Foreshot

One thing to think about, and it's been said on here many time: You are a marketing business that sells booze. You can get as fancy, clever or cheap as you want but it boils down to can you sell product. Making the product is a small percentage of what you should be spending your time on. You should be thinking about what products are likely to sell in your area, are you selling or can you sell in your distillery, are you selling to a distributor, how are you setting up your website etc. Don't get me wrong, production is important. Doing something unique with your equipment is cool and you could use that in your branding. If you follow through with it and make as much of your equipment as you can could make a unique experience in the distillery that customer would enjoy. I know I would geek out if you had a space filled with crazy hand built stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakı

Wow. How many distilleries can the US support? How many per capita in larger population areas? I don't think we're near saturation yet. I expect that chart to go even higher before it starts to level off. I hope to open something in the next 1-2 years, if I don't I will really have to think about how I would do it. In Pgh we already have 4-5 distilleries with 3-4 more in process/rumored.

Ah ok. I'm not going to be any help them, sorry.

Like Champagne, Bourbon is a protected name for the American product. You can find it made outside the US but it will not be called bourbon. http://www.fredminnick.com/2014/06/04/australian-distiller-labels-whiskey-bourbon-others-use-term-marketing/

Pure Google. Glad I could help.

Would something like this work for you: https://vinmetrica.com/product/yan-test-kit/ It requires: https://vinmetrica.com/product/vinmetricas-sc-200-phta-wine-analyzer/

Welcome Rachael. Some of the other people here use manual pallet stackers - http://www.globalindustrial.com/g/material-handling/lift-trucks/manual-lift/big-joe-manual-push-hand-operated-lift-stacker For racks: http://barrelsandracks.com/racks/ - There's large number of suppliers out there, including used as Hedgebird. Maybe some of the other guys can post their suppliers. What area of the country are you in?

Congrats! I saw the write ups in the Erie & Pgh papers. I hope you get through the paperwork quickly. I have family in Erie so next time we're up we'll stop by.

I have found listed as an ingredient for BSG, Kent and LD Carson. I guess I was buying mixes and not paying that much attention to it. They also have non-mixed versions.

@nabtastic - Thanks. Weird that most DAP nutrients also contain urea. I'll avoid it in the future.

To the original question, as other have said, no need to add nutrients on a general basis to AG ferments. I do add a little DAP to pretty much every ferment just in case. I view it as insurance too. I've heard that before but never why. Why do you avoid it? Has anyone done any research into attenuation/alcohol production, ferment speed or taste with or without specific nutrients? I assume (sans evidence) you would get better attenuation and faster ferments, but not so sure on taste.

> Meaning 'Hot Rod' (tea manufacturer) is TM Check with a lawyer. Based on that company I would say you're going to have to modify it somehow. Most trademarks are given within an industry. Given that someone is already in the beverage industry, even though it's only tea, means you will probably not be able to get it. You might be able to modify it lightly that might be good enough. You might be able to do something like "Donkey's Hot Rod Gin" and get away with it. I wouldn't mess with this one on your own. A quick consult with a lawyer could save you $$$ and trouble down the road. >I did a search on TESS and COLA and don't see my brand name That doesn't mean that it's not taken by someone. >Do I need to seek trademark for my brand in US, EU and every country I wish to sell? A lawyer that is versed in IP law probably will be able to get you a trademark in most of the world. It's a common thing. Most big countries are simple, prices vary. I've never dealt with smaller countries. I don't think worldwide IP for a you is a huge deal at the moment but the lawyer will be able to give you a good idea of how much and when you might want to do it. > I'm only producing gin - should I seek 'Hot Rod Gin' or go with 'Hot Rod Distillery' Don't limit yourself. And if you ever plan on selling your company it would be good to be slightly less specific to give them the option. Hot Rod Distillery would be fine if you can get something like that. > I'm going to try to submit the TM myself and see how it goes Yeah I wouldn't do that without talking to a lawyer. You might be able to get a TM but it might not stop you from being sued. IP law is very fluid, it's not black and white. With IP law you're never truly safe from being sued. You may win, but it will cost you.

I think you just won best first post ever. Welcome to the community! Any chance you will offer smaller barrels? A lot of the smaller guys use 5 & 15's since we don't make large amounts at a time.

Depending on how much space you're doing it might be faster and easier to invest in something like this: http://www.globalindustrial.com/c/janitorial-maintenance/floor-care/scrubbers It would save a lot of time mopping manually. You don't make money mopping.

You're welcome. I also found their website that put everything together nicely without having to go through the Youtube interface: https://worldwhiskyforum.org/

This is one of several presentations from the "Whiskey World Forum". You can search through the rest here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-qx5Oj2UixACtPXsafxdA/videos?shelf_id=0&sort=dd&view=0 Lots of good stuff in there.

Matt Hofmann speaks about Brand & Product Identity.

SCORE or the SBA may be able to help you with this. Or you can run a credit report on them. It won't give you a great picture of sales but will at least tell you if they are keeping up or not. Trades matter, the Non-trades vary based on the owner. If both are good the company is probably pretty solid. If trades are bad then it's bad sign for them. That's a good idea, they will be advertising heavily and getting people there. Maybe even negotiate something with them to see if they would help you with co-op advertising or highlight your business.

http://americanglasscontainers.com/ - Their website is sparse. Boyd & Blair's distillery is on the AGC's plant location so I am certain they would supply spirit bottles. http://allamericancontainers.com/ - One of their sales reps is a member here. I think there are a of other couple bottle guys on here. Not sure of their origination.

To answer the question of how many people live in your area you can lookup your MSA: http://www.census.gov/population/metro/data/def.html Estimated census for the MSA's (updated yearly): https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area Pittsburgh MSA on Wiki, as an example, smaller metros are less detailed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_metropolitan_area There's tons of info related to MSA on the BLS wesbite - https://www.bls.gov/. Most those of that is more useful in a B2B business. You can look up restaurants(NAICS 722) to see what they did in your MSA: https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag722.htm I forget how (as it's been a while) but you can lookup your NAICS code in your area and see all of your reported economic activity. It's not super accurate but good enough to get a rough idea.The NAICS code is for a distillery is 312140 (https://www.census.gov/econ/isp/sampler.php?naicscode=312140&naicslevel=6). I wouldn't use that as a good indicator of business though. The stats are for production without regard to export or local sales. If you're in a MSA with Jack Daniels your stats will be way higher than in a MSA without any distillery. It won't result in a good estimate of sales. I would go with the restaurants as a better guide to economic activity in your area.

That ^^^^^^ know what your breakeven is and you're setting yourself up very well. Build actionable plans based on each scenario. Then when the numbers come in execute the plans.

Another one: Are you selling aged or unaged spirits? Aged spirits take time to age... Your question misses the biggest factor in the equation: Where are you? To answer your question really well it would require local knowledge. Without it we can only give you generalizations. Two big factors are local population and your location. If you are in a larger population area you're probably will be fine with a "B" or "C" retail location. In a smaller population area you need to be in "A" or "B" retail or else make yourself out to be a destination/anchor. If you locate near on a major road and you have good signage consider part of your rent/mortgage to be advertising. "A" retail = major anchor or mall nearby, "B" = no major anchors close but on a major road or close, "C" = on a larger road or near a cluster of smaller retail. Most retail is sold with either a foot traffic or a "cars per day" estimate as well as income for 5,10, 20 miles or so. Unless you plan on being a destination then stick to "C" or better retail. For a destination you need to have something special for people to come and see. You can also help foot traffic by locating near a similar business, be it beer, wine, or another distillery. In that case it's called an economic corridor. It creates a location that people that want your product are more likely to go as it reduces the search cost for an item. It creates the destination for them. Most car dealerships do this by clustering near each other. If you're doing distribution are you going with a distributor or self distributing? That will change things. Each state and distributor is different in this. Local knowledge matters a lot with that. For sales forecast as other have said it's going to be a guesstimate but you can try this: How many people are in your area within: 5, 10, 30, 50, 100 miles. The further they are the less likely they are to come to your store. What is the market for your product? I don't know where you're at so I don't know whom you could ask for this info or than looking at national sales trends. SCORE and the SBA could also help with more localized data. How many people are going to know about your product based on marketing? Most advertising is sold on impressions so it's fairly easy to work with them to figure out a percentage. Of the people that know about your products, how many people are going to be willing to go to your store (or website) and buy something? What kind of retail space are you in? A,B or C? Each one lowers the # of people in the door. You'll end up seeing some really large numbers get whittled down to some small numbers. Don't be discouraged, be realistic. If you have a really good product, people will know and spread that fact by word of mouth. Marketing is going to be your biggest issue to getting people in the door. If you don't have experience with marketing find a business that can help. You'll probably spend more money on it than you want but it's how you get customers. Good luck!

The history of Gin & Tonic is pretty interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_and_tonic#History Nice handout here: http://www.compoundchem.com/2015/04/21/gin/ Will you be able to give them samples? If so samples of very different styles would be cool. I'm not a gin person and I would sign up for that.

Yup, it's better to listen to the market. Not as much fun though.