grehorst

I've checked out Frenchman previously and I assumed most of the product Bonnecaze sold were produced by Frenchman, but when I go to the Frenchman site there seems to be little in the way of fountain selection. Since you pointed them out to me, I will contact them directly. Thanks Gwydeon!

Have been unable to order from Bonnecaze for the last couple weeks- not sure what happened but the site is down and they do not answer the phone. I am in need of a new supplier of fountains and glassware. I order some items from Saxon but frankly they have very little that I want. Any other wholesale suppliers in the US (or foreign that cost effectively sell in small quantity)? Thanks, Guy

To add to what Scott said, you may also want to post some contact info. Someone with the money you'll need is likely not interested in posting a response here. In fact this is possibly one of the last places you want to look for investment dollars- I'd start by looking locally.

Repeating a journey Bill made 50 years ago, ADI president Bill Owens is back from his "epic" 93 day tour of the USA and Europe. The purpose of his trip was to do research on two books on cooperages (The art of barrel making) and artisan whiskey distilleries. Bill's guide in France was Huber Germain-Robin. In Germany his guide was Dr. Klause Haggann of Kothe and Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland his guide was Julia Nourney. Julia is a professional whiskey judge "taster" and knows the European whisky industry inside-out. Once when leaving a small distillery Bill said "I really liked the Carrot Brandy." To which Julia responded "i've tasted better." While traveling the Smithsonian Magazine did a feature on Bill the link is http://www.smithsoni...n-Suburbia.html What's next- the April Brandy conference will be held in Portland Oregon. Registration on the www.distlling.com will start in late November.

Our ways are not the only way to do this- #1 We use an air powered pump (someone posted some model numbers in the forums- search for "pumps"). We also will sometimes take a smaller collection tank and lift it over our blending tanks with the fork lift and let gravity do it's thing. #2 We have our blending tanks on scales and go by weight. Good luck!

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Ralph. This is very bad on many levels. I think the root of the problem is that according to the government (and even some members of this forum) the term "neutral spirits" is just that- neutral, meaning devoid of any characteristic of the source material. In other words, according to the gov't definition (perhaps inference is a better word) grain and cane based distillate is the same once you get above 190. That's great in theory, but anyone who has actually distilled or even sourced the two distillates and compared them will be able to tell you this is not the case. Whiskey should be grain based- even blended whiskey should be grain only. Perhaps Beam should re-apply for these colas as a Distilled Spirit Specialty.

http://www.supremecorq.com/ Just completed our first transaction with them- fast shipment, smaller quantities ok.

Several years ago I was told by a TTB rep. that it is illegal to reuse bottles once they have left the bonded premises. The reason is that this is an excellent audit trail. I seem to recall seeing language reflecting this in the CFR, but that was years ago and after a cursory search tonight can't seem to find it. If you plan to recollect bottles I'd make sure the TTB is ok with this. Edit- found this... § 19.634 Receipt and storage of liquor bottles. No proprietor shall accept shipment or delivery of liquor bottles except from the manufacturer thereof, a supplier abroad, or another proprietor. However, the appropriate TTB officer may, pursuant to letterhead application, authorize a proprietor to receive and reuse liquor bottles assembled for such proprietor as provided in 27 CFR 31.263. Liquorbottles, including those of less than 200 ml capacity, shall be stored in a safe and secure place, either on the proprietor's qualified premises or at another location. Am I nuts? I can't find 31.263 in the online GPO version of Part 27!!!

Ralph, all good news... of particular interest to all licensees of course is the potential for a reduced excise (not to take anything away from your effort re the euro definitions- thanks for that too!). Reduced excise would be a game changer for many. It just so happens that the other day I was rereading the reduced excise threads started by Melkon; http://adiforums.com/index.php?showtopic=200 http://adiforums.com/index.php?showtopic=304 My question is what sort of guidelines did you discuss with the senators assistants? Are we looking at the same "all encompassing" definitions (generous producer volume, wide definition of producer) discussed in the Melkon threads or were narrower definitions discussed? Please keep us up to date, and certainly let us know when we can be of help! Thanks,

Thanks for the heads up! I see our congressman Sensenbrenner on there- he's helped our little distillery out with a TTB problem in the past. I'll give his office a shout.

To be a healthy brand you should ideally be seen on and off premise. We sell more product off premise, but spend a lot more time and effort with the on premise accounts. Why? Because while you may be able to get your product on a shelf in a store, how are you going to drive people to buy it at the store if they aren't trying it in bars? How long will a store keep your product on the shelf if it isn't moving? We've seen several good brands lose their store presence because they NEVER had a presence in area bars. On premise sales will lead to more off premise sales.

I can't imagine the TTB caring at all. They want to know production capacity they don't care about how a still is made - thats more an issue for your local inspectors.

RE Wisconsin. Our state overseers are the Department of Revenue. They do the job assigned to them by the legislature. This means there is no (or perhaps extremely little) room for interpretation. The standing rule is if it isn't expressly allowed in our state laws it can't be done. Our contact at the department of revenue is a very helpful person who is very responsive and knowledgeable. In our situation, if there is anything we want to do and it is not allowed in the regs we have to change the law. Difficult to do in a state with VERY strong special interests ( Wholesalers, Tavern League, MADD, etc...) whose interests may not always be in sync with ours.

As I recall it was explained to me by the TTB that if the distillery owned 100% of a bar it wasn't a problem as far as the federal gov't was concerned. Their concern is when a distillery has a smaller interest in a bar (99% or less) which may create a situation in which the distillery partner could exert undo influence on the bars other partners to creating a tied house- in other words an exclusive arrangement to sell the distillery products. So, feds don't see it as a problem for a distillery to be an exclusive owner of a retailer. Beyond that it's entirely a state issue as to whether or not a distillery (or brewery or winery) can own a retail outlet.

I've been getting these requests weekly for the last couple of years. Great stories too- "I'm an American expat living in the Philippines, Someone gave me your wines as a gift. I want to buy more- please give me your website and tell me what you sell. I will pay by credit card". Red flags- 1. These people do not live on our continent. 2. They said they have had our wine, we don't make wine. 3. Somehow they have my email but they don't know my website. 4. They said they have had my wine in the previous sentence but now they suddenly don't know what I sell and want me to tell them. Any one of these should be cause for concern, but when combined they are almost comical. Mark them as spam and forget about them.

DISCUS also forwarded a note this morning from Debbie Lamb their senior VP of International Issues confirming the Dept. of Commerce has filed a formal notice of objection. Great news!

Not true. Wisconsin is a franchise state. Once you contract with a distributor you are obligated to maintain the relationship whether you are happy with their performance or not. Only exception is if it is mutually agreed to make a change. Just another law that protects the wholesaler from us evil producers.

Excellent post Paul. I've corrected commercial and pinned the topic so it will remain at the top of this forum for all eternity (or until the server crashes).

We've always done our own pest control. For rodents our state Ag Dept guy recommended sticky traps adjacent to every building opening. They're cheap and very effective. As for bugs, just keep cleaning.

All Roberts links had a period after them. I tried to edit them out and it removed them from the text, but for some reason the links still have them. Here's the proper links- http://www.westernsquare.com/wine_and_vine/barrel_racks.html http://www.tequilasource.com/tequilacentinela/index.html http://peer.berkeley.edu/news/2000summer/wine.htm

By permanent do you mean welded on? Because I just removed some permanent branding from some racks one of my distributors had laying around. They now have my not quite permanent branding on them. Seriously, check with your distributors. Wineries constantly send them end cap displays and they usually end up pulling them out of the stores (at the stores request) when the store quits running a special or the distributor no longer has the brand. I've seen several distributors with junk rooms full of this stuff. The originator doesn't want to pay to have them shipped back and they often end up getting tossed out.

Yikes. This thread is only a finger click away from being deleted. No need for the tit for tat. Sean was expressing an opinion on a blog. Agree or disagree he can do that since it's his site. I believe his blog has a comment box if anyone cares to argue, I would do it there- probably a better place because his readers will get a chance to see your differing opinions. ADIforums is a site devoted to discussion of all things distilling. While opinions are welcome, we need to keep it civil.

At the request of a member we have established a new forum under the "Career" section called "Business Opportunities". All can post to this forum including unregistered guests. Have an idea for a new forum? Post it here.

Be prepared for years of work if starting from ground zero. However, an amendment can be added by any legislator (if I remember high school civics correctly) and it can make changes quickly- it doesn't mean the whole bill fails if the amendment fails. Love the brewers, but we need to look out for our own interests just as they are only looking out for theirs. You want to cut time and get it done? Go the amendment route.

This could be a great opportunity. If anyone locates a link to the proposed bill please post it here. It might be possible to lobby the sponsors, explain our situation and encourage them to amend the bill to include language for small distillers when it gets to the floor. This could be a lot easier than starting with a new distillery specific bill.