Microdistillery in a storage container?

[middleofnowhere]

This isn't a joke, though it would have made me laugh before I started seriously considering it.

Two partners and myself are wanting to get started by having our actual distillery in a storage container. Put an emphasis on "micro" here, but having never started a distillery of any sort, does anyone think this can fly? We already possess a large storage container, and can chop holes in the roof, add doors to the back, etc to make it meet whatever requirements necessary.

If no one has heard of this, where should I look to see if this could be pulled off?

[OldSpye]

It's really more about where you put it. It's certainly possible to "renovate" a container into a passable, if not perfectly usable, production space. But all the code that goes along with where you park it (so to speak) and how you integrate it into its space are where most of the "gotchas" lie.

[TetonDistillery]

Having been through the TTB process with two different distilleries, I have my doubts that they would approve it. They require some really solid documentation about the building, the lot, the zoning, the lease with the landlord, etc.

[Silk City Distillers]

The mobile nature of a shipping container is exactly why the TTB would never allow it. Just like the prohibition of vessels and boats. If the container became an integral part of a building, that might change the dynamic a bit.

[middleofnowhere]

Having been through the TTB process with two different distilleries, I have my doubts that they would approve it. They require some really solid documentation about the building, the lot, the zoning, the lease with the landlord, etc.

The owner of the land and the container will be one of the owners of the distillery. This property is extremely remote, its 1.5 hours to the nearest one horse town. Thoughts?

[John D]

I know of a Distillery in one of those prefabbed wooden sheds about 10 / 16.

[middleofnowhere]

I know of a Distillery in one of those prefabbed wooden sheds about 10 / 16.

Have a website or contact info for them?

[John D]

Rock bottom distillery Cowpens or Gaffney SC. I think they moved from the shed to a bigger space but they where is the small one for two years.

[Artisan Still Design]

we've been thinking of doing this as a mobile showroom. complete working distillery crammed into a 20ft shipping container.

its very doable, but whethrt or not TTB allows it, I think there has to be some work around.

[daveflintstone]

You will not be putting a distillery in a shipping container, you will be putting a distillery in a 8'x40' steel building.

A shipping container is only a shipping container when it is being used for shipping. Once you repurpose something, it becomes the new thing.

There is no reason to disclose to the TTB what your building was formerly used for, be it a shipping container or a gas station or a barn or a house or an airplane hangar...

If you are constructing a traditional building, the TTB is not interested in where the materials come from nor if they've been used previously. So if you're constructing a building out of a shipping container, ipso facto the same thing is true.

The caveat of only supplying the information requested definitely applies here.

Obviously your local zoning/building requirements would have to be met.

[Artisan Still Design]

You will not be putting a distillery in a shipping container, you will be putting a distillery in a 8'x40' steel building.

A shipping container is only a shipping container when it is being used for shipping. Once you repurpose something, it becomes the new thing.

There is no reason to disclose to the TTB what your building was formerly used for, be it a shipping container or a gas station or a barn or a house or an airplane hangar...

If you are constructing a traditional building, the TTB is not interested in where the materials come from nor if they've been used previously. So if you're constructing a building out of a shipping container, ipso facto the same thing is true.

The caveat of only supplying the information requested definitely applies here.

Obviously your local zoning/building requirements would have to be met.

that is a very good point.

[dhdunbar]

You are not going to get approval for a mobile DSP. But that does not say that you can't make a DSP using modular construction. I would be prepared to have a way of tying it to a foundation if TTB objects and it is impossible to predict when they will object or why. My best advice - don't guess or gamble. Until we have specific facst about a specific container located in a specific place and secured to that space in a specific way (even if by way of the weight of it alone), we are dealing in speculation.

If someone knows of someone who has done what you propose, then perhaps permission to do so was granted by private letter ruling. And if it was not, then I'd be a little bit reluctant (okay, a lot reluctant) to start a letter to TTB saying, "As in the case of ABC Distillery, we wish to establish a DSP premises in a 40 foot storage container located on ...."

I'd start preliminary inquiry with TTB, in the form of a mother may I letter, but i'd not actually make application until TTB has indicagted condistions under which they would approve and the local building department and fire marshal weigh in with their two cents worth.

What is the time line? How serious are you?

At the risk of appearing to troll for business - and I post a lot to these forums without mention of the fact my services are for sale - if you want to pursue this and would like help, give me a call and we can talk about how we might go about framing the issue, etc.

[daveflintstone]

The OP is not asking about a mobile distillery, I believe. He's asking about repurposing specific materials to make a distillery building. A shipping container that has been turned into a building is a building, not a shipping container. I will stick with my original assessment that it is not necessary nor required to inform the TTB of the history of your building materials.

[stevea]

I know of a Distillery in one of those prefabbed wooden sheds about 10 / 16.

Interestingly I had a chat w/ TTB a few week ago and the fellow specifically said they wouldn't approve sheds, they want a permanent structure. The sort that appear on property tax records. . I'm not saying it wasn't done in the past, nor that a shipping container can't be considered.

Somewhere a couple years ago I recall seeing a vid of someone in NY state using a shipping container for barrel storage (I seem to recall it was Hudson - anyone know for sure?). I suppose that once they get it approved as part of the bonded area you can do anything in there.

I'd call the TTB and ask - they are the only authoritative source.

===

OTOH you need two exits for basic safety, and I think that may be hard.

[daveflintstone]

I think the key thing to remember here is that the structure, any structure used, will need to be approved as such by local authorities. Once that's done, you have a permanent structure, regardless of how difficult it may or may not be to move that structure in the future.

[leftturndistilling]

We use a shipping container for all of our aging and spirit storage ... It was on all of our drawings that were approved through the TTB for our DSP ... It is included in our bonded premises and I did have to file paperwork with the bonding company for consent to move spirits between the two buildings (across the parking lot) ... The container is identified as a "separate building" ...