The first stage of building a craft distilling industry involves regulations and legal questions: What licensing and safety measures does a distillery need? How must it comply with federal, local, and state laws? In the early days, individual distillers often navigated these complexities on their own.
The next stage is learning how to make and sell spirits. As more distilleries open in the same area, many join together to form guilds. Organizing helps them to share information and resources that strengthen the whole industry and unites distillers seeking government support.
Now well established, many craft spirits makers nationwide are facing a new stage: cultivating growth through collective marketing and promotion. Efforts are nascent, but in two states, Virginia and Pennsylvania, distillers have worked with government to create dedicated boards to support this goal. And while it’s early days yet, there are signs that these spirits promotion boards are making a measurable impact on the success of the industry.
The Purpose and Function of a Spirits Board
A spirits promotion board might be supported by a distillers’ guild, but the two organizations differ in a couple of notable ways. While a guild is a voluntary organization that producers opt into, a promotion board covers an entire state’s spirits industry regardless of individual participation. In fact, some distillers may not even be aware of it, says Scott Harris, founder and general manager at Catoctin Creek in Purcellville, Virginia, and an appointed member of the state’s spirits board. The boards in Virginia and Pennsylvania were created by legislation passed in the states’ general assemblies in 2020 and 2024, respectively, and are made up of members appointed by the governor and legislators.
The mission of a distillers’ guild typically revolves around protecting the interests of its members, especially with regard to regulatory and legislative structures. A spirits board, on the other hand, is primarily focused on marketing and communications and does not engage in political activities. It often works hand in hand with the state’s agricultural and tourism branches, as well as its liquor control authority where applicable. And it aims to benefit all spirits producers in a state, regardless of craft status.
“It follows with a long tradition of different commodity boards — in Virginia we have a lumber board and a peanut board and others,” Harris explains. “We largely modeled the spirits board after the wine board because it’s a lot of the same function and role. The wine board’s been around for 20 years or longer, so it’s a good model to follow.”
In Pennsylvania, distillers looked at the state’s brewers for guidance. “They are extremely well organized and we model ourselves a bit after what they’ve been doing to successfully illustrate to folks in the government — and even in civic organizations around the state — that what we’re doing is contributing both economically and socially,” says Herman Mihalich, founder of Dad’s Hat in Bristol, Pennsylvania, who worked on the effort to get the state’s spirits board created.
In both states, the process took several years while distillers strove to gain the attention and support of representatives who would champion the necessary legislation. Mihalich says that natural growth of Pennsylvania distilleries helped demonstrate the worthiness of their cause. “The first time we approached it, there was a bit of hesitation in Harrisburg from the powers that be that we weren’t quite mature enough…to warrant something like [a spirits board],” he explains. “But they’ve seen that not only the guild itself but the membership are becoming more sophisticated and more implanted in the industry. They see the value in helping to support what we’re doing.”
To support their case, Pennsylvania’s distillers’ guild commissioned an economic impact study. “It shows that [the spirits industry] is a significant contributor to the overall economy in the state” Mihalich says, calling the report a “deal closer” in securing support for the spirits promotion board.
Since they’re enshrined in law, Virginia and Pennsylvania’s spirits boards receive funding from the state. In Virginia, the amount is based on a percentage of excise tax from sales at state ABC stores. Pennsylvania’s funding will derive from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s profits, which also support the state’s wine and beer promotion activities.
In addition to marketing and promotional activities, both state’s boards are charged with funding research and development. In Virginia, for example, the board granted funds to a scientist at Virginia Tech researching malt barley varieties that are best suited to the state’s climate, a researcher looking into heritage grains, and several other agriculture, education, and spirits-related projects.
Case Study: Virginia Spirits Marketing Board
Pennsylvania passed the law establishing its spirits board in July 2024 and is still in the process of getting up and running. Virginia’s board has been in place since 2022, with activities beginning in earnest in 2023. Its trajectory offers a potential model for other states. The board includes representatives from the state’s alcoholic beverage control commission, distillers, and tradespeople from adjacent industries such as coopering and malting.
The budget funds the Virginia Spirits Board Marketing Office (VSBMO), which is staffed by professionals in communications, marketing, and public relations. “We do everything from soup to nuts, in marketing, PR, and promotions,” says VSBMO executive director Jack Gorman, who leads a staff of two other employees.
In its first year, the VSBMO aimed to establish a baseline on which to build, taking stock of existing resources such as virginiaspirits.org and social media sites and organizing meetings around the state with distillers and consumers. “We invited distillers to come in and talk to us about the industry, their challenges, what they saw as opportunities, and what their needs were,” Gorman says. “The first thing that became very apparent is that the biggest challenge they faced was simply awareness: That most Virginians didn’t know that there was a long history of distilling in the state and also that there was this really incredible world-class craft spirits industry happening in Virginia.”
Once they recognized the opportunity that existed within their own borders, the VSBMO began consumer outreach via digital newsletters, social media, events, maps of the state’s distilleries, and a passport program to encourage visitors, often partnering with state and regional tourism offices. They also hosted media tours and distributed press releases and pitches to media outlets.
In 2024, the VSBMO began targeting the on-premise, hosting a professional development conference for Virginia bartenders and launching a cocktail contest in sync with the Paris Olympics. “It started to get us more engaged with bars and restaurants. Suddenly we weren’t just talking about putting [a bottle] on your shelf, but we were giving you this opportunity to highlight your business,” Gorman explains.
Virginia is a control state and that has worked in the VSBMO’s favor — they only have to interact with one distributor and retailer — although since it’s also the industry’s regulator, Gorman says it has created an “interesting dynamic.” Still, he adds, the marketing office sees the ABC as a partner.
“These are fellow Virginians that want to see their friends and neighbors succeed,” Gorman says. “At the same time, they’re running a business on behalf of the state. They have to be profitable. But they also see that a bottle of bourbon made in Virginia has a lot more economic impact in Virginia than somebody buying a bottle of Tennessee whiskey.”
One of the VSBMO’s biggest efforts has focused on Virginia Spirits Month, which takes place in September. The office supports the ABC’s “Sale-A-Bration,” which offers a 20-percent discount on Virginia spirits throughout the month, by sending special neck tags to hang on bottles and stocking stores with its free Virginia spirits guide and map. Harris says that effort, alongside the VSBMO’s other support, has been “huge” for Catoctin Creek. “We’re benefiting from the rising tide because they’re basically the tide,” he says.
The VSBMO also commissioned both an economic impact study and a brand awareness study, which provide a baseline for measuring future efforts. “Now it’s much easier to present measurable and measured results of what we do,” Gorman says.
Although the VSBMO has only been working for a couple of years, Gorman says their efforts are paying off. “When we look at ABC sales in 2023 over 2022, overall for the year, Virginia spirits were up 12 percent,” he says, noting that for Virginia Spirits Month specifically, sales were up 27 percent over the prior year. “That’s at a time when spirits sales in general are declining, so we know we had some impact.”
How to Start a Spirits Board in Your State
The process of creating a spirits promotion board can take years — and a lot of patience. But those who have done it point to key steps in the process.
- Look at existing examples.
If your state has a wine or beer promotion board, talk to folks in those organizations for information about how they got started. Get advice from them on which government agencies and individuals can serve as allies. Ask questions to clarify your own industry’s goals and a realistic timeline for getting legislation passed. “Copy what works,” Harris says. “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.” - Start talking to your representatives.
Strong support among your state’s lawmakers is key to getting legislation passed. Mihalich recommends setting up meet-and-greets at distilleries and taking every opportunity to welcome government representatives. “Invite them in for a day when you’re having an event so they can see the interaction with the community and the way it’s attracting business, particularly tourism,” he says. - Gather evidence of the industry’s value.
Both Virginia and Pennsylvania distillers commissioned reports to show the value that their industry brings to the state’s economy. A report might include data about the industry’s revenues, number of jobs, spending on local agriculture, and sales taxes generated by locally made spirits. Virginia’s report was commissioned following the formation of the spirits board but remains a valuable resource to distillers pressing the statehouse for other support.
