Info on going pro?

[hairyhippie]

Hey all,

Over the past few months, I've been absorbing as much info from this forum as I can--it's like drinking from a friendly firehose. I've been a homebrewer for quite a while now, and I've starting reading up on distilling theory. The advice here is excellent, and I must say, you guys know your science a lot better than most homebrewer forum denizens!

What has brought me here is this: by luck more than anything else, I have made acquaintances with some investors in my city who support businesses interested in making local products with a hippie tendency to them. I've discussed with one of them the fact that I'm interested in brewing, and while he thinks (and I agree) that the local market is over-saturated with craft breweries, he seemed to think that a distillery (with some amount of organic/all-local-origin products to appeal to the socially conscious) would be a profitable venture. (I'll mention here that I'm in the USA, in case anyone cares.) He recommended I read up more about it, and maybe start to develop a business plan over the next year or two, and if I was interested I would possibly be able to get some financial support from the city's investor organization. That was what prompted me to start reading up on the theory, and I think that I have a pretty solid foundation of knowledge after all my lurking.

What I would like to know now is if anyone has good resources dealing with how to start a professional distillery. I have read "Making Pure Corn Whiskey," "The Compleat Distiller," as much info as I could off this site, as well as far too many brewing books to mention. I can't seem to find many professional primer-type books, so can anyone point me in the right direction?

In the near future I plan on coughing up the dough for a professional distilling course, such as Dry Fly Distilling School or the Kothe Distilling Technologies course. However, I have a voracious appetite for information, so if I could do some learning before I learn, I'd be happier. I am going back and forth as to whether I should attempt a still at home to test the theory; I think that its prohibition is ridiculous, but I'd rather not try to start a professional distillery and have my license denied because TTB caught me with some funny shaped copper stuff in my closet.

Okay, I think I'm done rambling; if you didn't read that, I'll summarize: any resources/encouragement about going pro?
Thanks!

[blind drunk]

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=we ... VoRwQUXuZA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://adiforums.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://www.birkenstock.com/index_gr24.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Good luck.

[hairyhippie]

Excellent, thank you! I'll start snooping around the ADI forum, and read that MSU guide tonight while the wife is in class. I dunno how useful the Birkenstock website will be; I'm more of a Converse man, personally, but it's the thought that counts.

[blind drunk]

Just found this and thought it could help -

http://blog.distilling.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Bushman]

I have visited this distillery not their school but have talked to a few micro distilleries in our state and read the testimonials and they say it is well worth the price if you think you want to go into the business. They have 2 schools that are one on one. One goes for several days and the other a week. Their Vodka was voted best in the world last year.
http://www.dryflydistilling.com/main.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow