Quirk

We are looking for quotes for the following stainless steel tank sizes: Capacities (quantities): 10,000 gallon net (2); 5,000 gallon net (2); 1,000 gallon net (5) ASME dished/flanged heads 18" Outlet height 304 Stainless steel Top Head fittings: 3" triclamp for mushroom vent, 2" triclamp for inlet, larger hole for mixer Shell fittings: 1.5" triclamp ferrule for level sensor, manway Bottom head fitting: 2" triclamp outlet Single wall, no heat transfer needed. These are for beverage alcohol, not hand sanitizer. We are interested in best quality for price, not necessarily speed. Please email quirk@cardinalspirits.com with quotes or follow-up questions. Thank you, Adam

Thank you so much Starcat for the much needed belly laugh. I had no idea Russian trolls had infiltrated the ADI Forums, but here we are!

Sorry if this had been covered - the search function may not have been working when I tried looking through older forum posts on my phone before posting. To reiterate what some other have said, and add my own thoughts: Don't try to sell this stuff. We're using it in our tasting room because our county is sold out. Pay taxes on everything, always. Never use heads in anything that will touch a human. Methanol and humans are chemically incompatible in every possible way. I did speak with the manager of a high-volume corporate pharmacy today about sanitizer. He has received no word from supply chain that more is on its way, and asked me personally to deliver a few gallons so that he and his staff could refill the pump dispensers at their POS stations. It seems clear that hand sanitizer should be a last resort after washing with soap and water, and just avoiding contact in the first place. But if we're going to sustain some level of normality, it seems sanitizer can function as a security blanket if nothing else. Thanks, AQ

Aloe is pretty expensive, and was currently unavailable in Bloomington. The general point of the post is that you can use any emollient, just make use of what is available to you. And while 60% is a good target, better to err on the side of more ABV and target 70% in case of measurement errors.

Hi everyone. We made up a batch of hand sanitizer from GNS because Bloomington is completely sold out. I wrote up our recipe here, and would love you're input on this: https://www.cardinalspirits.com/thedrop/hand-sanitizer-recipes We’ve seen other distilleries talking about using heads for making sanitizer. While this is probably a fine idea for sanitizing non-porous non-coated surfaces, it’s not smart to use on human skin. Methanol is bad for us, which is why we remove it in the first place, right? Anyhow, here are our recipe ideas… Hand sanitizer is simply alcohol + emollient (skin softener). First, here’s a good explanation of how alcohol mixes with oils. And here is what we’ve done: 10 Liters of GNS at 95% ABV 2 Liters of mineral oil 1.5 liters of RO water (any water would work) You need to shake this up pretty good for it to dissolve. And unfortunately, it does come out of solution. We recommend you tell your guests to shake it up before using to redistribute the oil. The basic recipe is 10L of GNS with 3.5L of some kind of emollient. This nets 14.5L of hand sanitizer at 70% ABV.

Hello all, I'm looking to purchase a 2-3yr old Irish whisky. Initial order QTY will be 800 gallons, we're ok with barrels or totes. Total annual volume is likely 2,500 gallons. Please email quirk@cardinalcopacking.com. Thanks, Adam

These are all really thoughtful responses folks. Very valuable information. This thread should be pinned! There has never been a sales forecast in history that was accurate. Never. They are all wrong, always. The question is how close can you get. My uncle rides a motorcycle. He says there are two kinds of riders: those who have wrecked, and those who will. You just have to prepare for the pessimistic forecast, but strive for the optimistic one. And enjoy the ride.

Here are a couple articles about how we did it: http://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/22/forget-happy-hour-how-to-own-your-own-distillery.html https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/start-ups-turn-to-the-crowd-for-financing/?_r=1

Hi all. We are gathering interest for a seminar this Summer. Please have a look and let us know if you're interested: http://cardinalspirits.com/business-of-distilling We've been in business for 2 years, after 3 years of planning. During an intensive 3-day seminar we will open our financial records to you. We will skip theory and dive into actual numbers. We will cover startup costs, fundraising failures and successes, tasting room financials, distribution financials, equipment costs, build-out costs, marketing costs, labor costs, and actual revenue. We firmly believe that if we had access to this information before we began building and purchasing equipment, we could have saved a hundred thousand dollars or more. Please, come learn from our mistakes, and our successes! Where: Cardinal Spirits, Bloomington, Indiana When: June 2017 (dates TBD) Cost: $2,000 person + $1,500 each additional team member. Price subject to change. No deposit required at this time. We are in the planning stage of this seminar and as such will not require a deposit or commitment until date and cost are official.

6. Be sure to thoroughly research the manufacturer and talk to as many of their past customers as possible. Check to see if there is any pending or past litigation against manufacturer.

Yeah sorry @3d0g, I haven't given up, just had to focus on other things. I do want to share what I've learned. I need to make time for it.

Hey everyone, just wanted to throw this out there for any of you who aren't yet open, or maybe just want to read about someone else's journey towards building a distillery: http://cardinalspirits.com/spirit-trail/ I'm writing a paragraph or so every weekday about things I've learned so far. Hopefully it helps someone else out. Best, Adam

Hi all, is there any way to download the signed copy of an approved Transfer In Bond application from the TTB permits online website? I can see the copy I uploaded before it was approved, but need the one that is signed by the director.

Hi David - for another distillery we can sell them at $7.75/glass. If you order 50, we can come down to $7.60. 100 and it's down to $7.45.

If you're looking for tasting glasses, we can help you out: http://cardinalspirits.com/market/whiskey-glasses Should be back in stock next week. If you're looking for other bar glassware, we are very happy with our orders from Zesco.com. Libbey and MCIC are both great quality at reasonable prices. AQ

North Star were you approved?

Hi Ed, We are in the early stages of forming a guild of Indiana distillers, so you're reaching out at a great time. We've had two meetings so far at Sunking in Indy, and will be scheduling our next in the coming week or so. Have you been on that email thread? If not, shoot me an email at quirk@cardinalspirits.com and we'll make sure you get an invite. Best, Adam

Salishesea: we can do $7.30 for 200, so $1,460 total. As for glass size and the properties I find the nose works just as well with a smaller volume, but you should try it first to see for yourself. Shoot me an email with your mailing address quirk@cardinalspirits.com Thanks, AQ

We do a $0.15 quantity discount at 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 (so 7.60, 7.45, 7.30, 7.15 respectively). But I can do 7.60 for 36 glasses. I'm getting on a plane to denver now. Shoot me an email with your address and I will get a glass in the mail to you when I return. Quirk@cardinalspirits.com Thanks! AQ

Hi all, We've been selling these little whiskey glasses from our online store and have seen some good traction with them. We're friends with the designer, and he is selling them in stores in Indiana. For those of you outside of Indiana, we can offer them to you at wholesale price ($7.75/each plus quantity discounts), with an agreement that you won't sell them online or in the state of Indiana. They make for a great combination nosing/tasting glass, feel great in the hand, and look very unique. I've written about the reasoning behind the design, and created some graphics you can see at the bottom of this page: http://cardinalspirits.com/market/whiskey-glasses We sell them for around $11 each online, but I think you could easily sell them for more if you are selling from a physical location like a tasting room. The education and experience of tasting using the glass really sells itself. I also had some postcards printed out with an infographic describing the glass, which I would be happy to include with any orders. I left a space on the bottom right of the card where you can stamp your logo. I'd be happy to ship you one at cost if you want to try one out. I'll also be at ACDA in Denver this weekend (3/13/14 - 3/16/14) and will have a few of these with me if anyone wants to try it out. Best, Adam

Roger - the founders contributed a few years of work researching and planning, and a small amount of capital (five figures). Dehner - We like to think we know the basics of what we're doing.

Jedd, definitely happy to elaborate. Anything in particular you want to know that wasn't in the article?

Hi James, our valuation was done by Localstake, the investment firm. They really helped us determine a fair valuation for us and our investors. In terms of methodology, I can't say exactly how it was calculated, but it was a combination of comparables, EBITDA projections, and factoring in what the founders were willing to sell off. We went through a fairly deep vetting with Localstake, and we feel that they really helped us refine our plan before presenting it to investors in the form of a PPM. They did charge a fee for their services, but we feel it was very fair considering the amount of work they put into the deal, and the investors they brought to the table.

I forgot to add that we just completed a capital raise using a variation of crowdfunding. CNBC wrote a nice little overview of our process: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101219048 We used a local investment firm called Localstake to pitch our investors. We have both accredited and non-accredited investors in our round, many of whom had never before invested in a private company, much less a startup. That's a risky proposition in that we have to manage expectations very clearly, but a majority of the less-experienced investors are friends or family, so we were comfortable going this route. I'm happy to discuss the process if anyone is interested. Adam

In my opinion, worrying about sharing too much of your plan should be low on your list of risks. As you mention in your second paragraph, people are the key. Even if two businesses start out with the exact same business plan, the chances are extremely high that by the time they are up and running, they will have diverged significantly due to their different interpretations of the written plan. I think you're correct that investors will want to know just as much about you and your team as they will care about product differentiation. In this stage of the craft distilling game, the tent is still very large and there is room for many interesting variations like aged gin, pine liqueur, crazy grain whiskeys, vodka made from pumpkins, and anything else you can dream up. I think locality is just as important as a creative product. I love how open everyone is on this forum and in this burgeoning industry in general. It's a good time to start a distillery. Very best of luck on your capital raise Leslie! Adam