sudeva

Thanks to all responders so far for your insights. Arthur, when I first started poking around this subject I was indeed very surprised to learn of California's restrictions—especially given the intuitive desirability/viability of having distillery tastings and direct sales dovetail with the strong tourism industry that already exists in the state's wine-producing areas. Roger, please do post an update here if you make progress toward the exempt status that would allow the flexibility you describe.

I am a humble admirer of the distilling craft, not a practitioner. I am a magazine editor and journalist. Though I have not written about artisan spirits/craft distilleries before, I recently realized that it is one of those things I'm already researching on my own dime; so I thought I should poke around the forum to get a better sense of this vibrant and growing community as I think about continuing my research on someone else's dime!

Hi to everyone out there in the spirit world. I am curious about examples of craft distillers restricting some (or even all) products to on-site sales. I am aware of some distillers that have a few super-small-batch/seasonal/special spirits that they sell only on-site for practical/promotional/just-plain-fun reasons. I am not, however, aware of any distillers that sell wholly on-site, i.e., you would have to be physically present to purchase anything they make whatsoever. I imagine this might exist in the case of distilleries that happen to be 1. in states where direct-to-consumer spirits sales at the site of production are allowed, and 2. too young and/or small to have any wholesale distribution, and for whatever reasons do not offer shipping. While it's easy enough to track down, say, a number of distilleries in the Northeast that make brandy, one can't exactly do the same sort of data-mining to find producers who restrict their sales in these ways. So I was wondering if you good folks out there might be able to think of artisan distillers who do this. I should mention that I am a journalist whose interest in craft distilleries has, up to this point, been entirely that of a private consumer. And though my interest remains primarily personal, I have started to look into craft distilleries/microdistilleries with a professionally oriented curiosity—which is why I'm spending more time pondering somewhat obscure questions like this one. So fair warning that this post may wind up being the basis for some article research. To take one example of a mixed-bag on-site policy: San Juan Island Distillery in Roche Harbor, WA, has very limited distribution—aside from on-site sales, four (nearby) stores in Washington State carry their products, though some spirits (e.g. seasonal gin) are sold exclusively at the distillery. The distillery does not ship to individual buyers, though at least one of the stores that carry their spirits will ship, providing a back door for Internet/phone orders. (Granted, SJID has been in business barely a year and a half and has more than doubled their product line in the past thirteen months, so it remains to be seen how their distribution will grow and change. But when I dropped in on the proprietors last year, they were emphatic that their decision not to ship was in large part a philosophical matter.) So: —Is anyone aware of distilleries where some (or even all) of the products are limited to on-site sales? If so, why do they do so? Thanks!