POLL- YOUR distillery

[MountedGoat]

I ask because I love people to succeed, I just want to know how many want to do more and what they are willing to give for it. Choose as many as you like, you can't change though. I started the answers, so don't be shy

[punkin]

Dot; Sneakily gather stocks in a barrell house for a couplea years before you retire and start a distillery...

[wineo]

Hangover free!!If you rented a nightclub,and threw a big party,serving only hangover free booze in all the popular flavors etc,Everyone of those people would be your customer.They would tell everyone they know about this magical booze that you can drink all night,and not get a hangover from.5 years later,you would be a multi-million dollar operation.If I could only find some good investers!

[MountedGoat]

I like your thinking Wineo, in our Utopia it would work that way perfectly. Maybe we could make brandy in the pot, then reflux the heads and tails into flavored hangover free vodka! That would be a club I could get into with some investors

[Dan Call]

The distilling industry has largely been characterized by huge conglomerates. Brown-Foreman and Seagrams seem to own everything. Heaven Hill, owned by the Shapiro family, is the largest privately owned distillery in the US, probably the world.

Europe is characterized by 'wine estates,' that is, relatively small farms in specific regions that have produced highly distinguished products for years and years. This has never really caught on in the US because of the corporatized nature of the business and the post-prohibition economic barriers to starting a large scale operation. Jack Daniel was probably the last individual that single-handedly boot-strapped his way to being a major, other notables including the Wathen family (Bourbon), and Colonel Blanton (Blanton's distillery) but Jack was pre-prohibition and had no long family line like the Beams, Samuels (Maker's Mark), or the Van Winkles. Jack was unique in that he was the longest continuously operating distillery in the entire country, right up to prohibition.

What I see happening is something similar to micro-breweries. Craft distillers will become more prevalent and will be characterized by market flexibility. Far and away the two most popular micro distillery products are Vodkas and Rums, with a smattering of white whiskey makers, notably Chuck Miller and Virginia Lightning. This market flexibility and an ability to ramp up products quickly and in smaller quantities and higher quality is what will first become a thorn in the side of the majors. As it stands, you have to accept them on their own terms, you drink what they offer. That's going to change. Look at Samuel Adams, the largest second tier brewery in the country, which is now almost a major, though Bud and Busch are still doing just fine. There's room for everyone.

The more distillers you have, the more healthy competition you have, the more price competitiveness you have, the consumer wins, and the whole industry gets sharper and more varied. That's what I see happening.

[trthskr4]

I hope you're right Dan, and UJ and others who are trying to live their dream get a shot at it. Germany was really cool in that every pub had their house brew and if I remember right there was a flag out on their signs and if it was up they had a fresh brew ready. Lots of sampling to be done there. It's a little easier to get your drink on in Europe than in the desert though, in Saudi you had to know some Brits to get a beer but you had to drink it hot, I don't mean room temp. it was the desert. Any way, I lost my train of thought and had a flashback, sorry.