Michael B

Also, RE experience. Neither mysellf nor my wife had any real world distilling experience prior to getting our federal DSP. We laid this fact out first and foremost in the interest of full disclosure. This lack of experience was not a barrier to raising capital, though we did the majority of our fundraising through the sale of shares of our S-Corp.

-Scott

Yes, that is the only other brand whose label I've seen it on.

I guess it could be a grandfathering reason, though the other biz has only had their product on the market for about two years.

Care to share those ballpark ideas?

Haha. Of course.

"I am not a vigilante. I am just trying to get home to my little girl's birthday party and if everyone will just stay out of my way, nobody will get hurt."

Michael

So we recently received a label rejection and they cited a need for us to remove a particular word/ingredient (I'd rather not say which word/ingredient at this point) from the label because it inferred a health claim. However, there is another brand (same spirit- vodka) currently out there which uses this same exact word/ingredient on its front label. Unless TTB has recently rejected their prior approval of this brand's use of the word/ingredient, it appears they're inconsistent.

I don't know the innards of the ttb labeling department, but do I have any recourse here (besides hiring an expensive attorney)?

Thanks for any wisdom, experience, advice you can impart on this one!

Michael

Newbie question:

I'm curious- for those of you who self-distribute (and are running a very small operation- as in there are just a couple of you running things), about how many accounts seems too much to manage (considering the invoices, collections, deliveries, etc)? I'm sure there are many factors to this, but wondering if there's some quick and dirty advice on this.

Second newbie question: on average, about how many cases/bottles do you typically deliver at one time to each mom & pop store, and also to each bar/restaurant?

Thank you!

Thank you, Andrew.

That's surprising that they rejected "refreshing"-- I'm curious, was that word on the front or back label?

Can you tell me if:

1. we can send in another (slightly different) spirits label to TTB (for the same bottle) during the 45 days it takes them to consider our original label submission? (I'd like to potentially save some time)

2. even though TTB states they can revoke a previously approved label, has anyone actually experienced this or know of it taking place?

Thank you!

Michael

I have a wholesalers basic permit and I'm looking for a contract vodka distiller & bottler in California. If you're interested, send me a private message and let me know the lowest number of cases you'd be willing to produce. My intent is to start very small and grow from there.

Thanks,

Michael

are the parenthesis around (vodka) significant? As in a vodka-based beverage, like EggNogg? Or is your beverage a vodka? Cause vodka is great anytime of the year (I'm a little biased). Important to stress the "priming the pump" stage of any new product launch. A season's worth of leeway would be the least I'd say you can factor in before the product has made it's way through all of the required channels and is finally on the shelf or back bar. And remember, getting product out there doesn't always mean cash is going to flow back to you at the same rate. Be sure to factor in each tier's payment terms into your launch plan too. Again, every state setup and indiv broker's way of doing business is going to factor into this time frame. Good Luck, -Scott

The beverage is straight vodka- no eggnogg.

I had once overheard that early winter/late fall (before Christmas) was the best time to launch, and summer was the worst, but didn't hear the rationale nor the full context (marketing/sales? production costs? ??)

...and the worst time?

Thanks for your wisdom on this one!

M.