ADVANCED MIXOLOGY
SPIRITED BUSINESS
THE AMERICAN DISTILLING INSTITUTE
by Christopher Osburn. Photos by American Distilling Institute
Lee Medoff, Bull Run distillery That was 2002 and excitement for the institute and its programs has increased exponentially every year. “It’s been around for eight years. Eighty-six people came to the first conference. At the last conference in 2010, we had five hundred and twenty people.”
“I don’t Facebook. I’ve got a phone. Call me.” Those are the words of Bill Owens, president and founder of the American Distilling Institute in Hayward, California. Owens may not be on the social media bandwagon just yet, but he is extremely passionate about brewing and distilling. In fact, the term ‘passionate’ is a major understatement. Owens love of the art of crafting beer and whiskey borders on obsession and that is why he and people like him are so important to the future of the industry. Even though Owens is all about distillation these days, his professional history began years ago with beer when he opened Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in 1982. He later created the Brewpub on the Green and Bison Brewery in Berkley, California. Owens says that the drain of working eighteen hour days, seven days a week for many years wasn’t for him and he decided to sell his businesses. “I started with Dogfish and all the other guys back in the 80’s. If I had stayed in the brewing business, I would have a fifty-thousand barrel brewery right now.” After selling his breweries, he decided to take a trip across the U.S. to figure out what his next move would be. This is when everything changed for the man who thought that brewing beer would be his only calling. “We stopped at a few small distilleries on this trip,” said Owens. “When I got back, I thought, ‘well, there’s no trade association. I should become the founder of the American Distilling Institute.’ So I put it together. The first thing I did was hold a conference at St. George’s distillery in Alameda (California).”
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According to Owens, the ADI is “an institute to promote the art and craft of distilling.” It’s made up of two separate parts, a yearly conference and classes. Next year, the ninth annual spirits conference will be held right in the heart of whiskey country in Louisville, Kentucky. It will take place from April 1st to the 4th. “The subjects will be whiskey and rum,” says Owens. “Whiskey is very hot right now.” Owens says that the conference and its participants is a breath of fresh air in an industry that is dominated by nine gigantic corporations. “It’s sort of like when I came into the brewing business, there was Bud, Miller and Coors that dominated the beer industry and now there are almost two thousand microbreweries.” At the moment, there are roughly 324 craft distillers in the U.S. and they are all battling the big dogs. The conference consists of a vendor show where you can purchase distilling equipment including a still. “There are five people selling stills,” says Owens. You can purchase stills from Germany, America and Scotland. “If you want to know about barrels, the barrel people will be there to tell you about wood.” It’s a chance to mingle with distillers and people on their way to becoming distillers. As for the classes, the idea began with an unused still owned by Owens. “I know the people who operate a distillery called Stillwater and I asked them if they wanted to use a still that I had bought and they jumped all over it,” says Owens. Then, as the still sat at Stillwater, Owens realized that he should use it for classes to teach people everything he knew about the distillation process. “It’s a hands-on class and it starts on Monday morning with an attorney explaining the legal requirements.”
