At its 2007 conference held at Starlight Distillery in Indiana, ADI authorized the creation of a craft distilling internship.
The goal of the internship program was two-fold: to provide a supervised, hands- on craft-distilling experience to a qualified candidate, and to create a prototype program that could be demonstrated at the 2008 conference, and be adopted elsewhere in the world to train and certify craft distillers.
The key elements needed for this prototype program were (1) a qualified candidate, (2) a brewer willing to provide 600 gallons of ten-percent wash, and (3) a licensed distiller willing to host and supervise the intern. In support, ADI would provide a modest stipend to cover cost of the intern’s room and board, and cover the raw material and labor costs of producing the wash.
The qualifying candidate was Ben Fris of New Holland Brewing Company. The wash would be brewed by Upland Brewing Company in Bloomington, Indiana, and the supervising craft distiller would be Ted Huber of Starlight Distillery.
The wash was made on December 17th, 2007, and distilling was conducted the over a four-day period from January 8th to 11th. The objective: distil one barrel of straight whiskey.
ADI wishes to extend special thanks to Brett Van der Kamp of New Holland Brewing Company, Doug Dayhoff of Upland Brewing Company, and especially Ted and Dana Huber of Huber Winery and Starlight Distillery for their collective generosity in assisting in the pioneering first Craft Distiller certification. — Ed.
