The Distillery Nation Podcast

In this episode of the Distillery Nation Podcast, we had the absolute pleasure talking with Suzanne Henrickson, founder of the Crafty Cask.  Suzanne by trade is a market researcher and storyteller and over the last few years, she has been focusing on telling the stories behind some of your favorite craft producers. We chatted about her previous career and how that lead to the current business, how...

In this episode of the Distillery Nation Podcast, we had the absolute pleasure of talking with Cheryl Durzy. Cheryl is the CEO behind Liberation Distribution or LibDid. And in this episode, we chatted about how she got started in the beverage industry, talked about strategies and how distilleries should be looking at distribution, their partnership with RNDC, looked into the future, and where we a...

In this special episode of the Distillery Nation Podcast, I sat down and chat with Chris Swonger the CEO and President of DISCUS and Responsiblity.org.   We chatted about how distilleries are jumping in and assisting with the production of hand sanitizer, the ongoing discussions with the FDA, their new portal to help distillers navigate production of hand sanitizer, their new podcast and so much m...

In this episode of the Distillery Nation Podcast, we had the absolute pleasure of talking with Ryan Christiansen. Ryan is the President and Head Distillery behind Caledonia Spirits located in Vermont and best known for their Barr Hill Gin and Vodka. And what an episode, we chatted about Ryan's beginnings, how bees and honey became a core of what they do, favorite books, expansion headaches, SKU se...

A quick podcast to go over the requirements for the COVID-19 response from the TTB and how distilleries can help with the production of hand sanitizers. Please use the recommendations from the TTB and WHO and don't deviate if you are going to produce hand sanitizer. Links:  WHO Formula: https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Guide_to_Local_Production.pdf FDA: https://www.fda.gov/media/136118/download?fbcli...

In this episode of the Distillery Nation Podcast, we had the absolute pleasure of talking with Alan Bishop. Alan is the distiller behind Spirits of French Lick, located in Indiana and best known for their line of whiskeys, brandy, and aquavit. Alan talks about his family history, why reviving Apple Brandy is so important, we get detailed into yeast selection, history, pot distillation and so much...

In this episode of the Distillery Nation Podcast, we had the absolute pleasure of talking with Stephen Gould. Stephen is the owner and distiller behind Golden Moon Distillery, located in Golden Colorado, where they are best known for their Whiskey, Gin, Absinthe and liqueurs. A great all-around discussion, on how Stephen got into distilling, his collection of stills, re-structuring the company, ca...

In this episode of the Distillery Nation Podcast, we had the absolute pleasure of talking with Ian Thomas. Ian is the Distillery Director for Virginia Distillery Company, where they specialize in American Single Malt. We talk about how Ian got his start into distilling, American Single Malt, production at Virginia Distillery, their beautiful stills, favorite books, worst distillery moments, yeast...

In this episode of the Distillery Nation Podcast, I go over my experience with a TTB audit from July 2019. This was a voluntary request to the TTB that I initiated to help me figure out what I'm doing wrong and what areas I can improve. Early on people used to tell me "knock on wood" we never had a TTB audit. My thoughts were the opposite, you want audits at this level as there are simply too many...

In this episode of the Distillery Nation Podcast, we had the absolute pleasure of talking with John Mleziva. John is the owner and distiller behind State Line Distillery, located in Madison Wisconsin, and best known for their Rum, Gin, Vodka and Aquavit. We talked about his background in biology and how education played a key role in troubleshooting issues and ensuring a quality product, his exper...

In this episode of the Distillery Nation Podcast, we had the absolute pleasure of talking with Melkon Khosrovian. Melkon is the co-founder behind Greenbar Distillery, located in Los Angeles and best known for an array of spirits including, their Whiskey, Gin, Vodka and Liqueurs! And what an episode, Melkon talks about his early days trying to get started, how a health department issue ends up bein...

In this episode of the distillery nation podcast we had the absolute pleasure talking with Chris Swonger. Chris is the President and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (DISCUS) and Responsibility.org. We chatted about his history with distilled spirits, his current role and responsibilities, talked about the inaugural Distilled Spirits Council Conference. Hot topics like the FET expira...

In this episode of the distillery nation podcast we had the absolute pleasure talking with Kara Newman. Kara is a spirits and cocktail writer based in New York, she's also the spirits editor for Wine Enthusiast and an author, with her latest book Cocktails with a Twist, which I purchased and love it. We talked about Kara's history, and how she got involved in the spirits and cocktail industry. We...

A special middle of the month episode, that is a recording of the sessions from the 2019 Honey Spirits Summit that was a few months ago. Our friend Austin was kind enough to record the entire presentation and with the permission of the Honey Summit we are releasing it here. It's a great insight and continuation from our May episode with Keith Seiz, on how to look at adding honey into your spirits....

In this episode we had the pleasure talking with Daniel and Meg McNeill. Owners and distillers behind the award-winning Miscellaneous Distillery located in Mount Airy, Maryland. They are best known for their Rum, Gin and Rye they are a family run business, and I love having couples on the show as it a cool way to see different dynamics and how you can make things happens with your significant othe...

In this episode we had the pleasure talking with Dan Farber of Osocalis Distillery, located in Soquel California and of course best known for their brandies (Hint: It took Dan 14 years to release his first brandy, talk about patience!). And what an honor, an hour and forty-five minutes of brandy history, production, aging and everything in between with a true craftsman and master. We chatted about...

In this episode we had the pleasure talking with Kevin and Frank Kurland of Smoky Quartz Distillery located Seabrook New Hemisphere and best known for their Rum, Bourbon and Moonshine. A veteran owned and operated distillery, with a great story that related a lot to me in terms of bootstrapping and how they started. We talked about the build of their distillery, working with family, How deciding o...

In this episode it's a long recording of the TTB Trade session that occurred in Seattle WA in June 2019. Even though the audio is not the best I wanted to publish this in hopes to help the industry and ensure that everyone starting has access to information like this. It's a mix audio of both the TTB (first part) and the Washington Liquor Control Board (second part). Audio is not the best, but I h...

In this episode we had the pleasure talking with Keith Seiz. Keith is the strategic director behind Brightly Creative an agency that specialized in marketing for all things beverage! And in this episode, we discussed all things Honey. Keith has been working with the National Honey Association for quite some time, along with food processors, breweries and distilleries that want to incorporate honey...

In this episode we had the pleasure talking with John and Michelle Davenport from Three Crosses Distilling. A full packed interview with John and Michelle, talked about their beginnings, research and how to approach using data to drive decisions. Worst distillery moment, leasing your equipment, building a local community around their distillery, and the single most important advice on becoming pro...

In this episode we had the pleasure talking with Paul Mabray. Paul is the CEO of Emetry and currently one of the most influential people when you think about the wine industry and technology. Paul has over two decades of experience in the food and beverage industry and although he specializes in wine. Wine and distilled spirits cross, and I do think we can learn a lot from the wine business. We ta...

In this episode we had the pleasure talking with Mel Heim. Mel is the VP of Operations, distiller and blender for Eastside Distilling located in Portland Oregon. They are famous for the vodka, series of whiskies and rum. In this episode we talked about putting a plan around your SKUs and sales of those SKUs, early days of making Rum, the canning operation side of the business for the Ready to Drin...

In this episode we had the pleasure talking with Jennifer Solberg Katzman. Jennifer is the co-founder and distiller behind Rhine Hall Distillery located in Chicago IL. They are best know for their brandies. We did a deep dive into Rhine Hall and how it got its start, how to staying in your lane and being true to what you do best is how trully things become succesful. We talked about the 3-Tier sys...

In this episode of the Distillery Nation podcast we had the pleasure of talking to Mark Beres of Flying Leap Vineyard and Distillery. Not only was this one of the longest podcasts I have done, but Mark brought the heat. Take notes as Mark did not hold back, providing feedback on funding a business (BTW they are a winery as well). We talked about naming your company and suggestions around that, his...

In this episode of the Distillery Nation podcast we had the pleasure of talking to Bill Lark of Lark Distillery. Bill is considered as the Godfather of Australian Whisky, was inducated in the Whisky Hall of Fame and his whisky claimed the ultimate prize and was named the world's best single malt. Among others we chat about his core belief to help other distilleries, his favorite whisky pairing, wo...