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New Releases,
Events & Milestones
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Bid now:
Distilling Research Grant Auction
Ends November 19, 2018
One month left before the
auction closes; see what items have recently been added and
help fund research
that will shape the future of the distilling industry.
More information.
Buy the distilling items you need while supporting research in the field.
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ADI Webinar TOMORROW:
Navigating Control States
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Presenter:
Scott Winters, CEO @
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Many distillers are intimidated at the prospect of entering a control state, markets where the state has a monopoly on wholesale. However, in my experience control states can be one of the strongest markets for emerging brands.
Oct 25, 2018 11:00 AM (Pacific Time)
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Enter your spirits now & save:
ADI 2019 Judging of Craft Spirits - Early Bird Discount
The largest and most-respected judging devoted to craft spirits: In 2018, ADI received more than 1000 Spirits from five continents!
At right, 2019 Craft Spirits Judge Flavien Desoblin, owner of Brandy Library and Copper & Oak in NYC.
2019 Judges.
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Fall issue of Distiller magazine on newsstands and online
Distiller is available at 400 retail locations including Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and various newsstands. Contact us for copies for your tasting room or gift shop.
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Only a few spaces left!
ADI Hands-on Workshop:
Blending, Maturation, & Warehousing Workshop
Friday, December 7 - Sunday Dec. 9, 2018
Ironroot Republic Distilling - Denison, TX
Instructor: Nancy Fraley, Nosing Services
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Merridale's Craft Spirit Festival on Vancouver Island Nov. 3rd
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The Mob Museum to offer daily tours at Underground Distillery
LAS VEGAS (October 2018) - Starting Wednesday, Oct. 24, The Mob Museum, The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, will offer daily tours in The Underground Distillery at 5 p.m.
More info.
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Halloween festivities this weekend: Spirits & Silos and Boos & Booze at MKT Distillery
The newly-opened MKT Distillery in
Katy, Texas has Halloween Festivities on both Saturday October 27 and Sunday, October 28. Read more.
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Bluewater Organic Distilling launches Wintersun Organic Aquavit
Bluewater Organic Distilling, the Pacific Northwest small-batch distillery known for it's copper-distilled Bluewater Organic Vodka and Halcyon Organic Distilled Gin, is proud to announce the launch of Wintersun Organic Aquavit - The first certified organic Aquavit in America. Read more.
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Eastside Distilling celebrates its 10-Year Anniversary by introducing Burnside Buckman RSV 10-Year Aged Bourbon
Eastside Distilling celebrates its 10-year anniversary by introducing Burnside Buckman RSV 10-year aged bourbon. A limited bottling that is finished in casks made from rare Quercus garryana, the glorious Oregon oak. Read more.
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Sonoma Distilling Company refreshes branding, adds seasonal 'Distiller's Edition' releases and expands production facility
Now in its eighth year, Northern California grain-to-glass whiskey pioneer, Sonoma Distilling Company (formerly Sonoma County Distilling Co) announces several key company developments...
Read more.
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Sourland Mountain Spirits launches Kickstarter Campaign
Sourland Mountain Spirits is launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to complete the addition to our distillery. The first floor will be a tasting room and store for all of our products. The second floor will be a community meeting room available to groups of up to 15 people free of charge.
Read more.
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South Africa's Time Anchor Distillery uses exotic botanicals in color-changing gin
Time Anchor's Blue Orient Spiced Gin is one of three Mirari Gins. Add tonic water to the Blue Orient Spiced Gin and watch it magically change color. (Colored by nature through a delicate infusion of Blue Pea flowers)
Read more./Tasting notes on all three gins.
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Tom's Town Distilling Co. launches nationally, adding 10 new states to distribution
KANSAS CITY, MO Tom's Town Distilling Co. announced that its spirits will be available in ten new states in addition to Missouri and Kansas. The new states include California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Virginia. Read More.
Bottle re-design story.
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Liberty Pole Spirits named in 'The 10 best drinking experiences in and around Pittsburgh'
In naming Pittsburgh one of the "10 Best Drinking Cities in America Right Now," a trio of possibly drunk writers from the Thrillist website said their criteria involved more than just solid bars. Every city has those.
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Townshend's Distillery brings home awards from SIP Northwest Awards
This year, our very own Bluebird Alpine, Spice Tea, and Pacific Northwest Fernet won big at the annual Sip Northwest Best of the Northwest: Spirits awards! We're honored to have our spirits included with such stiff competition.
Read more.
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TTB presentations available
TTB periodically participates in industry conferences and seminars to provide training or relevant TTB-related information. We also occasionally hold our own training events, such as webinars or seminars. We share those presentations on TTB.gov for everyone's benefit.
Read more.
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Latest Edition of Nano Distilling book now on Amazon
The Nano Distillery: The Future of Distilling
Compiled by Bill Owens, Edited by Brad Plummer and Andrew Faulkner.
The Nano Distillery is a compilation of how-to chapters and real-life experiences of distillers who successfully produce quality spirits on a small scale.
Read more. Order book.
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ADI map of distilleries
on Distilling.com
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ADI's Certification Program
now has
3,557 spirits listed!
Apply today
and join the 724 micro-distilleries who are truly
craft.
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California brandy is better than ever.
Will consumers notice?
By Lou Bustamante, San Francisco Chronicle
When Dan Farber started distilling brandy in the early nineties, "American brandy was such a small, little thing," he says. His mentor, Hubert Germain-Robin of the eponymous brandy label, was making excellent domestic, artisan, aged grape brandy, but it pretty much stopped there. "No one did it, and there was very little interest in it on the large scale," says the owner of Osocalis Distillery in Soquel.
But now, Farber says, the landscape for American brandy has changed. After decades of championing the potential of California brandies, Farber and Germain-Robin suddenly find themselves with colleagues. A lot of them.
Read more.
Editor's Note:
Dan Farber
is one of the greater than 50 judges who will evaluate US and International entries from all classes and categories of spirits, cocktail bitters, RTD Cocktails, as well as aperitif and fortified wines in the ADI Judging of Craft Spirits. More info/enter your spirits.
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Distillers Up Their Emotional Investment In Fighting Alcohol Abuse And Impaired Driving By Tara Nurin, Forbes
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Distillers are teaming up with an anti-alcohol abuse foundation to prevent impaired driving and overconsumption. |
The promotion of an alcohol industry executive may read as a little too "inside baseball" for a mass market audience but what's notable about the appointment of Chris Swonger to president and CEO of both the Distilled Spirits Council and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility is that it demonstrates the U.S. spirits industry is taking on a much greater role in promoting responsible drinking. Swonger, a government affairs executive who previously spent 15 years directing government relations for trade leaders Beam and the former Allied Domecq, will head the two groups, being brought together for the first time under common executive leadership.
The goal, according to the council, is to "amplify the impact of their collective work." Swonger said in a statement, "I plan to vigorously promote moderation and responsibility, while advocating for market access, equal treatment and common-sense policies that enable the continued growth of the distilled spirits industry."
Read more.
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How to Do Business in a Franchise State
A drinks lawyer explains how franchise law works and how suppliers
can protect their businesses.
By Ryan Malkin, for
Seven Fifty Daily
Over the last decade, disagreements between suppliers and distributors regarding the freedom to terminate relationships in what are known as franchise states have been at the forefront of beverage alcohol litigation. A recent one that gained attention was the Wisconsin Federal Court case in which Pernod Ricard alleged that the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law-a franchise law-did not apply to the relationship between Pernod and its distributor. A few years back, in another case that was dubbed the "liquor wars," Bacardi and Diageo were each in litigation with Major Brands over applicability of the Missouri franchise law.
...If you consider a traditional distribution agreement as like a prenup, "franchise states are like a marriage you can never get out of," says Chris Sywassink, the general manager of Ghost Coast Distillery in Savannah, Georgia.
Read more.
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A New Communion Blooms Between International Distillers At London's Craft Distilling Expo 2018
By Elisabeth Morgan, Oct 8 2018
Craft distilleries are in the midst of a spirited renaissance. The reason why, though, wouldn't be so obvious to the casual consumer. The 6th Craft Distilling Expo began to shed some light on some of the reasons why the craft is gaining a new popularity in Europe and the United States. Over two hundred leaders of the movement gathered in London's Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane to discuss the intricacies of the industry, from barrels to branding to the weighty question of whether to add a little water. Over two days in late September, attendees communed over their experience and passion for spirits. "We're in a new era of experimentation," said Bill Owens, president of the American Distilling Institute and author of Craft of Whiskey Distilling. "We've started distilling in unexpected locations and with unusual grains." For example, he explained, European investors have a new interest in Israeli-grown corn to produce...
Read more.
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UK supermarkets to trial facial recognition
for
alcohol sales
By Phoebe French, The Drinks Business
Facial recognition software for alcohol sales, which removes the need for staff-approved age verification checks, is to be trialled in UK supermarkets for the first time, after waiting for age approval has been identified as one of the top frustrations for shoppers.
The software has been developed by British start-up Yoti and is being integrated into self-service tills supplied by NCR, a US company which supplies a number of major supermarkets in the UK.
The new tills will be equipped with a camera to scan the customer's face to determine their age when purchasing restricted products such as alcohol and cigarettes.
Read more.
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UK government to ban sales of plastic straws
By Nicola Carruthers, The Spirits Business
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Plastic straws could be banned in England by October 2020. |
The UK government has revealed plans to ban the sale of plastic straws and stirrers in England, which could come into force next year.
In April this year, UK prime minister Theresa May announced that the government was considering banning plastic straws in England.
The move comes as part of plans to protect rivers and oceans, and meet the UK government's 25 Year Environment Plan to eliminate "avoidable" plastic waste.
Read more.
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This Woman Is Changing the Liquor Landscape, One Custom-Made Bottle at a Time
By Devorah Lev-Tov,
Vogue
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| Matchbook Distilling Company Co-founder Leslie Merinoff-Kwasnieski. |
"Nothing makes me nervous," says Leslie Merinoff-Kwasnieski, which may be something of an overstatement. But it at least applies to her taking on the New York State government, which she did in order to launch her dream project, Matchbook Distilling Company. The distillery is now open on the North Fork of Long Island, thanks to a new state law she advocated for in August.
"The legal playing field for spirits has been really limiting," Merinoff-Kwasnieski says. "Making your own wine and beer exists. But it didn't exist for spirits." For Merinoff-Kwasnieski's vision to come true, she had to change that.
Read more.
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Warrior Liquor distillery gives Spokane couple
a fresh, flavorful new start
B
y Dan Nailen, Inlander magazine
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Mary and Rich Clemson founded
Warrior Liquor last year.
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Retirement isn't for everybody. When Rich and Mary Clemson sold their old company Pasta USA, Inc. 10 years ago, they figured they were ready to chill out. Over the course of nearly 20 years, they'd built a new production facility and grown from a mom-and-pop shop into a booming business with 50 employees. And that work had come after decades in the rollercoaster construction business of the '70s and '80s.
Even in retirement, though, the Clemsons had no "off" switch. "We took a couple years off just to get our sanity back, but we decided that retirement wasn't exactly where we wanted to go in this stage of our life,"
Read more.
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Newly discovered target of alcohol in the brain
Source: University of Illinois at Chicago via Science Daily
Summary: When alcohol enters the brain, it causes neurons in a specialized region called the ventral tegmental area, or VTA -- also known as the "pleasure center" -- to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that produces those feel-good sensations, and tells the brain that whatever it just experienced is worth getting more of.
Brodie speculates that variations in the amount of the KCNK13 channel could be involved in predisposing certain people to binge drinking. "If someone has naturally lower levels of this channel, then in order to produce the pleasurable effects of alcohol, that person would have to drink much more, and may be at higher risk for binge drinking disorder," he said.
Read more.
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Rum's Revitalizing Spirit: The Story of Sangar Rum
Courtesy of Richland Rum
Opportunity is often revealed by seeing ways in which old and proven techniques can be applied in new formats, variations, or places. When Mike Sehzue made his first trip to his father's home country of Liberia and the village of Sangarplay, he had no intentions other than to discover the place that meant so much to his family. The trip was a way to provide context to the feelings that had been fostered through stories he had been told as a child...in some sense, it would be a journey of self-discovery.
Read more.
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Bill's Corner
Miscellany from
ADI Founder/President, Bill Owens
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Bill's Excellent Adventure
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to our Title & Platinum Sponsors:
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