In the never ending search for ways to keep your business alive comes contract distilling (distilling a product for someone else).
This can be anything from making a distilled Spirit for a winery (to make a port wine) to making a complete Spirit product.
Distilling for a winery: The winery delivers totes of wine to your distillery and you send them back Brandy. This is usually used for addition to make port wines.
Distilling with a winery: You strike a deal with a winery. They supply you with wine (maybe barrels too), you distill it, age it, bottle it, put it on the market and you split the profits with them. This is good for cross marketing.
A Distillery uses your equipment: A smaller distillery rents your equipment to make their product.
You make a product for a Distillery: You make a finished product for a distillery. They do all the marketing.
Each has its own Pro’s and Con’s. The main thing is to look at what suits your needs best.
Note: I’ll admit that having someone use my equipment is hard on me. This business is my baby and it’s hard for me to let go. I am a worry wart by nature and my fear is that they won’t take care of the equipment like I will. Of course no one takes care of your equipment like you do.
In the end it really comes down to what you want VS what you need. If you are happy with where you are, production/money wise, then maybe you don’t want to do contract distilling. If, on the other hand, you need/want the extra income or want to grow your company then contract distilling may be the way to go.
Cheers!