Industry Growth Continues its Uphill Trend
Introduction
Over the past several decades, waves of change have swept through U.S. consumer behavior and attitudes towards food and drink. The trend towards fresh, “handmade” products made with real, and less-processed, ingredients has affected all segments, as consumers increasingly...
No Warning
April 24, 2015, began as a benign spring morning, by ordinary measures. The fire marshal’s report says the temperature was 59 degrees, with a soft wind of 8 mph blowing out of the east through the gently sloping meadows...
Cost Analysis: from Grain to Retail Shelf
Barrel-aged gin. Flavored moonshine. Small-batch rye. Cinnamon whiskey. Hand-crafted tequila. Single-barrel bourbon.
At the local liquor store, the average consumer is treated to spirits of all varieties, ages, levels of quality and artisanship, and packaging shapes and sizes, but generally...
The Slow Distillation Movement
Being an aficionado of the Slow Food Movement since the beginning, I would like to add another antidote to the tyranny of the fast food industry and the frenzied pace of modern culture.
Slow Distillation
By using ancestral methods of distillation,...
Hidden Tax Credits
With around a thousand operational or in-progress craft distilleries, most of which have opened in the last five to ten years, the craft spirits industry is
following the similar past trends of craft beer and wine. This rapid growth often...
Direct Consumer Sales
State laws that govern whether or not distilleries can sell bottles directly to consumers have a dramatic affect on a distillery’s ability to stay in business. Nowhere is this more evident than in the state where the craft revolution...
Running with the Big Boys
Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Diageo, Bacardi and Stolichnaya.
If these names stir up feelings of any kind, it is no accident.
These brands will spend more money on incentives for distributors in the second half of 2015 than the whole craft...
Protecting Your Brands Through Trademark Law
Craft distillers are passionate about their spirits. But having the most innovative, flavorful, hand-crafted spirit in the country will not itself prompt a consumer to buy it. This requires branding: a memorable name and package design that piques a...
Branding:Distilled A Guide to Package Design for Craft Spirits
THE BRANDING AND PACKAGING DESIGN PROCESS
STEP BY STEP
A good design partner will help you clarify your brand vision, and then bring it into tangible form. Unfortunately, few startup distillers have experience finding a design partner and managing the design...
Secrets to Swimming with the (Financial) Sharks
First, do this: go online and search “Balcones whiskey and its investors.”
The Balcones lesson is this: once you take investor money, your company changes. It is no longer purely a vehicle for your art. Investor money puts you on...
