Call me old fashioned, but I believe the best business model is one where you don't fear your competitors. I have had many talks with Randall about the idea of forward thinking. We both come from teaching backgrounds, and love teaching people how to fish. Most brands would laugh at the idea of giving away their secret recipe. I don't believe we have to give away all the tools, but we are open to help everyone in our market.
The consumer in this day and age is watching all the time. We all need to understand that inner fighting, and secrecy will brand us in an unfavorable way,(example technology companies) and will load bullets for the industrial marketing monster trucks. (i love that last part)
This brings me to my main point. As we have seen a boom in start up distilleries in the last year, I hope that each young pup comes to the table with the same set of values the rest of us have. My distillery has an open door policy. I can't speak for all of us, but I have come across a few distillers that feel the same way. My hope for our small but growing manufacturing sector would be each of us is wildly creativity, and holds onto strong set of ethics and values. Letting the world know that Micro Distilling means "quality" not just in production but in our community.
We are doing the right thing for the consumer, our competitors, and our community