The Art + Science of Distilling

What’s in a Name? The Importance of Branding Your Craft Distillery and Spirits

January 29th, 2020

Written by Danielle Kellar, Events & Marketing Coordinator, Saint Lawrence Spirits.

Craft distilling has skyrocketed over the past decade. In 2005, there were fewer than 100 active distilleries in the United States; by the end of 2018, that number jumped to over 1,800 active craft distilleries. To put things in perspective, a craft distillery is classified as a producer who distills no more than 75,000 proof gallons per year. In 2017, the craft spirits industry reached more than $3.7 billion in total sales, more than tripling the craft distilling industry’s market share since 2012.

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11 Questions with World Rum Master, Luis Ayala

January 22nd, 2020

Ever thought about opening your own distillery? What would you produce? If you ask Luis Ayala, he’ll suggest rum.

Ahead of Moonshine University’s 5-Day Rum Course this March 2-6, we talked to the world-renowned rum master, Rum University President, and Rum Central CEO to learn more about this incredible spirit, how he built a career around his passion, and what lies ahead for new rum distillers and the rum industry. Check it out!

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The Importance of Common Scents

January 15th, 2020

Written by Shelley Sackier, Director of Distillery Education, Reservoir Distillery.

Our inaugural action of life is to draw air into our lungs. Our last – to release it, to free it from further obligation. Our breath is a rhythm of couplets. And at our birth and our death, where we face our first and final, those breaths are bookends to existence. Within this pulmonary practice lies the deep and heady secrets of scent. The human ability to utilize olfaction is a gift with myriad functions. It detects danger, pheromones, nourishment, and combined with other sensory faculty, the extraordinary perception of flavor.

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RTD Cocktails: Not So Easy to Get Approved!

January 8th, 2020

Written by Robert C. Lehrman, a lawyer at Lehrman Beverage Law, PLLC

Canned cocktails are one of the biggest trends at TTB in recent years. Even though the explosion of hard seltzers probably gets more attention, TTB approved more than 370 ready-to-drink (RTD) spirits labels for margaritas in just the past five years. This is to say nothing about the many other well-recognized RTD cocktail types, such as bloody marys, martinis and so forth.

The purpose of this article is to give you a heads up that it can be surprisingly painful to get such products approved. Every time we say we’ve handled scores of grasshoppers, for example, in the past, we are in for new and unpleasant surprises, to the extent we start to think it’s routine. I will run through some of the most common reasons why.

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