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Subscribe to RSSTake a look inside the Woodinville Whiskey Co's distillery to see how bourbon whiskey is made.
WOODINVILLE, Wash. – When Orlin Sorensen and Brett Carlile got the idea to start a whiskey distillery, the longtime friends freely admit they knew little more about spirits than that they liked to drink them.
“We had no idea how to do it,” Carlile said.
Just a few years later, Woodinville Whiskey Co. is among the more prominent players in a surging craft distillery industry, which is drawing hundreds of hard liquor fans into the hands-on business of distilling vodka, whiskey and other spirits.
There are perhaps 250 craft distillers operating around the country right now, up from about 50 in 2005, according to a Michael Kinstlick, who runs Coppersea Distilling in New York state. He prepared an industry report for the American Distilling Institute, the craft industry’s trade group.
The explosion in interest has been fueled by more relaxed state laws, which have made it easier to set up distilleries, combined with the growing interest in hand-crafted, artisan and locally made products.
“There’s been a major renaissance in America in wine, beer, food,” said Bill Owens, founder of the American Distilling Institute. “Now it’s our turn.”
It also helps that Americans – perhaps influenced by “Sex and the City” and “Mad Men” – are increasingly favoring spirits over beer and wine. Spirits accounted for 34.1 percent of alcoholic beverage revenue in 2011, up from 28.7 percent in 2000, according to the Distilled Spirits Council, a lobbying group.
But while distilling spirits all day may sound like a dream come true, the reality is that it’s hard, physical work that takes a lot of money to get started – and may not pay off for years.
At Woodinville Whiskey, located in an industrial strip about 30 minutes outside Seattle, the day often starts as early as 6 a.m. and can stretch late into the night, especially if the founders are hosting an all-volunteer bottling marathon.
Kyle Bruggeman / msnbc.com
Brett Carlile, co-owner of Woodinville Whiskey Co., fills a barrel with unaged whiskey.
One recent morning, Carlile was bounding up and down a set of movable stairs, checking on a huge vat of water and locally grown corn that he had just milled into a fine corn meal. Cooking the grain, called mashing, is the first step in the long process of making whiskey.
As the mill roared, he turned his attention briefly to a barrel that had just been filled with "white dog," whiskey that has not yet been aged. The barrel had sprung a small leak and the stopper, referred to as a bung, had broken apart.
As he worked to fix that, he kept his eye on a gas nozzle that was being used to fill yet another massive barrel. Later, he would use a forklift to hoist the barrels into the former computer repair shop next door that serves as their warehouse. The barrels will then sit for several years while the alcohol takes on the flavor from the wood it is stored in.
Carlile, 35, said he lost 30 pounds within months of starting the whiskey company, just from the physical activity of running the distillery.
“It’s a blue-collar job,” he said. “I get sweaty every day.”
Carlile is a former construction materials salesman who quit his job to start this business. He and Sorensen went to high school and college together but say they came up with the idea of starting a distillery separately. The coincidence was so powerful they felt it was meant to be.
Sorensen, also 35, is a former pilot who was laid off after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He started a web marketing business that he has kept going on the side to pay the bills while Woodinville Whiskey grows.
To learn about the business, the pair turned to Dave Pickerell, who had been master distiller at Maker’s Mark for 14 years before starting a consultancy focused on craft distillers. Woodinville Whiskey was one of his first clients.
Pickerell, who is based in Louisville, Ky., now has clients coast to coast. He thinks the weak economy and high job losses have actually helped get some people into the industry.
“There were people who had a dream and were displaced and said, ‘Why not?’ he said.
The big challenge of starting a whiskey distillery is it requires a big investment in space and equipment, but it takes several years before the whiskey is ready to be sold. That’s one reason why many craft distillers sell vodka or other clear spirits that don’t need time to sit in a barrel developing flavor.
Woodinville Whiskey has mitigated that business problem by selling vodka and the unaged white dog whiskey. They also aged some of their whiskey in small, pricier barrels so they could get a product on the shelf quicker. They started selling those this year.
The company had about $1.3 million in revenue last year and expects to see a 30 percent increase this year. But the big payoff won’t come until 2013 or 2014, when the big barrels of whiskey filled in 2010 are finally ready to be bottled and sold.
The waiting game can be stressful. Pickerell recalled a time when Sorensen and Carlile called him in a panic, certain some of the aging whiskey had been ruined. By the time he flew out there, the perceived problem seemed to have resolved itself.
“Every once in a while I’ve gotta talk ‘em off a ledge,” he said.
Sorensen said they aim for a retail price of between $45 and $50 a bottle, on par with premium competitors. They recently had to lower their prices slightly to offset an increase in other fees from new Washington state laws allowing liquor to be sold at retailers rather than just state-run liquor stores.
To fund the business, the company has borrowed about $600,000 and plans to seek more financing. Sorensen, 36, said the company is profitable, but for now the co-founders are pouring money back into the business rather than taking a paycheck themselves.
They have two full-time and four part-time employees. Once or twice a week, the company hosts bottling events for 12 volunteers who help out in exchange for T-shirts and pizza.
Related: World's best distillery tours
The products are still only sold mostly in the Seattle area, in line with the practice of most craft distillers, which start small and local. Woodinville Whiskey has ambitious expansion plans, but Sorensen said the company will stay primarily focused on their home state.
“We’re from Washington. The people who helped build our brand are from Washington,” Sorensen said.
Although the number of craft distillers is surging, experts say they represent far less than 1 percent of total spirits sales in the United States.
Still, the increase in small distillers has been enough to attract the interest of big industry players. The Distilled Spirits Council, which traditionally limited itself to big spirits companies, recently started accepting some small distillers as non-voting members. Many think it’s also only a matter of time before big companies start buying up some of the more promising craft distillers.
Meanwhile, more distillers are expected to open up shop. Owens, the president of the Craft Distilling Institute, runs twice-yearly courses in how to start a distillery. He says the classes, which cost $3,500, regularly fill up.
To Owens, the fact that it’s difficult to start a distillery and can take years to see a real payoff are among the industry’s attributes.
“You get rid of a whole bunch or class of people that are just into greed or money,” he said. “We’re into people who have a love of the craft.”
Leave a Comment:
One of the best companies ever - great people and great product! So nice to see them get the attention they deserve!
I love all of the craft brew, distilleries and wineries out there right now. Nice to break away from the big distributors/brewers.
Distilling great whiskys, producing fine wines, brewing excellent beer...They ARE ALL fine arts of effort.
Way cool!
I'd love to do that! Wine would be my favorite.
"...fills a barrel with unaged whiskey.'
We sorta figured that out - there being no barrels in the liquor store.
If they ever need a taste tester, they need look no further.
you had me at "booze."
We need more booze drinkers...maybe they can reduce the population with DUI manslaughter. Smoke pot instead.
This is how America creates jobs. They don't come from Washington DC, the come from folks like this, congratulations.
Spirit sales went up eh? So they noticed my purchases ;) But seriously I wonder if liquor sales are up due to the economy sucking more and more.
I would hope that liquor and beer sales are up because of the renewed interest in craft brewing, and there being new and different things to taste.
Craft booze is a normal good, so you wouldn't see increased sales in a bad economy. If you see people switching from craft to macro brew though, that may be a bad sign.
I wonder how long before the federal government steps in to ruin something else. They'll tax and regulate it to death.
@Hobgoblin-392509
They already do that. It's the reason there are only 250 craft distilleries instead of 2,500.
Yah Back, it's all the blame of the Government - not the high cost of capital or longer ROI. Good way to push your political agenda for a non partisan, hopeful story. How's that working out for you?
On what planet are you talking about. Rates (cost of capital) are the lowest in years you don't understand business do you? How has ROI been increased..........if you have a product with a market then it will sell...........if you don't then you shouldn't have gone into that business.
I brew craft beer and it is fun. It's like a gigantic chemistry experiment where you drink the results.
I have an interest in distillation but am very aware of the BATF since I am a firearms dealer.
I have been researching distillation for a few years now and have learned about the technical issues with it. I want to try a batch.
Gtouch, In order to find out, how about you read the article moron? It states both of the items I listed (high cost of capital and long ROI) very clearly.
And rates be damned, lending restrictions have tightened, and the cost of the actual equipment is high, not just interest.
Umm, ya, I know a lot about business, specifically manufacturing, but that is besides the point.
I was calling out for politicizing, unnecessarily, an human interest story. Judging by your reaction, I struck a nerve and you got called out.
Don't worry happens often with regurgitators.
I also home brew beer, but government does not allow home distilling. I think we are moving toward deregulation though. It won't be long before I am aging whisky in the celler.
I hope they do well in their venture ,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Entrepreneurs and small businesses is what built this country. It's time to remove the government regulatory boot from all of our throats so more people can take the chance to start something for themselves. We'll all be better off for it.
In fact it would have been nice if the article had gone into some detail about the hurdles these guys had to jump over just to get started. Instead it doesn't even get mentioned.
cause who doesn't like lead and methanol in their whiskey sour, right?
@backcountry164. Let
me tell you the fun of starting a distillery. Local land use and county/city
codes are your greatest challenge. You will spend about a year getting through
all the application process IF you don't need a special use permit or some other
variance. If so, add another year to the process. If you haven’t already let’s
hope you took that year and did your homework about the actual craft of making
your product. As an intern somewhere is best. Anyone can distill something but
making something that actually tastes good, that is a learning curve especially
if you need to age your test product to see how it will be in a couple of years
. How about the equipment? Lead time on
a decent still is about 8-16 months depending on size and maker. Don’t forget
all the other equipment, fermenters, mixing and proofing tanks, boiler,
chiller, bottle line etc. Oh yes and remember you need to sell this. Well here
in CA we can not sell it like a winery can. You know come in and taste and take
a bottle home. Nope. CA law forbids it. So now you need a distributor, who
won't lift a finger to help you sell, they just like collecting their cut,
because you cant sell without them. So you spend a ton of time doing all your
own marketing so the restaurant/store/bar can buy through the distributor. So
why do I do it? Why do painters paint? The reward is in the pursuit of making
the best, not the most.
Good luck to them. That is what America is about taking risk, starting something and having a dream.
Cool, something else for the Fed to tax and regulate to death.
"No I don't want that pack of gum"
"Ok the tax to not buy it is $2.35"
Ok, gtouch, I'll bite, what do you mean?
Government intrusion and taxes like you said it is a tie in to the if you don't buy health care you will be taxed. What the Supreme Court has said is the federal government can force us to buy anything they want or the government can "tax" us if we don't.
Save the poutrage Gtouch! Geez, look everybody, the story is about the ACA, not Whiskey! Partisan hacks...
It's great these guy's are making a go of it. But I have to say if they can relax the laws that allow them to do this why can't they relax the marijuana laws and allow people to grow there own.
Craft booze huh? In my neck o the woods its called 'white lightin' or 'moonshine'
So now the moonshiners are artisans? OOOOKAY.
I've actually been looking forward to trying "White Lightning", "Moonshine", "White Dog", etc.
I just checked their website - they have good-looking bottles, too, and rye - another one I've always wanted to try.
Rather big difference actually. You dont AGE moonshine in oak barrels for a year, don't pay federal taxes, don't market and label their goods with thier address, and just plain tastes better.
I see this as an natural branching of the craft beer industry thats done very well on the West Coast. (Drink for pleasure, not for drunkeness)
Rob, try a little levity once in awhile. Its good for you. And yes I do know the difference. I don't need you to 'educate me'.
Agree to disagree on moonshine tasting better than whiskey.
I wonder what MADD will say? Or, maybe even DAMM--Drunks Against Mad Mothers.
Maybe when you or a close family member is killed by a drunk behind the wheel you will find out what MADD has to say!
I'll take some of that there Old Radiator!
No doubt there are many factors influencing why more people like craft brewers, but 'Sex and the City" and "Mad Men"? Really? What a reach.
I jumped right onboard with the craft brew explosion. It was great being able to pick up a mix & match six pack on Friday and try some new stuff every week. Kind of lost interest in most of it when everyone decided they needed to start putting fruit and crap in their brews.
I hope the micro-booze don't go in the same direction as the micro-brews.
Why can't I grow pot?
I guess you don't have a green thumb............oh wait you mean legally.........you live in the wrong state.
You probably already do. Ha Ha. But I was thinking about starting a company. Very low cost just some labor and packaging. See you travel through towns on a moped picking up cigarette butts and after you have collected millions upon millions. You take off all the filters but make sure you get all the tobacco. then you roll them up and put twenty in a half size zip lock . Name them Blaaah. and sell them $2.oo for twenty smokes. writ that they are bad for you and watch the money roll in.
Someday ? maybe ? at this point in my life how ever I am only hopeing to see it happen in my life time , Dont smoke like a kid anymore .
WOULD BE NICE TO SEE THINGS CHANGE BE FOR I DIE AND BE ABALE TO PUFF ONE BEFOR I GO WITH OUT A WORRY ABOUT 5-O SHOWING UP AND HARSHING MY MELLOW !
OH TO DREAM .
From your post it looks as if you have puffed one too many already,
I toured a start-up distillery in Missouri near Branson. Had a great tour and got to talk to the owner for quite a while. It took him over 5 years just to get the license to start the business, and yes, they tax the crap out of it which drives up the price.
I bought a bottle of the Vodka and 2 bottles of the White Dog. I already drank the Vodka and one bottle of White Dog. In the other bottle I have placed the oak chips he gave me. He signed and dated the label. I told him I would be back in 10 years with that bottle and that we would drink it. I sure hope he is still there.
Three cheers for all the craft brewers, distillers and soft drink makers!
Ah a shot of Woodinville, a pint of Sam Adams and a glass of Boylan's Cream soda!
Before you talk go try the products from Woodinville Whiskey Co. To expensive.
A bottle of single malt can easily be over $100.00. Heck a bottle of Talisker Scotch Single Malt 25 Yr can blow a $200.00 hole in your pocket. This kind of stuff is (if you don't mind me being stuffy) is not stuff you use for Scotch Collins or some other made up sissy drink. And I'm am sure Woodinville is trying for the same erudite ans sophisticated palate.
If a hand made good quality isn't worth paying a bit more for ( GET YOU BOOZE AT WALMART )
Amen to that Perry!
I have tasted all there products. The whiskey, Vodka taste no better then any common whiskey or vodka. For less then half You can purchase some pretty good stuff.
I've tried a few smaller distilleries with great results.
Whistlepeg Rye from VT is great, and Hudson Four Grain Burbon from NY come to mind as good examples of the small guys doing well.
Well at least it's a made in America product. Good for them!
Sadly somany are used to buying junk made in GODKNOWS WERE that the price will slap them in the face when its hand made good quality , People have lerned to be CHEP AND BUY CRAP .
Cheap goes deep.
Perry it goes deeper than that. When my son was about 12 he wanted to know if his friend could stay for dinner. I said sure!
It was Saturday and I always go all out. That evening I prepared Medallions of beef in red wine gravy, sauteed fresh spinach with garlic and pinenuts, and rice pilaf (my Uncle was a chef taught me how to cook), for desert homemade respberry sorbet.
The kid said it was the best meal he ever had.
His mother later told me that she couldn't be bothered to make home cooked meals.
Great article. I've been considering starting a small distillery for some time. I've spoken with a few "consultants" and have found that the Artisan Distilled Spirits Program at Michigan State University has been -- by far -- the most knowledgeable and supportive resource for helping launch distilleries.
Our first President George Washington ran a whiskey making distillery before becoming President.
And a few acers of hemp ! oh to go back in time ! PUFF PUFF ;)
From the Movie Dazed and Confused.
George Washington had a still house on his Mount Vernon estate, they have a replica there now. It is a retort about a yard in diameter. He ran a farm and made some whiskey at home. That is is big difference from running a commercial distillery.
@ jje68048
Old George was at one time the largest distiller of whisky in America
"In 1798, the year before his death, Washington’s distillery produced 11,000 gallons of whiskey and produced a profit of $7,500. That was an enormous sum of money over 200 years ago."
Source of this is David J. Hanson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Sociology of the State University of New York at Potsdam.
PS I'll have another uh just two fingers please!
AND the GREAT THING IS.
NONONONONO OUTSOURCING!!!!!!
hahahaha
They should consider selling some by the barrel. I might buy 1, a year early at a discount. Then I can continue to age some of the remainder as I start to consume it.
Yes! Make your own and reap the rewards.. Create the job for yourself. Possibly if the product is above the rest and its fine spirits and not in competition with the big volume swill the corporations make.. Heres an idea for someone big vats of white dog lightning, make absinthe! I dont believe there is any absinthe made in the USA. Definitely get it on the shelf quicker than waiting 12 years and guess what? Absenth sells for huge money.
I have tasted all there products. The whiskey, Vodka taste no better then any common whiskey or vodka. For less then half of there price You can purchase some pretty good stuff.