Hi all
Jay Erisman here, from The Party Source. Scott, we are really looking forward to seeing some Templeton Rye on our shelves in 2008--double for you, Ralph and Gabe, since all you got is a half bottle! We are sold out today of Stranahan's.
Ralph's point about Europe is well-taken. I know your French vendor, Maison du Whisky, has been in touch with Bill about the conference, and is very eager to get their French hands on some of your spirits. In fact, European merchants like that could apply some of the same pressure on the EU from their end, pointing out the unfairness of definitions. Scotland, particularly, should take heed, after winning trade decisions regarding Indian "whisky" made from sugar. There is no doubt that Bourbon and Rye are true whiskeys, made from honest grain, and in most examples also aged in wood.
I do want to warn you all about growing too far and too fast. Just to name one example, Anchor has been out of whiskey for the better part of 2007; I haven't seen anything from them but gin in what seems like forever. Yet I see it for sale at Maison du Whisky. God love 'em at Anchor, but from my selfish retail perspective I sure wish they'd take care of the home market before sending stuff around the world. I think winning over American consumers, and changing our culture here at home, will have a greater long term, strategic impact than the quick cash flow of exports to Europe. I suspect it is whisky collectors that drive the interest at merchants like Maison du Whisky (in fact, my two most insane whisky customers are a Lufthansa pilot and, amazingly enough, a German Bengals fan who flies in for a game every year, poor bastard couldn't he have picked a good team!) while in America, you need to reach a group that doesn't even know America makes an quality spirits outside, maybe, of Kentucky Bourbon. You need to be in position to convert America to craft spirits when the iron is hot. My $.02...
I had a great time at the conference, and really got a lot out of it. The lot of you will be hearing more from me in the months to come, if you know what I mean

Jay Erisman
Fine Spirits Manager
The Party Source
================
Ralph Erenzo wrote:
Thanks Scott. We had a blast. For everyone, it was a weekend well worth the efforts.

Here's something for everyone to chew on. Perhaps together we can actually make something happen:
It was a great pleasure to meet all our cousins in the craft spirits industry in Louisville. Brian Lee, Gabe Erenzo and I thank you all for your enthusiasm and hard work to bring back small craft distilling in it's truly traditional form, by hand, a batch at a time.
We will all face the problems of generating revenue as quickly as possible once all our works come online and licenses are issued. It's for this reason there was general interest in white, unaged spirits and short-aged whiskeys. Additionally, the new distiller needs to find untapped markets which are appreciative of interesting American traditional whiskey. One huge and interested market is Europe. We have discovered a strong and growing interest among European spirits fans. Unfortunately, if any new American whiskey distiller wants to market short aged, or even "straight" whiskey in the EU, he/she are prevented from doing so for at least three years after the spirit is put in oak. There is a matter which must be addressed by every new aged spirits producer. Nobody who was on hand in Louisville can deny the proliferation of new craft distilleries in the US is at an astounding level. The craft spirits industry in the US went from five distilleries in 1995 to over one hundred twenty today with another two hundred license applicants submitting for new facilities in the next year. That represents a considerable amount of potential excise tax revenue.
A small distiller of aged grain spirits, "whiskey" under Federal definition has the initial problem of balancing the huge financial outlay to establish his distillery and then develop his product against making money right away to cover ongoing costs for production, staff, oak, etc. The "traditional" method employed by big distilleries is to put up whiskey in oak and wait anywhere from two to twelve or more years before it is sold. Small privately owned distillers have not the luxury of existing inventories from which to draw product to sell immediately. Some distillers, as we are, are working on methods for shorter aging periods. These methods are making it possible to produce a high quality aged whiskey spirit in less than a year. This has done wonders for our cash flow and has allowed our little distillery to flourish nationally and to establish an international reputation for the quality and uniqueness of our products. Again, other new distilleries are following closely behind with methods all their own, within the Federal definitions of the spirits they are creating.
We have found some of the most impressive demand for quality American spirits is in the EU. However, under pressure from the Scotch Whisky association, the EU has now defined "whiskey" (the American spelling) and "whisky" (the European spelling) with the requirement it be aged a minimum of three years before it can be called "whiskey" or "whisky" and imported to any EU country. It acknowledges that "bourbon" is an American spirit. But the EU has defined bourbon as requiring the three year aging time, when the US does not specify any aging requirement for whiskey, except in the case of "straight whiskey" which is aged a minimum of two years in new charred oak.
It is a case of the European Union, and specifically the Scots, defining an American distilled spirit product which is simply not the same product as the Scottish whisky. Imagine if the US insisted that the US Federal definition of "whiskey" be applied to Scotch imported to the US. The US regulation requires "new charred oak" barrels; the EU definition of "whisky" (the European spelling) and also "whiskey" (the American spelling) is not required to be aged in new charred oak; Scotch is aged primarily (and ironically) in used American bourbon barrels.
We strongly suggest you contact your US Congressman and work with them to explore the potential to exert some pressure on the EU through the appropriate Federal agency, with the goal of getting EU to recognize that there is a distinct difference between European "whisky" and American "whiskey". It is not the place for the EU to define our American products, thereby limiting new developments by creative American distillers (the Scotch have been making their whisky the same way for many generations) and handicapping the new and emerging American craft distilling industry, which is now at the place occupied by craft brewers twenty years ago.
The EU should recognize the difference between the two products and their national origins and eliminate the arbitrary and unilateral regulations put in place to protect only the Scotch whisky makers. This is an unfair restraint of trade and hurts American craft distillers.

Ralph Erenzo
Tuthilltown Spirits Distillers
14 Gristmill Lane
Gardiner, NY 12525
Tel/Fax 845.255.1527
Cell 845.797.9010
==============
Good show all! Jay has got a good point in... develop the market in the US first, then if any left over later for expansion go to EU and beyond...it is much more expensive to go international anyway for that "iffy niche".
Ralph has a point about the EU definitions, but could it be as easy, perhaps, to find out who they are over there and sending them a direct correspondence of our definitions and concerns ...there are probably just a handful of decision makers (like here) to make it law. If someone knows, we can all send letters and change this thing. Hell, send em a free bottle as well!
But I just make the stuff
Nice to see ya'll and keep up the good work...some great product out there....I wish the best for all newbies-keep the faith...keep the spirit alive.
Joe Thomas Corley
Director Of Production
Germain-Robin Distillery
1110 Bel Arbres Drive
Redwood Valley, CA 95470
joecorley@earthlink.net
(707) 485-0670
=====================

The still was built in 1960
It will make continuously 1500Liter/hour mash with 10%Vol to a 85%Vol distillate, using 300-400 kg/hour steam.
You can see a the view of the column in the file attached to this email. It has 12 mash trays (B) build as "bell-trays" and 8 rectification trays (C) , 5 build as "sieve-trays"and 3 as bell- trays, and a dephlegmator (backflow condenser) (D). The system is quite simple. Once on temperature the cold mash from the fermentation (via a) will be heatet up in the dephlegmator (D) then pass down to the Mash column (via b) into the column. The alcohol vapours will rise into the rectification column, the stillage will be stripped while rinsing down through the bell trays.

Dimensions:
Height: 8 m
Diameter mash column 0,6 m
Diameter rectification column 0,5m
Weight approx. 2500 kg
Price 9900,- Euros in my facility, dismounting costs depend on the shipping system. If it can be shipped in one piece it will be 500 Euros if it has to be dismounted into several barrels it will be 1500Euros.

If you are interested you can call me on my mobile phone +49 172 5810267

. Thanks,
Georg Honsel
georg.honsel@gmx.de
===================

BOURBON AT ITS BEST
The Lore and Allure of America's Finest Spirits
By Ron Givens

"Ron Givens has performed a real service to humanity, or at least the portion of it that loves good old American whiskey. Concise, clear, and clever, his book has earned itself a place on the top shelf of my bookcase, where all the good stuff is."
David Wondrich, Esquire magazine

Many consider this a golden age of bourbon. Never before have so many wonderful whiskeys, with such an astonishing range of flavors that can be enjoyed by connoisseurs and newcomers alike, been available to thirsty consumers. In BOURBON AT ITS BEST ($25.00, Clerisy Press, April 2008) Ron Givens has written an essential guide to this lip-smacking world and provides a comprehensive roundup of the finest bourbons around, complete with tasting notes and production information.
Even for those who know their small batches from their single barrels, BOURBON AT ITS BEST takes whiskey enthusiasts deeper into this intoxicating subject. Givens chronicles the history of this All-American elixir, invites readers into the distilleries where it's produced, sits down with the legendary bourbon makers for their tangy memories, and shows them where they can go to see grain transformed into spirit.
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Western Colorado start-up distillery with a state-of-the-art Bavarian Holstein Still looking for an experienced distiller. Vodka first, whisky and brandy down the line. Salary DOE. Call Mackenzie at (530) 798-1982.
===============
Dear Mr Owens,
I have been assigned the task of hiring a master distiller to start a distillery for a company in Eastern Washington. Kris Berglund at MSU suggested I contact you to find a qualified, experienced distiller to set up the operation. He spoke highly of you and your knowledge of the craft distilling industry.
The capital is available and the facility is acquired. What we lack is the precise knowledge of the distilling process . This master distiller would be responsible for specifying and ordering the appropriate equipment and overseeing the preparation of the facility. He would also be responsible for overseeing the installation process and finally, for the crafting of Vodka, Gin and Whiskey. High quality Whiskey is the primary long-term goal. We wish the distillery to be on the large side of craft distilleries. Our estimates suggest the need for an initial 500 gallon pot still; however, we wish to have a distiller in place prior finalizing the design and purchasing the equipment.
If you know of a someone with this knowledge and experience please forward their contact information to me or have them contact me directly.
Thank you advance for taking the time to reply.

Jon Combs
509-534-9000================

Dear Sir, Sir
I am SK Shrivastav Master Blender in a leading distillery of Union of Myanmar. At present I am in jaipur (India) and in search of a suitable job in liquor industry in any country. I am forwarding my cv for any suitable position in your organisation. Anticipating a positive reply.
To contact me: kumarshara@gmail.com
================

ABOUT 90 miles outside Rio de Janeiro, after the bikinis of Ipanema give way to shantytowns, industrial suburbs and finally green hills, a dozen empty 9,000-liter oak casks lie in a new cellar outside a 18th-century Portuguese colonial farmhouse surrounded by 1,500 acres of forest, pasture and sugar cane.
Antônio Rocha hopes those casks, when added to the 17 full ones in another cellar, will help satisfy the growing taste in the United States for wood-aged cachaça, a smoother, sippable version of the spirit his family has been making for four generations on the farm.
If people in the United States have ever tried cachaça fermented and distilled sugar cane juice it's probably when it has provided the punch for a caipirinha cocktail made with lime and sugar, mixed with a more heavy-handed mass-produced brand.
But at Mr. Rocha's farm, they chop sugar cane from their own fields, put it through a water-powered mill, ferment the juice with naturally occurring yeast and distill it using power generated by burning the leftover sugar cane pulp.
To age his 5-year-old cachaça, he uses cherry wood casks. His 12- and 25-year versions are aged in French oak. The casks in the warehouse are part of an expansion of the business.
For years, the family sold their cachaça to other bottlers around the state of Rio de Janeiro and didn't even use its own label, Rochinha, until 1990.
"Until 1990, cachaça didn't have any value," Mr. Rocha said. "The ones that sold were the ones that advertised; the quality ones didn't advertise. It was only by word of mouth."
Four years ago he began selling his 5- and 12-year-old cachaças in the United States, in liquor stores including Astor Place Wine & Spirits in lower Manhattan and by the shot at Churrascaria Plataforma in Midtown.
Aged cachaças, which usually have spent at least a year in wood casks, are only a tiny fraction of the overall cachaça market in the United States, maybe a thousand 9-liter cases a year, according to Olie Berlic, who imports Rochinha through Excalibur Enterprise in Greenwich, Conn. But demand is growing.
Imports of all cachaças (pronounced ka-SHA-sas) in the United States are way up in the last decade: 647,000 liters in 2007, compared with 213,000 liters in 2002 and fewer than 100,000 as late as 1998, according to the Brazilian government.
The two brands that dominate the market Pitú and 51 are mass produced and marked up at least five times over their retail prices in Brazil, where they cost little more than a bottle of water and get little respect.
Those sorts of industrial brands are made in large column stills, whereas small-batch brands use copper pot stills known as alambics.
Leblon, which came on the market in 2005 and is No. 3, is a purer, fruitier, more slickly marketed spirit, and has garnered good reviews. It and other labels vying for consumers in the United States, like Água Luca and Beleza Pura, can be consumed straight, but they are being marketed for making caipirinhas (pronounced kye-peer-EEN-yahs).
Meanwhile, tagging along for the ride are a few aged cachaças from small distillers like Rochinha, imbued with the flavors, and sometimes the colors, of the wood they are stored in.
Mr. Berlic, a former sommelier at Gotham Bar & Grill in Greenwich Village who created Beleza Pura, also imports most of them. In addition to Rochinha, there's GRM from the state of Minas Gerais, and Armazem Vieira from the southern state of Santa Catarina.
"You are seeing the infancy of a category," said Mr. Berlic, who traveled Brazil, tasting 800 cachaças, to choose his imports. "What cachaça can show the world is a variety of flavors that is unavailable in any other spirit."
He said at least 20 kinds of wood are being used for aging, including oak, which can add a toasty vanilla note, and native Brazilian trees like jequitibá rosa, which can imbue the drink with spicy notes like cinnamon.
And nearly all cachaças maintain a whiff of their sugar cane roots.
How far people in the United States have to go to enjoy the variety of cachaça becomes clear with a visit to the Academia da Cachaça, a restaurant in Rio de Janeiro, where aged cachaças in the hundreds line the shelves and regulars carry a "cachaça notary" card that grants them special tasting privileges. There are 100 choices on the annotated menu, specifying the city and state of origin, the years of aging and the kind of wood they were aged in.
But Brazilians may not have that much of a head start on cachaça appreciation. Though cachaça has been around since the 1500s, it's had an up-and-down ride, and only in the last decade or so have high-end brands became popular.
"Brazil is no longer the only country in the world embarrassed about its distilled liquor," the Brazilian edition of Playboy said last April, when it ranked the top 20 cachaças.
(Two brands imported by Mr. Berlic's Excalibur Enterprise made the list: GRM at No. 19, and Armazem Vieira, from the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, at No. 8.)
Still, cachaça straight up seems to be a hard-to-acquire taste even for some Brazilians. At São Paulo's exclusive Skye bar, atop the $500-a-night Hotel Unique, with a view of the skyline so vast that it looks like Manhattan in a hall of mirrors, they use GRM to make the most expensive caipirinha in the house, costing 30 reais, or about $17. Purists might cringe, but for those who shy away from tasting liquor straight up, aged cachaça is an interesting variation.
In the United States, bars, restaurants and stores that want to offer a range of cachaças for sipping have been stymied because they can't get what they want.
Jean Frison, general manager of Churrascaria Plataforma, said he snaps up every kind he can find in New York; he has found 30. (Mr. Berlic said 40 are available nationwide, with 30 more on their way.)
At Plataforma, cachaça can cost as little as $5 for a shot of Pitú, to as much as $15 for GRM. Bottles range from about $12 for the industrial brands to $100 for the aged imports. At Astor Wine and Spirits, Beleza Pura is $24.99 a bottle and GRM 2-year is $69.99.
When Titus Ribas opened the Cachaça Jazz Club last year in Greenwich Village, he envisioned a epicurean cachaça shelf to show off the best of the artisanal cachaças from Minas Gerais state, which is a cachaça hotbed. Caught up in booking bands, though, he gave up and serves Pitú and Leblon.
Mr. Rocha and others, though, will keep trying to win people over to the taste of fine cachaça.
His family has been in the cachaça business since 1902, and he grew up steeped in it. "I didn't like television or video games or toys," he said. "For us, playing was taking apart a tractor."
He started drinking cachaça when he was about 13; even when he was studying mechanical engineering in Rio de Janeiro, he would come back weekends to work. He hopes to have an expanded business to pass on to a fifth generation, his son, Rodrigo, who was born on Jan. 18.
"We can't force him," Mr. Rocha said. "But I want to make him so proud of the brand, that he continues producing what we've done here for 106 years."
article from NY Times.
======================

LANSING - A newly proposed liquor license is boosting the spirits of 11 artisan distilleries across Michigan.
The new class of license would cost distilleries only $100 a year and is part of a larger proposal that would also allow distilleries to sell their products onsite and offer samples to visitors.
Currently distiller-only companies must pay $1,000 a year to distill liquor and sell their products through a third party. Wineries and breweries can obtain a more limited distillers' license to produce fruit brandies and other spirits.
Ken Wozniak, director of executive services for the Liquor Control Commission, said Michigan is a "control state," meaning the government acts as a wholesaler for distilleries. They must meet mandatory standards and sales quotas to sell to retailers and restaurateurs.
A distillery that doesn't meet its quotas can sell only through the tasting rooms of its own wineries or breweries.
Lee Lutes, a winemaker and winery manager at Black Star Farms in Suttons Bay, said that's a problem because many consumers don't know about the products.
"Our biggest issue is that we are so small," Lutes said. "This is primarily due to the types of products we make, which are 100 percent derived from fruit, and the fact that the American public is not familiar with these European-style brandies - they are precursors to flavored vodkas, but with no artificial flavorings."
"We initially asked the state to allow us to distill fruit, in conjunction with a winery license, to further support the fruit industry in Michigan. We figured we could process enough fruit to, at least, support the industry, and who knows where it may have led?" he said.
"Now the state has basically cut the legs out from under us by creating minimum volumes of our products that must be sold to keep our place in the distribution channels - minimums that we will never meet because of our size.
"This bill represents some positive developments to help turn this situation around," Lutes said.
Rep. Barb Byrum, D-Onondaga, who introduced the bill, said, "Michigan has the tools to be a leader in agri-tourism, and my bill will have an almost immediate positive impact in this area."
George Wertman, general manager at Grand Traverse Distillery in Traverse City, said, "The distillery business now is where the wine and microbreweries were 10 years ago. In Michigan this new industry is a natural that could go hand in hand with our agriculture, if given the chance.
"As the legislation is proposed, we would definitely support this bill, but as you well know, things could change," he said.
Wertman said many tourists go up north to do wine tours, and his distillery would like to offer something similar, but under current laws it can't provide samples of its products - unlike wineries and breweries.
But the bill doesn't address other problems facing distilleries, he said.
"The biggest drawback is our state's liquor laws. We pay one of the highest taxes in the country, making it prohibitive to do business here. Wouldn't it be beneficial to have a graduated tax and tie it to Michigan agriculture - oh, that might be a perfect world," Wertman said.
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. estimates that the new type of license would create $414.7 million in economic activity and 1,400 new jobs.
With 11 distilleries, Michigan is second only to California, but several states have already changed licensing laws to what Byrum's bill proposes.
Kris Berglund, a Michigan State University (MSU) professor said, "Michigan could fall behind other states if we don't act now."
In addition to the Black Star Farms and Grand Traverse distilleries, there are distilleries at Chateau Chantal near Traverse City; St. Julian's in Paw Paw; Leopold Brothers Brewery and Distilling in Ann Arbor; Uncle John's Fruit House in St. John's; New Holland Brewing Company in Holland; Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville; Corey Lake in Three Rivers; Round Barn Winery in Baroda and one at MSU.
Berglund, who is credited with jumpstarting the distillery industry in Michigan, said the new legislation would allow more flexibility in development of products by artisan distillers. "The distillery industry is expanding and it has the potential to rival the wine and microbrewing industries in the future growth."
Berglund is also the founder of an MSU artisan distilling program in partnership with Lulea University of Technology in Sweden.
The program provides information, research and training for the artisan distilling business and those interested in entering it.
The program also offers a two-day workshop twice a year in the United States that focuses on the history of distilling, as well as the fundamentals of operations.
Lutes, of Black Star Farms, said, "We continue to experiment with the different products that are derived from distilled spirits with the hope that the market will continue to be supportive. It's like the wine industry, extremely capital intensive, and it requires a long-term commitment to hope for any kind of return.
"Most of us are doing this because we love it, not because we're making money doing it. With any luck this bill will pass and we'll find better ways to get the products into the hands of the people who want to try them."
The bill is in the Regulatory Reform House Committee. Co-sponsors include Reps. Steve Bieda, D-Warren; Paul Condino, D-Southfield; Marie Donigan, D-Royal Oak; and Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing.
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To print out the Beverag Alcohol Manual click (Manual)
====================== Go to:
http://distilling.com/backissues.html
====================

The link to DSP permits is: http://ttb.gov/foia/fri.shtml
Over 300 DSP licenses with 127 being craft distilleries. The rest are industrial distilleries and importers. Check their websites to see if they really distill.
=====================

===================
--To obtain a distilled spirits permit go to:
">http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/index.shtml

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--To obtain TTB list of DSPs go to: http://www.ttb.gov/foia//err.shtml

=====================
--To obtain TTB statistics on distilling go to: www.ttb.gov then scroll down to "spirits" and then the "year".
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--To obtain Distilled Spirits Laws and Regulations go to: http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/spirits_regs.shtml

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--To obtain label regulations go to: http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/bam.shtml distilled spirits manual circular.
=======================