ArtTheMan

This was a great workshop. I learned a tremendous amount about planning to start my distillery. Especially things that are not typically mentioned in other classes about relationships with distributor, marketing and branding a craft spirit. The information was very helpful. The practical on the floor time was great. They would collect a mason jar of sample of the distillate at every 10 minutes for ~ 3 hours off the still. We then tasted down the line and could make our own judgement for where we would do cuts. Tasting and smelling the difference between heads to hearts cut, and hearts to tails cut was very valuable. I have taken 3 classes on distilling, and this is by far my favorite for practical, applicable knowledge. -Art

Hi All, I am new here, and interested in learning about the process of becoming a mirco-distiller. I have been reading up on legal and other requirements, but had a more general question about setting up shop in order to develop ones skills, before making a product available for sale to the public. I am full-time engineer right now, but would like to start to develop my skills on the side, until I feel they are up to the task of becoming a distiller as a profession. I would like to be able to establish a lab, where I can legally develop my recipes, and get practice of distilling alcohol in small batches in a reproduceable way in order to build up a base of knowledge and experience and recipes, with the eventuality of becoming a producer that sells these as products. I have read many books, and will be taking a distilling class in December. I am aware that anything involved in distilling alcohol will still involve a lengthy legal process of permits and licenses from Federal (TTB), state and local authorities. I am also aware it will be quite costly. So my questions are: Is doing a phase-in approach something that can work given the current set of legal / licensing requirements ? What are some things I should be looking for in order to do a phased approach? Thank you in advance for your feedback. I have found this forum to be an excellent source of material. -Art