The 11th annual ADI conference and vendor expo convened this year in the beautiful Pacific Northwest city of Seattle, WA. More than 1,000 attendees and over a hundred vendors gathered downtown in the shadow of Seattle’s iconic Space Needle at the Washington Conference Center for a week of craft distilling workshops and seminars. Attendance shattered last year’s record with a nearly 30% increase—affirming yet again that the craft distilling boom is alive and well.
This year’s schedule of workshops and breakout sessions started with a three-day hands-on whiskey class at Heritage Distilling. Attendees explored production methods and techniques for a variety of spirits, including a malt whiskey workshop at Westland Distillery in Seattle; a two-day amaro workshop (an ADI first) at broVo spirits in Woodinville; as well as vodka and gin workshops. Demand for the gin workshop in particular was so high that a second one was added in the days before the conference began. And because Washington State is home to 20% of the country’s distilleries (more than 90), there was no shortage of opportunities to tour many of the nearby distilleries.
“The part that especially stood out to me were the breakout sessions,” said Steven Stone, founder and owner of Sound Spirits in Seattle. “The knowledge presented at these seminars was extremely valuable. Really very helpful.”
“It was really heartening to look out to the audience and see so many women entering the business,” said Mhairi Voelsgen of broVo Spirits, one of several panelists in a session on women in distilling. “I think women bring a unique perspective to the industry and the great thing about sessions like this is that they grow and nurture women who are just starting out. I hope to attend it next year as well.”
Participants also had the chance to explore and discuss several of the challenges currently facing the craft distilling industry. Washington State distilleries, for instance, are still recovering from the effects of a 2011 ballot initiative that privatized liquor distribution and sales, a pivot away from state control. Since enactment, that initiative has heavily multiplied the tax burden imposed upon spirits producers, and has made the retail environment in Washington especially restrictive. Time will tell what the lasting impact of this regulatory shift will be.
Also on the docket was the continuing discussion during an ADI-sponsored panel around the meaning of “craft,” as part of ADI’s Certified Craft Spirits™ program. Participants seemed generally united in their endorsement of the Certified Craft Distilled Spirits™ designation, however the panel was somewhat divided about the Certified Craft Blended Spirits™ category.
The Awards Gala Dinner and Auction kicked off Tuesday night at the downtown Seattle Sheraton grand ballroom, preceded by a completely packed tasting showcase hosted by the Washington Distillers Guild. Washington State distillers turned out in force to present attendees with a menagerie of spirits easily too numerous for an individual to (safely) sample entirely. After dinner, distillers from around the country received awards spanning the gamut of spirits. This year’s top prize, the bubble cap award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in craft distilling, went to Darek Bell of Corsair Artisan Distillery.
“Winning the Bubble Cap is a dream come true for us at the Corsair Distillery,” said Bell. “The bubble cap award is for innovation and openness, which has been a cornerstone of Corsair’s success. Our goal has been to make new whiskeys the world has never seen before, and the Bubble Cap award is vindicating of our mission.”
Join us in 2015 as the ADI Conference and Vendor Expo returns to the spiritual center of the whiskey universe: Louisville, KY!
