PKSullivan

I'm working through the pile of books I bought at the ADI conference in August as I work on my business plan. The opening page of the first chapter in "The Nano Distillery: The Future of Distilling" caught my eye. "Start by joining the American Distilling Institute (ADI). Members receive access to spreadsheets and business plans..." Joining ADI is covered, but about those spreadsheets and business plans. Where could I find those? I've poked around on the site and can't find anything under the various resources sections. Thanks in advance! -PK

I've been a long time fan of spirits and cocktails and am in the beginning stages of looking to start a distillery here in Chicago. It started with the idea to make nut-free falernum, orgeat, and amaretto because nut allergies have mostly kept me away from the entire tiki genre. Looking into it I realized the business would have to be a distillery, which was surprisingly really exciting to me. Owning a distillery hadn't ever occurred to me but it sounds like a really rewarding career once I hit upon the idea. The business concept has grown from there to be a distilling pub, though with a lighter menu than typical pub fare. I'd like the tasting room to be a top-tier cocktail bar. The laws in Illinois recently changed to make that more feasible and there's a good example of it in the north suburbs with North Shore Distillery. There are plenty of local resources in Chicago to help me with the business plan, licensing, permits, zoning, etc. and I've been in touch with my local non-profit business advocacy group to get started. I joined ADI to get a sense of what the spirits business is like, learn about the business and technique, and hopefully make connections in the industry. The ADI videos have been a great educational resource for me already and I'll be in Vegas next month for the annual conference. Looking forward to meeting folks and seeing if this dream could be a reality. Cheers! -Phil