Hi all, first post here. So, my idea is to start a distillery which would allow customers to come in and create custom whiskies or other distilled products. The customer could help create a semi-custom mash bill, and "help" in the distillery during mashing and/or distillation. They would leave with an aging vessel of their choice, likely an oak barrel somewhere between 1 and 5 gallons, and leave with their product bottled in 1.75L (maximum legal container size as far as I am aware) containers to put into their barrel to age on their own.
I live in Washington state, which does not have a three tier distribution law, and would allow me to sell limitless (I think) quantities to customers at the distillery, in the non-bonded "tasting room" area. I am fairly sure that legally, this would check out. I don't think there would be any issue with customers being around "helping" during the process, but maybe some of you have more info on this.
Washington has a large market for "bourgie" products and experiences, and I think a unique offering like this would allow my starting costs to remain fairly small, while still bringing in income during the stage when most distilleries are aging product. I would of course be making product to age simultaneously.
I have a close friend who owns a cidery/winery, and would be willing to partner with me to create apple/grape brandy as well, which would be another semi-unique offering, Ias I am not aware of anyone making Washington apple brandy. In addition, I have a...friend who has been home distilling and getting to understand the science and processes required for creation of tasty products.
My question to all you experienced artisan distillers is mainly this: is this anywhere near a feasible idea? This endeavor would likely start with a less than 100 gallon still, and mainly be a weeknight/weekend operation at the start. Am I missing some glaring flaw in my plan? What are your thoughts?
Thanks for reading, and spending the time to help a newbie!