Brothers Vilgalys Spirits

Racer Label makes a machine that does this (also manual). Don't know the cost, but you can ask for a quote: http://www.racelabel.com/rltc/

I've only been bottling a couple months, but I'm pretty happy with our xpressfill: http://www.xpressfill.com/volumetric-filler

I do not know about the state stuff in CA, but it should be easy enough to find that info on the CA ABC website. There will probably be some kind of cost with the state fee or license, and you may need to pay something if you're allowed to retail liquor as well. Here in NC, it's a couple hundred bucks a year for the distiller's permit. They mostly get their share of the $$ through taxes when it comes to production.

I would start with spelling "distillery" correctly. Sorry. English major attack. Where in SC are you?

^This. Also you'll have to project your expenses for 6+ months while you handle all the red tape. Start with local compliance before you do anything.

I can definitely understand wanting to update the 'whiskey' designations. Just having looked at those in the past made me glad I was making liqueurs which are more of a catch-all. I did have some opposition to the words "spiced honey liqueur" but that changed after I pointed out there are numerous "spiced rums" and "honey liqueurs", and my product contains all those things. Perhaps there could be an independently certified grain-to-glass designation (similar to fair trade, etc)? It wouldn't even necessarily need to be under the umbrella of the TTB. Having a logo of a third party would also draw attention to the fact that not *all* spirits are always distilled in-house. I sat this mostly because, even as a "non-distiller" who tries to correct people, it's amazing to me how many consumers choose to ignore that detail (or don't appear to understand that "distilling" is actually how you make the alcohol). I really think that 99% of consumers aren't going to know the difference between saying "Distilled by" and "Bottled by" or even that that's a mandatory labeling difference.

By some chance, yes it did

Couple more thoughts to add: About re-drawing the federal regs on this: What's the point? Pride? How are consumers going to benefit, and why should the TTB care when all they're really doing is collecting taxes (and asking for bizarre changes on our labels). I'm not trying to be snarky, as I really do respect the work that goes into these spirits (I wouldn't be in this industry if I didn't). I'm just curious why, on top of all the other marketing BS that goes on with spirits (distilled 10x, etc), this should be the thing to change. I just don't see it helping anyone's brand in particular, and I can't imagine most consumers being that particular about this. Really what I think is more in the interest of all craft spirits producers, whether they're distilling, blending, whathaveyou is to raise more awareness about local, regional, and smaller spirits brands in general. A customer who buys a locally produced spirit and likes it, is likely to try another locally made spirit as well. A large part of why craft brewing has been so successful is because smaller brands largely stick together and promote one another. You wouldn't see one neighborhood brewery attacking another because they used extracts or adjuncts in their beer. We don't have the benefit of having a "race to the bottom" among the big brands in terms of quality the way beer does, and spirits are a much more crowded market with lots of brands. But there is a lot of consumer interest in seeking out new products produced on a local or regional scale. Fostering that interest and growing the entire craft spirit market is better for all of us.

We're blending Krupnikas, a spiced honey liqueur starting with a GNS base. It's actually a recipe I started with at home on the stove, using Everclear, so using purchased GNS is really just a logical step up. I do think there is still a 'craft' or 'artisan' aspect to what I'm doing. I only use whole spices, raw wildflower honey, and GNS in my product. The whole reason I started this company is because I believe sincerely in this product's potential (people absolutely love this stuff), and there's nothing else like it on the market. But that said, I actually actively resist the 'distillery' label and try to correct it every chance I get. There are some headlines and news articles that have come out saying "distillery" and it is the most succinct way to explain to a consumer that we make liquor (and also that we're not a brewery, which are all over the place here in NC). But I do try to explain that to customers and media folks as often as I can. I'd hate to give my customers the impression that we're doing something dishonest if they came for a tour and go "Where's the still?" In our case, it certainly was a matter of cost as well as difficulty. I'm familiar enough with distilling and brewing that I could probably produce some acceptable GNS with some practice, but given the product I'm trying to make (and that this is basically a one-man operation right now) it just made too much sense to buy it from a supplier and make sure the end product is consistent. And the upfront cost of a still capable of producing GNS in the quantities I need, along with mash tanks, fermenters, time, space and power for those, etc, etc just adds up too quickly. Down the road, I do very much want to be distilling our own alcohol, as well as other products, because honestly the red tape is done at this point, so once we can afford it, why not? Whether that's going to be my job or if we end up hiring someone else to handle it remains to be seen. Anyway, just my thoughts. For what it's worth, I did dump a certain supplier of GNS after their salesman tried to push pre-aged bourbon and rum when all I wanted was a price on 190-proof.

No worries, just depends on what kind of time you've got to devote to that. The professionally made stuff almost certainly works better than my homebrew thing, which can really only label one size of bottle anyways. When I do upgrade, I'll probably get one of these: http://www.primeralabel.com/ap362_features.html

We actually built one loosely based this video: Here's a pic (of ours). Total cost was like $16. The label roll goes under a dowel (that you can't see), over the plastic thing which creases so the label comes off, and then under the rollers (that we got at harbor freight for like $6 each). Requires a bit of practice to get the labels spaced right, but works fine. I've also heard the commercial ones made by Race Label are pretty good, but I didn't want to spend the money.

We get by fine with a $20 heat gun.

We can't sell bottles ourselves, just offer samples. NC law limits us to .5 oz samples. I can serve up to two samples per person, but I only have one product. I think as long as we stay strident about not serving to any intoxicated folks, checking IDs, etc, we ought to be in the clear (legally). But of course that doesn't always stop opportunists from trying to sue someone. The tastings would be a good point, except wouldn't those normally be either at a licensed venue or private event (which would have its own one-time policy)? I don't know, I suppose the insurance company would take any excuse they can not to cover any incidents.

So we're just seeing our product on shelves locally here in NC (hooray!), and soon I'll be opening up the tasting room on Satudays. My insurance company is emphasizing the need for liquor liability insurance, which carries a minimum cost of $1,000 / year. That seems extra-ordinarily high to me, especially because it's a policy designed for bars / restaurants. Pouring a single .5 oz sample is a pretty different, and I've tried to explain this. How many tasting rooms bother with this extra insurance? I'll be open 4 days a month, serving a third of a drink. It just doesn't seem like the risk/reward is really favorable here.

Not a whole lot of volume (right now). I'm blending in 30 gallon batches, and after decanting we've got about 5 gallons of sediment and pectins at the bottom. The plastic plate-filter most definitely did not work, even with a pump pushing it. Under pressure, the pectins turn into a colloidal gel and bind together, and pretty much nothing gets through. Don't know if a wider micron filter would make a difference, it seems like the pectin spreads over everything and just sticks there. I can look into bag filters though, may as well. Thanks! Still need to try the centrifuge option. That or I could try pectic enzymes, but those won't work if there's already alcohol in the solution, meaning I'd have to cool my reduction, pitch the enzymes, wait, then heat it up again.

Have a somewhat obscure question for anyone blending liqueurs, absinth, etc who may have to deal with unusual sediments. We're just getting started and are still working out a few kinks with the initial production. My product is a spiced honey liqueur with some colloidal sediments from the botanicals we use in the spice reduction. Essentially we get a gelatinous mass of pectins and other small solids that eventually settles to the bottom of the tank. I can extract the clear top ~90% of the product with no problem, but I'd like to recover as much as I can from the bottom 'sludge', and I'm curious if anyone else has dealt with a similar issue before. The main issue is that the sediments are colloidal and will quickly gum up most regular filters, at least for what I've used at home (coffee filters, cheescloth, fine mesh strainers). I'm hesitant to drop money on a plate and frame filter just because I don't know how well one of those would work. I'm also a bit worried about 'over filtering' and stripping out some flavors, because the product is pretty viscous to begin with. I'm afraid I don't know the exact micron size we want to filter at either. I'm leaning towards using a basket-type centrifuge, although those seem to be either designed for waste veggie oil (and generally not food-safe) or crazy expensive with large-scale beverage processing in mind. My DIY solution is a centrifugal juicer sealed up with food-grade silicone sealant, so we'll see if that pans out or not. I also bought a cheapo plate filter for homebrewing to test the other options. In any case, if y'all have any thoughts, I'd definitely like to hear them! Thanks!

You can buy them individually from a bunch of other resellers who register codes through GS1. I used http://www.nationwidebarcode.com/ but there's plenty of options. Registering through GS1 is necessary for a few larger retailers (WalMart, Kroger), but for most places it doesn't matter.

Pete that would be awesome. Saturday I'll be back at Bros V HQ and take a look at the batch notes, then I'll message you with the info.

If it's been that long, give your senators or congressman a call. A phone call, letterhead, or email from a congressional office might 'inspire' some action on your application. In my case, it worked out "by coincidence" that the call from my senator's office came on the same day as our formula approval. This was in early october. I don't know the behind-the-scenes story here (could really be just a coincidence), but I won't argue with results.

You can also use steam radiators / heaters to heat your facility, if that's why you're interested in hot water for radiators. And steam would still require a pump for the condensate return.

Pete, thanks for confirming that. I am using a lab still to distill out the alcohol, then diluting back to the original volume with distilled water before testing with a hydrometer. I do know the current density of the product as-is, which should get me started, correct? I'm making this on a pretty small scale (30 gallon batches) right now, would alcohol-water contraction be a major factor at this level? To cause more difficulty with simply 'calculating' this, I'm using honey (not just sugar) which can have a variable water content of a few % depending on season, storage, extraction, etc. Will have to try both methods (adding GNS to balance, and adding water / extra strength liqueur), and apparently run a bunch of sample distillations till I get this right. I'm thinking things should be easier once I've worked out the ideal weight of all the ingredients in each batch.

Thanks a ton. I knew I was making this more complicated than it needed to be.

Stupid n00b question from a relative first-timer (We just got our COLA! Time to bottle some spirits!) I make a liqueur with a target of 40% ABV. So far I've made 4 batches, all of which are a little bit less than that. First batch, for example tests at 36.75% ABV after re-distilling a sample. I went a little bit under on purpose with the plan of testing the proof and adding a bit more GNS to get the liqueur to the right bottling strength. And now that I'm attempting to calculate how much GNS-190 to add, I'm realizing this may have been much easier the other way around. The dilution calculators and examples that I see out there are geared towards diluting barrel-proof or high-proof spirits with water, not adding GNS to bump up an under-proof batch. I would see what AlcoDens can do for me, but I've got a mac. I was once good at chemistry (like in high school) but evidently I profoundly overestimated how much of that I've retained. Can anyone help me get me in the right direction?

We ended up with the storeroom lever linked above. It's 6-pin and key-retaining but only needs a key from the outside. I submitted a scan of the lockset specifications with our statement of security. We also have an alarm system with motion and entry detection, along with a smoke alarm, that will call me if anything happens. And it may have helped that we have pretty much a 'concrete box' with no other entry / exit. I also had a padlock that met those specs for the garage door.

I have a 2-drum fire safety cabinet for GNS. That made our inspector happy. Got it from Global Industrial for something like $1400.