Skaalvenn

Paulson Supply.

You may want to check with the city. In my location any pallet shelving system with a shelf above 8' needs to be signed off by an engineer to ensure it's stable and properly secured against tipping.

It is very sad to hear about this happening to someone like Chip. I have only had the chance to meet him in passing and to attend a taste/nosing class he ran in Louisville a couple of years ago. He has a great head for producing top notch spirits. I hope he finds a way out that keeps him in the business.

That being said, I had big plans to build a destination distillery in Minnesota and I have worked for two years to get to a place where I could do it. I have tried to go on loans with small investments from trusted friends/family and no one else. I have had my dream cut back in size twice after being told no one would lend me what I was asking for as a start up with no sales record. I'm down to a 1200sq/ft renovated existing pole shed and a system which can produce two barrels a week. I'm going to be working alone with one person doing some marketing and outreach for us. But after waiting and watching others in Minnesota get on the shelves first, my distillery is finally getting going. We are building out next month and ordering equipment soon. I have often heard the words Venture Capital from people I talk with and friends who say I could make it all happen pretty fast.

This story simply supports the answer I have always given them on why I will wait or build it from scratch. "I don't want anyone telling me what to do or how to do it, even worse trying to take it from me." While making a living is a big concern, My first concern is making a great whiskey people talk about, enjoy and share. Venture Capital doesn't give a crap about what people like me, who are makers at heart, want from this business.

My best to Chip Tate, I hope you find a way out that keeps your name and brands in tact, or if you have to start from ground up, know we are all pulling for you.

You said it Rick.

It can be discouraging to see others start with more--but the pride of figuring it out how to do it all yourself and the reward of not having big loans or investors is worth it. Be proud you are starting with less because you are on the right path to living the American dream (vs living an VCs dream).

Edit: Disregard.

That is terrible news. Unless there's more to the story it seems the state basically decided to run a small business right into the ground.

Time to research the local laws.

I just want to give a shout out to Aaron and his services. He's been a big help for our company, and his bond turnaround was very quick. He's friendly and really knows the distilling industry.

Thanks Aaron!

I have to say that I was recently dowA at Dehner and got to see his new continuous stripping still operate. For the most part he turned it on, briefly dialed in the flow rates and in a day it processed +500 gallons of fermented wash with steady 130 proof output.

The cool thing is that the stripper is ridiculously compact in size. A pallet takes up more floor space and it's only about 9 feet tall.

If I had it in my initial budget I'd pick one up in a heartbeat.

One piece of advise, don't be cheap, get the length you need and make sure the full drain can support the temperature of your discharge. I know of a brewery that had plastic drains pipes tied to their trench drains that melted ! Everything had to be re-done.

Hmm. Is there any way to tell with existing floor drains? The main runs right past where the drains are, so it wouldn't be all that hard to dig them up if needed--it's just something I'd rather not have to do!

Thanks Aaron! Just let me know when you'll be around and I'll be sure to make the arrangements.

It's just a shame that you couldn't come here during the State Fair and have a banquet on a stick (or 4)!

Today we crept out of the shadows and unveiled our website,facebook page and location to the general public.

If anyone has any thoughts or critiques I'd love to hear them.

http://www.skaalvenn.com

http://www.facebook.com/skaalvenn/

Much appreciated!

If memory serves me right there's a distillery/brewery here in Minnesota which is separated by a chain link fence. I haven't been there in person so I'm not 100% sure.

I know this has been discussed in the past, but the search function on this forum does seem to have some issues. If I do a search for "rye" I get no results?!

It seems almost every computer based search function does not allow searches of less than 4 characters. A way to get past that is to enter an asterisk after the term, which the search query will recognize and process. Give it a try, search for rye*

Congrats Roger! Pleasure meeting you earlier this year and I hope to visit soon!

Craigslist typically has a lot of dairy tanks and sometimes at half the price of ebay.

There are also a lot of dairy equipment wholesalers out there.

Hello ADI!

I lurk quite a bit and I figure it's time for a brief introduction.

Skaalvenn Distillery is located in the Minneapolis / St Paul area of Minnesota. We have our space/address but we prefer to follow our marketing timeline and wish to keep everything somewhat under wraps for the time being.

Our name is a combination of two words.

• Skaal is the traditional spelling of the popular Norwegian world "skål" which most people know means "cheers". (aa is also much much easier to type on an English keyboard)
• Venn is the Norwegian word for "friends"

So, Skaalvenn = Cheers Friends!