonin and dopamine; the brain’s two primary “feel-good” chemicals. Giving or receiving kind acts helps improve symptoms of depression and anxiety and can produce a significant lowering of our cortisol levels (cortisol triggers stress). Those are huge outcomes, but there is a catch: The great feelings we get from these acts are temporary, so in order to really reap these benefits and see sustained improvement to our mental health, we have to make kindness a part of our daily lives. It can take a bit of time and effort, but the payoffs are worth it.

A while back I read about a restaurant in the Northwest somewhere (I couldn’t find the article, so I might have a few of the details wrong; but you’ll get the gist of it). Instead of giving his employees the usual 2% raise, the owner told bartenders they could comp a certain number of drinks each night, and waitstaff were allowed to comp a certain amount of food every week. “On the house, just because,” they’d say. Customers were confused at first and then delighted at the completely unexpected gesture. It made the hospitality staff feel great because they were making people happy. And after a few months, the benefits were really evident. Employees were happier. They complained less and

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smiled more. Tips went up because customers were happy. Word got out and more people came to the restaurant; some were hoping for a free drink, but most just came to support them because they were doing something cool. Business boomed.

Committing intentional acts of kindness is something we can do on our own, but it can also be integrated into workplace culture in a number of different ways. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has some great resources for promoting workplace kindness on their website, including lots of ideas for

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small acts that everyone can do. I encourage everyone to spend some time on their website, whether you are thinking of doing this at your distillery, or just on your own. Visit randomactsofkindness.org/kindness-at-work.

Small acts of kindness have always benefited those on the giving end and the receiving end, but in these times when the world feels so divided, everyone seems angry, road rage is common and Karens seem to be yelling at managers everywhere you go, those intentional acts of kindness stand out even more.

Happy New Year! ■

Matt Vogl is an internationallyrecognized mental health advocate and a rarely-recognized standup comic.

Matt has spoken on mental health across the globe and he is the founder/CEO of VXVY Mental Health. He can be reached at mattvogl@gmail.com.

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legal corner

TRADE PRACTICE CHECKUP A new year is a good time to create or update your company’s policies and procedures.

BY ALISON HERMAN

Hard to believe it’s 2024 and another OND is behind us! Whether it was a banner year, a fair year or a disappointing year, now that it’s over, it’s time to start fresh. While both federal and state trade practice enforcement was dormant for many years, it is clear that vigorous enforcement by regulatory agencies is now the new norm. Therefore, it is more important than ever to look over your trade practice checklist and update your company’s policies and procedures to help protect your license(s). If you don’t have a checklist, this article will help you get started and if you have one in place, now is a good time to dust it off and update it to help ensure your business teams stay compliant and avoid trade practice enforcement investigations or violations by creating a culture of compliance.

A trade practice checklist should include implementing the following: Create or update policies and procedures around federal and state trade practice rules.

These should include permitted activities and services such as providing retailer samples, consumer tastings, merchandising, retailer meals and entertainment, along with credit and return policies, expense spending and what to do if a state or federal agency requests company documents or approaches employees at your business locations or elsewhere for questioning. It should also make clear that certain activities, like credit card swipes, are never permissible.

Quarterly policy reminders and newsletters to keep the rules front of mind and encourage managers to refer to them often during team meetings.

Reinforce policies and procedures with

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specific training, regularly scheduled. Training should include both in-person and web-based seminars. Also consider bringing in counsel for at least yearly team compliance refreshers and Q&A sessions. The more familiar your team is with what is expected of them by the company, and the more comfortable they feel asking questions, the less likely they will be to make mistakes.

Provide easily accessible resources that include the various federal and state specific tied-house rules along with making certain managers are accessible to discuss compliant ways to achieve various business goals. If you need guidance on what can and cannot be done in a particular state, check out Set The Bar (setthebarapp.com), which provides trade practice rules in all of the states. It’s important that your team has resources and the ability to know what can and cannot be done.

Maintain state required records and schedule compliance audits and reviews.

Consistently apply your policies and procedures to employees throughout your organization.

Whether your company engages in marketing and promotion of your brands directly, or through third-party companies, with on- and off-premise licensees following a checklist and implementing these targeted policies and procedures will help to clearly establish the company’s expectations that employees follow the law and help to create a culture of compliance while achieving the business goals.

While having a checklist and these documents in place does not guarantee a company will not be fined or face a license suspension or revocation, companies that can show they

… it is more important than ever to look over your trade practice checklist and update your company’s policies and procedures to help protect your license(s). take trade practice compliance seriously and proactively, fare much better with the ultimate outcome of an investigation than companies that do nothing. ■

Alison Herman is Of Counsel at Malkin Law, P.A., a law firm serving the alcohol beverage industry. Nothing in this article is intended to be and should not be construed as specific legal advice.

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snapshots

BARN STORMING In December, ACSA and elected officials from Maryland formally honored Tobacco Barn Distillery with the 2023 Heartland Whiskey Competition’s Top Farmer-Distiller award at Tobacco Barn’s tasting room in Hollywood, Maryland.

Tobacco Barn’s Dan Dawson and Scott Sanders with former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer

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ACSA CEO Margie A.S. Lehrman, Jamie Windon of Windon Distilling Co., Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Kevin M. Atticks

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THERE IS

STRENGTH IN MEMBERS

The American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA) is the only national association of craft distillers created and governed by craft distillers. We Are Craft!

Our mission is to elevate and advocate for the community of craft spirits producers.

WHY JOIN? •

Build long-term relationships and enhance industry connections

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Help cultivate a competitive landscape for craft distillers

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TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MEMBERSHIP-ONLY OPPORTUNITIES BY

JOINING TODAY! A: P.O. Box 470, Oakton, VA 22124 E: membership@americancraftspirits.org W: americancraftspirits.org