Contract Distilling in CA

[patameus]

Hey I'll keep this as bullet points to save you all time.

• I'm trying to figure out what permits I need to hire an existing distiller to do a contract run.
• I know the TTB will let me do it with a wholesalers license but without an actual warehouse.
• I'm working with the CA ABC to try to see what the minimum requirements are to be a wholesaler (they seem to require that I have a proper warehouse.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Patrick

[patameus]

So, I'm guessing no, but how about another angle? Has anyone had any experience contract distilling in CA? It seems easy enough for a lay person to produce a contract beer or wine run, but the TTB/ABC have been fighting me tooth and nail on a hooch run.

Anybody know of a good place to start?

[Natrat]

I think the way to go is to become a distributor, with a distributor's license. Then you can approach a distillery about doing a private label brand, and you are the sole distributor.

But I'm guessing...this is not an area of expertise, for me.

[patameus]

Yeah, and I know that's an option but I was hoping to be able to get around it as it's a bit of a delay. Thanks for the response, let me know if you can think of anyone who might have some experience with this one.