Defining Craft Distillers, Independent Bottlers, etc.
Here’s a great article by Jeff Burkhart from National Geographic Assignment Blog that serves as a great continuation of last week’s topic here, spirits brands vs. hand-crafted spirits. With the help of Kurt Charles from Kentfield Marketing Group and Allison Evanow from Square One Organic Spirits, Jeff starts to draw distinctions between “craft distillers” like Charbay and “independent spirits” or “boutique brands”, which Allison describes as companies “who are doing truly custom distillation, but do not have their own stills and/or interest in becoming the master distiller.”
I know that Bill Owens and crew at the American Distilling Institute are also working very hard to more clearly define the craft distilling industry, even going as far as to create terms for companies who create their own mash vs. buying neutral grain spirits from third parties, and for companies that ‘craft blenders’. It’ll be very interesting to see where the industry lands here and whether we can provide more clarity for the consumers.
