Going for the Gold!

In the latest issue of Sip Northwest.com their "Best of the Northwest" competition we got the Gold medal for best Gin with our Bankers Gin and we won a Bronze medal for our Turkish Coffee Liqueur in the Best Dessert Liqueur category

(go to http://www.sipnorthwest.com/2015/10/the-2015-best-of-the-northwest/ and go to the bottom of the list where they list the Spirits).

We are stoked about our medals as this gives us some validation that we are doing things right. Of course you, the public, buying our Spirits is the real validation that we are doing things right. Thank you!

Cheers!

Contract Distilling

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!

Distractions

The enemies of being productive, at work, are distractions. Squirrel! The main culprits being, besides the boss constantly asking for progress reports,: your cell phone, Facebook, YouTube, email, any number of other social media, the person next to you watching videos, the “Visitor” who burns up your precious time with stories and the latest gossip, etc.

At home the distractions are: every chore you have ever put off, your computer, social media, email, the pets (don’t get me started on that one, stupid puking cat!), etc. You get the point.

Note: The next bit of information is based on personal experience and from “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod

I have found that if I can get to work or get out of bed early, preferably really early, then I can get much needed work done. I am in/up too early for anyone to bother me and conversely I am in/up too early for me to bother anyone. Of course that doesn’t mean I am completely free of distractions, but it really helps. As I am typing this, I am standing in front of our still watching it rectify and collecting heads samples. I am not sure which task I am doing is distracting me from the other. The distilling is definitely distracting me from my writing and my writing is most definitely distracting me from my distilling. I will go with the writing is the distraction because the distilling is the more important task at hand, with larger consequences from being distracted, and the writing is the time filler.

My solution has always been to make a list and tackle one task at a time. “But I have five things that need my immediate attention”, you say and I understand, however, you can’t reasonably do all five at once. Making a list lets you see what needs to get done and checking the items off lets you see your progress. Trying to do all five simultaneously usually results in paralysis and nothing gets done or the things that do get done are half-assed and you will need to redo them. At least that has been my experience.

Is going to get a second cup of coffee a distraction? I think I’ll put that one on the top of my important tasks list. Cheers!

Take a Break

When you are starting your own business there is the tendency to keep your head down and plow forward, immersed in the daily grind of keeping it alive. The problem is that when you do, on occasion, raise your head and look up time has flown by (this applies to life too). What we normally do is put our heads back down and slog on. I guess in the short run this is probably necessary (especially for a really small business startup), however, I feel it is bad in the long run (for you).

Good mental health requires you to step back occasionally and take a break. My problem is that I would love to take a break except there is sooo much work I need to get done. See the problem? It’s a good thing my better half sees things a bit differently. She realizes that there will always be sooo much work and things that just have to get done and that they will be there waiting for us after we get back from (enter a location). Deep down I understand this to be true but my instincts are to get the job done and then go play. Of course she wins and we go away for a much needed vacation (this can be one day at the coast up to ten days on Kauai, Hawaii). The funny thing is that once she pries my fingers off the doorjamb and gets me away from the shop, I stop worrying about things because I am “away” and I can’t really do anything about it, can I?

If you are a one or two person shop this means shutting down for the duration and hoping that a fire or something unusual doesn’t occurs (life does happen, even on vacation). If you have employee(s) than they can keep the businesses limping along for the duration.

A personal note about vacations: this pertains to going someplace outside your immediate area (like Hawaii). Make plans to do things like visit historical sites, go for nature walks or visit some cool local attraction. I find that once I am there I start off great and then I tend to slow down, sit in one place (or another) and just relax. By the end of the trip I am rested and I have seen some of the sights as opposed to sleeping all the time, in my room, recuperating; and couldn’t we do that closer to home at lesser expense?

I find that after a brief vacation I am in a much better mood and the problems I was struggling with before I left aren’t such a problem after all (your subconscious problem solving mind never shuts down).

So I guess what I am saying is; stop and smell the roses along the way because isn’t that what you are working so hard for anyway?

Growth

There is a saying in business, “Grow or Die”.

At some point you will be faced with the dilemma of expanding your business. Very few business’ come into existence, stay that size and make a profit (I can’t think of one but I’m sure there is one out there). As a small business, at various times, you will find you need to expand, whether it is more employees, more equipment, more production or combinations of the above. This brings in the ever present problem of more money to do the expansion. More money can come from your ever increasing sales, a loan, investors or other ways.

We chose to hire more people (as we were not near our production capacity) and, quite frankly, we couldn’t afford to pay them (not quite true). But the idea is that a new employee is going to generate their own paycheck from increased sales. Of course if they or their job doesn’t increase sales then you have a whole other set of problems to deal with.

So the first thing we did was to ask ourselves, “1: What position do we need filled and 2: Do we know anyone, personally, who can fill that niche?”

If the answer is yes, to part 2, then we talk to the respective person and see if there is a fit with the company. One particularly awkward situation with hiring a “friend” is if they don’t work or are problematic. Now you are faced with the difficult choice of possibly having to fire said “friend”.

If the answer is no, to part 2, then we fly an advertisement for the position and we get to start the process of interviews (see our previous post on hiring new employees).

Once we have talked to everyone the hard part comes in, choosing who to hire. This can be made a tad easier if you are filling more than one position or if one of the candidates is a slam dunk. Sometimes the obvious choice really isn’t the best fit for the company, especially for a small company. For us, it comes down to the person’s qualifications, how they came across in the interview and our gut reactions to them. Once they are hired we integrate them into the company.

We choose to have all our employees become familiar with our products and to help in the various processes in making the various Spirits. That way when they talk to people about what they are tasting they can make statements like “We do it this way” or “I did this and that” instead of “They do something but I have been told that…” Being intimately familiar with the products and processes is important to us and to our customers.

We will keep hiring people until we can’t keep up with production and then we will start buying new equipment. The reasoning behind this is 1: we don’t have the money to burn and 2: we have heard too many stories of business’ investing heavily in equipment first, straining their resources, and then searching for customers to fill the gap only to find out that there are none or only a few and they end up closing their doors. That is definitely not my idea of how to run a business. Our philosophy has always been “Slow and steady (growth) wins the race”. I guess I should add being frugal to the quote but you get my drift.

Cheers!

Thoughts on Ageing

When I prepare for a blog post I usually jot down a few points and fill in from there. For this “Thoughts on Ageing” post my points were:

For Spirits=good

Cheese= good

For me= iffy

Laundry=bad

So now I fill in the blanks.

With ageing most things go through an amazing transformation. Spirits in a barrel can turn Whiskey, Rum, Tequila and any assortment of spirits into ambrosia. Generally the longer they stay in the barrel the better they get (although I feel too much ageing can throw some spirits off balance).

A good aged cheese is delightful; full of complex flavors and aromas. They can definitely be an acquired taste.

For me, personally, ageing is a matter of mind. I can’t stop it so why bother worrying about it, however, that doesn’t mean I don’t take care of myself. As with Spirits and cheese the trick is to age well and be full of character (and, for some people, to be an acquired taste)

For laundry, well we have all experienced the ripe pile of laundry at least once in our life (think 2 day old gym clothes). I think I will pass on more of that experience. Cheers!

Interviewing People for a Job

As a business owner, one of the most frustrating things we have to go through is the hiring of a new employee. As your business expands you will need more people to help you out.

The first question is, “what job needs to be filled or created?”

You have to know what the new person’s job descriptionis.

The second question is, “Where do I fly the help wanted ad?”

In the local paper, on Craig’s List, on our web site or by word of mouth (there are always more places to list). Wherever you decide to list, make sure you are precise in your wants and needs for the position (see first question). People will start to send in their resumes and you can start the interviewing process. This is where the frustration can start.

Side note 1: for those of you sending in resumes please please please make sure your info is up to date. There is nothing worse than getting an incredible resume and finding out that the email or phone number is no longer valid.

Here is a small list of people who apply for a given job:

The Awesome Candidate (on paper): This is the person who has all the qualifications you are looking for. By all rights they are the perfect employee, except for the above side note. I guess they are not so great after all if they miss such a glaring mistake.

The Awesome Candidate 2: This person seems to have a very high opinion of themselves and it shows. This would be somewhat pardonable except that most of the information they are trying so desperately to impress you with is wrong. I do not appreciate the old adage, “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance then baffle them with bullshit”. Just be yourself.

The No-Show: They don’t make the interview and they don’t call. Why did they even apply for the job? Did they just want to see if they could get an interview?

Side Note 2: If you have an interview scheduled, show up just a few minutes early. Believe it or not, for a small company, this can make a big impression.

The Downer: This person has been beaten by life. They come in with a negative attitude, because they aren’t going to get hired anyways, and they seem to be trying to suck the life out of the room. Maybe they are.

The Over/Under Dressed: It’s hard to tell someone not to come in, overdressed, for an interview. Personally I like the person to be anywhere from business casual to clean jeans and a Polo shirt. A suit and tie are not a strike against them, however if you are applying for a “Cellar Rat” position you are a tad bit overdressed.  Please do not come into the interview wearing torn clothing and looking like you just crawled out from under a truck. I am no longer 20 and I do not find this look very professional or appealing (yes I’m old, but I have the job you supposedly want).

The Eager Beaver: (We are located in Corvallis after all) This person may not have all the qualifications we are looking for but they exude enthusiasm. They are honest in what they know and don’t know but they are willing to work hard and learn. They have an energy about them, dare I say vivacity, that you can almost see and definitely feel. I love these applicants. These are the people who really want to work and are ready to go the extra mile to get it done. They want to learn many different things and try their hands at everything you will let them. In my opinion, the “Eager Beaver” is the perfect employee. They will grow with the company and be rewarded in the long run.

The Fake Eager Beaver: This person seems to have the goods you want and they are ready to work, that is, until you actually hire them. Then they are slow, often late to work and complain, to anyone who will listen, about how hard they are worked. I bust my butt every day and I expect someone who works for me to work too. I don’t expect them to put in the long hours I do (it’s our business after all) but I do expect them to put in an honest day’s work.

I am sure there are more types that I haven’t thought about but you get the idea and I am sure there is someone out there blogging about the types of bosses in the work place. We can only do our best.

Cheers!

How to Improve Your Home Spirits

With legal home distilling on the horizon, I thought a few tips on how to improve your Home made Spirits drinkability were in order.

Start with a good recipe: My mantra is, “Garbage in garbage out”. You can’t take something that is vile and turn it into something amazing.

Believe it or not, learning how to cook and I mean real cooking not plop a can of something in a dish and microwave it. Cooking involves following a recipe, whether it is your own or someone else’s. Knowing how ingredients work together is prime in making tasty things to eat and drink or you can learn to brew beer, which has many of the same attributes as cooking with the bonus of teaching you how to ferment and to be sanitary as well.

Quality equipment: The better the equipment the easier it is to do the job. The easiest way to start is to buy your still (look online). You can make your own but be aware of the dangers of using certain materials in constructing your still.

Barrel ageing: For certain Spirits, it’s in the barrel. Not all Spirits are aged in barrels. Those that are traditionally barrel aged need not be if you don’t want. The barrel ageing gives it color, additional flavor and smoothness.

Love and care:  Like a flower, with a bit of love and care you can make some delicious Spirits. It’s about paying attention to the details.

Filtering Media: Yes; it’s true that you can take bottom shelf vodka and make it smoother by running it through a charcoal filter; however, it would be extremely hard to make it into a silky-smooth sipping Vodka. Not to mention the time commitment involved.

Education: Take a distilling class and read read read. There is a lot of information out there about fermentation and distilling. Check on the internet, go to the library (it’s a big building full of books you can borrow for free. Most towns have one) and there are classes available. There are also quite a few distilleries out there that you can ask questions to. If available, take the tour and ask questions. My suggestion is to read and learn as much as you can then you can go to your local distillery and ask pertinent questions. If you go in knowing nothing then you risk wasting everyone’s time.

Short Cut: To get a jump start on your distilling you can always buy a couple bottles of wine or cider (non-hard cider will need to be fermented first) and distill it. This will allow you to learn the basics and experiment without the added cost of fermentation equipment.

Note: Do not try to use beer as a short cut. Beer has hops in it, which is a bittering agent, and your finished product will be bitter because the hops oil is very volatile and comes over throughout the distillation process.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Distilling. Cheers!

Spirits Refresher 101

During the course of my work I get people who ask about different aspects of Spirits, so today’s blog post is a very basic refresher for Spirit Types. This is by no means a comprehensive list. It is intended to give a general overview of the most common Spirits on the market. If you want the official site for Spirits, go to http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/bam/chapter4.pdf

Vodka- Can be made from anything and must be distilled to at least 95% ABV; then it is referred to as a “Neutral Spirit” because the original product, used in the fermentation, is no longer reflected in the Spirit. Contrary to popular belief, Vodka was first made using Wheat. Potato Vodka came later and was frowned upon because potatoes were peasant food (unless you were a peasant of course).

Gin- Is made with a Neutral Spirit flavored with, predominantly, juniper. The difference between gins is in the rest of the recipe. Gins are divided into two general categories, Genever and London Dry (this is not the official designation but the common designations for gin)

Whiskey- Is Spirits distilled from a fermented mash of grain at less than 95% ABV. Think of it as an un-hopped beer. Included in the whiskey category are: Bourbon, Rye, Wheat, Malt, Corn, Light, Blended, Single Malt, Scotch, Irish and Canadian (there are actually more subsets but you get the idea).

Brandy- A Spirit made from a fruit wine. Included are: Fruit brandy, Pisco, Applejack, Kirschwasser, Slivovitz, Cognac, Armagnac, Calvados and Grappa.

Rum- A Spirit made from cane sugar and/or cane sugar products

Mezcal- Spirits made from the Mezcal plant

Tequila- Spirits made from, predominantly, the “Blue” Agave plant, a subset of the Mezcal family.

Liqueur/Cordial- Flavored Spirits with a high sugar/lower alcohol profile. The list is long.

This is just the basics folks. If you think something was left out or that the list at http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/bam/chapter4.pdf is incorrect, please feel free to contact the federal government and lodge your complaint. I am sure they will listen attentively to your proclamations. Cheers!

Rude awakening! 95% failure to start dream distillery

Over and over again we see that everyday life and owning a distillery shadow each other (I think this number is actually low). I have been hearing a few things, lately, that really bring this into perspective.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step:

We’ve all heard this and it is pretty obvious, wouldn’t you say? Except that it is amazing how many people talk themselves out of the first step because they look at the end goal and tell themselves, “I can’t do that!”. Which brings me to my favorite Henry Ford quote: “If you think you can or can’t do something, you are correct”. Believe it or not, the adventure and knowledge gained is in the journey not the goal. The goal is the excuse for the journey. Just take one step at a time and keep on taking steps.

Shoot for the B+ not the A:

I know I am going to get some flak for this one but look at it this way; you are a baseball player and every time you are up to bat you swing for the fence. It’s either a home run or a strike out (Babe Ruth was also the strike out king) or you can just try to hit the ball and get on base safely (you’ll get on base safely a lot more frequently and have a few home runs to boot). This reminds me of another favorite quote (I will attribute this to Rich Roll because I heard it from him first, although I believe it is used in AA quite a bit) “Strive for progress not perfection” Don’t expect to be perfect in everything you do just strive to do better, if you make a mistake get up, evaluate what happened, make adjustments and try again.

So you’re saying to yourself, “If I wanted self-help jargon I would look it up somewhere, just give me the answers!” People, these are the answers. Contrary to popular thought there is no easy way. Do the hard work and you will reap the rewards. Besides think of the last time you were given the easy way, you probably didn’t really appreciate it as much as when you earned it.

When most people look at a business or person and they decide they want to do that. What they are thinking is that they want the finished product. When they learn how much time and effort went in to getting to their present place, they balk, complain and generally make excuses. They want the “easy” way and they don’t see the problems associated with having that business or lifestyle.

In our case, we wanted a distillery and for our sins we got one. Now we get to work 7 days a week for as many hours as we can squeeze in with minimal pay (minimum wage would be a huge raise). We now have sleepless nights (anxiety or if the alarm goes off, generally at 3 or 4 am, one of us gets to get up from our comfortable bed, go turn it off and deal with the police, who have answered the alarm call). We also have the knowledge that if something is going wrong with the company we are to blame and we get to fix it.

On the plus side, however, is that we own our own company and are the Captains of our destiny. We get to bask in the glory when someone gushes over our Spirits and when the company makes it big we will be the beneficiaries of all that hard work. We will have earned every penny and we will be grateful for it all.

There are no guarantees in life, except Death and Taxes, and a business can fail for many different reasons. In the end though, personally, I think it is worth the effort. 

The Times, they are a Changing

To quote the great Bob Dylan, “The times, they are a changing.” It would seem that legal home distilling is in our near future.

There is a bill being crafted for congress that includes the stipulation for home distilling and, in my opinion, it is a long time in coming. We have been allowed to make beer and wine at home for a long time now and it is time to take a giant step back in time and allow for home distillation again. There are, however, a few things I think are worth mentioning about home distilling.

The first thing people will probably think (not) is that home distilling will hurt the commercial distilling industry. Being allowed to make beer and wine at home hasn’t seemed to hurt the breweries and wineries and I don’t expect it will hurt distilleries either. It’s not as easy as you think to make good Spirits.

There are some serious dangers associated with distilling:

Making your own still: Unless you are very knowledgeable about soldering and the physics of a still I would advise against making your own still.

One of the greatest dangers is the use of regular lead based solder. We have all heard the stories of moonshine making people go blind and such. Sadly some of these are very true. If you are intent on making your own still, do your homework. I would suggest contacting your local welder, plumber or boiler-maker and pick their brain or better yet buy a still on line.

http://www.hillbillystills.com/ makes very good stills in various sizes. There may be more people out there who make stills but I am unaware of them at the moment. Our first still was a “Hillbilly Still”. It was a 25 gallon still with a 4 plate column. It works great! We now use it for experimental distilling (having moved up to a 125 gallon Vendome still http://vendomecopper.com/ )

Fire danger: There are many ways to heat your still. The easiest is by direct fire. It is also the most dangerous because alcohol vapor and open flames don’t mix or should I say they mix all too well with, often, cataclysmic results.

If you don’t assemble your still properly you can get a pressure build up and not only can your still explode from the pressure build up but then the alcohol vapor can catch on fire and alcohol fires are very hard to put out.

Always have a proper fire extinguisher on hand, as this can save your house or your life.

Ingredients: The general rule of thumb is that if it’s edible going in its drinkable coming out. The big danger is that you want to be wary of adding “wood” to your ferment. As these can make very bad compounds that can hurt you

Learn how to distill: There is a lot of information out there on distilling. Educate yourself! Knowing the basics can make your life so much easier. On the one hand it’s as simple as boiling water and yet there is so much more.

So much more: If you are going to distill you are going to have to learn not only about distilling but also beer brewing and wine making, depending on what you are going to make. I am going to guess that most people are going to want to make Whiskey (classic moonshine stuff). Whiskey is basically made from beer (a grain based beverage) without the hops. If you distill beer and think that you will make a drinkable whiskey, think again. The hops in beer offset the super sweetness of all the grains. Hop oil also volatilizes very easily and will come over in a disproportionate amount to make you a very bitter whiskey. The general rule of thumb is garbage in garbage out or as I like to say, “You can’t polish a turd!” If you don’t make a good wash you won’t come out with good spirits. This also applies to wines and ciders, etc.

Learn to cook: If you know how to cook (and I don’t mean the boil water and add a package of something or throw it in the microwave type of cooking) you should be able to design good spirits.

 Time, Effort and Money: In the end you will need equipment for all the stages of making your Spirits. It will take time to make everything and of course you will need money to pay for everything. If you are the hobbyist extraordinaire you will love the process. For most everyone else it will be too much time, effort and money. That’s why you don’t usually see home brewers drinking only their home brew (I do know a gentleman who drinks only his own beer, but then again, he owns the brewery).

Another note: Be aware that your insurance company may not cover damage from a home distilling set up. Cheers!

Giving Back

When I look back at my life I realize what good fortune I have had.  I have only broken one bone, my arm. I have sliced and diced various parts of my body through the years (is it good or bad that the ER docs know your name?) and had all the “standard” illnesses, without any long term ill effects (despite what my wife says). I have dodged a few bullets in my day. Some of this I attribute to living a pretty healthy lifestyle; some is just good genes and most is just dumb luck. Along the way I met an amazing woman who liked me enough to marry me and we started a business together. All in all life is good.

But there comes a time when you have to give back or pay forward some of the “good luck” you have been the recipient of.  We try to help people with our personal time, with business information we have garnered, we donate blood and we donate to various causes.

The one thing I think people should really look into is mentoring others. It’s not about showing off how good you are or how well off you are it’s about helping people and, call me selfish that makes me feel good.

One of our favorite causes is the fight against Muscular Sclerosis. We participate in the MS Bike Rides, which we have been doing for about 9 years. We have friends and family who have been stricken with this debilitating disease, so we ride for them in hopes that, one day, a cure can be found.

I am asking you to help us; either join our bicycling team, Team Slugfish

https://secure3.convio.net/nmss/site/TRR/Bike/ORCBikeEvents/469497256?pg=utype&fr_id=24766  ,

or with a tax deductible donation to our ride.

Chris - https://secure3.convio.net/nmss/site/Donation2;jsessionid=CBFBEB796664B250DED49BDE528FB990.app310a?idb=376835127&df_id=50100&50100.donation=form1&FR_ID=24766&PROXY_ID=2648060&PROXY_TYPE=20

We will be hosting a rest stop for the Sunday ride at the distillery. Please come visit and cheer on the riders. We will be open from 8am to 5pm on Sunday, August 2nd

Thank you for your support and we will see you on the road August 1st and 2nd.

Cheers!

Trademarks

As you are getting ready to open your distillery (or any business really) you need to look and make sure that “your” name isn’t already being used. This can involve calling a trade mark lawyer, expensive yes, and it can save you lots and lots of headaches and money.

The first step is to think of a name for your new business (or product). This is usually one of the first things people do anyways.

Become familiar with the basics of trademark law (http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics ). A little knowledge can go a long way

Do an internet search using a few different search engines as these may turn up different results.

Go to the USPTO website (http://www.uspto.gov/trademark) and go to the search trademark database.

Warning: Do not ask your lawyer friend or your business lawyer for an official  opinion on trademark law, if it isn’t their specialty, as their opinion is as much informed as anybody else's (this one is from experience).

Once you get the “all’s clear” for your name, apply for the trademark and you are on your way.

Warning 2: You can use a name without trademarking it, however, this can leave you open to someone trademarking “your” name later and you having to “lawyer up” to fight it out (this can be problematic if that someone has a lot of money behind them) or if you are using someone else’s trademark and you have to change your name a year or more into your venture (again this one from experience).

One thing to be aware of is that there are different categories for business types (again see http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics ) . So it is possible to have the same name as someone but for completely different products (e.g. “Super-Good” brand Spirits VS “Super-Good” brand asphalt products) You can apply for a trademark in all categories, thus owning the name outright (think Apple or Microsoft) but you will probably need lots of $$$.

Curve Balls

Ah, another parable. In life you will be given challenges. If you look at these as insurmountable problems that are getting in your way, then you are going to have a hard time dealing with life. On the other hand if you look at these challenges as challenges or opportunities to solve a puzzle, you are going to have a very creative and exciting life; because life will throw you curve balls when you least expect it.

You show up to work and find out that you have no water; a pump breaks down in the middle of a project or things just aren’t going your way. You can get mad, scream and curse all you want but it won’t help. You could curl up in a ball and whimper because you’re having a bad morning, day, life. None of these is really a solution (although, I’ll admit, screaming and swearing do happen on those days).

What to do? First take a deep breath, center yourself and put on your problem solver hat. It’s game time! And when you solve that problem either write it down or remember it because that problem will probably come up again or someone is going to ask you about something like it and you will have the answer all ready (won’t you be the fountain of knowledge then). As for a broken pump, make sure you have a spare, a work around or your plumber’s number handy. To quote “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”

“Don’t Panic”

The most important thing is to be flexible and agile in your thoughts and abilities. When starting a project sometimes it can pay off to do a “worst case scenario” drill. This can be as simple as knowing where something important is (fire extinguisher, Band-Aids or the shut off switch for a piece of equipment) or it can cover serious matters (where is the phone to call  911 or is there someone in the group who is trained in CPR?). Believe it or not this is extra important for things you have done a million times before and therefore do on automatic pilot (is the cordless phone in its cradle? Is the First-Aid kit stocked?) It’s only paranoia when nothing goes wrong. When things go badly you are prepared.

Sometimes it’s the little things that get you. I have a friend who was going into a large, swimming pool sized; pit to work on a piece of equipment. He was wearing a respirator, he was hot and cranky and he was ready to get the work done. Just before he went down someone asked if the air had been tested in the pit; a small, very important, thing that could have cost my friend their life.

So, again, don’t panic, take a deep breath, put your thinking cap on and figure out the puzzle (and write down the solution for future reference). Cheers!

Don't Quit Your Day Job

 Everyone wants to be the Captain of their own destiny. Why else would you want to start your own business? But there are caveats about starting your business. I could have titled this “Finding Your Pain Threshold” because starting your own business can be very uncomfortable at times. Having your own business gives you a lot of freedom while at the same time you are a slave to it. The fact is, it is yours and you are in the driver’s seat. The time you put into your business is generally indicative of the success of your business.

Unless you come into your business with a lot of money behind you, money is going to always be a factor in your decision making. This reminds me of a joke from the winery business and could easily apply to owning a distillery.

Q-How do you make a small fortune in the winery business?

A-Start with a large fortune.

So if you haven’t just sold your 1950’s beachfront bungalow in Southern California, received a golden parachute retirement, won the lottery or sold some of your IPO Microsoft or Google stock you will need to have some sort of cash flow. I guess this is a long way of saying, “Don’t quit your day job!”  Your day job is what’s going to keep the new business afloat and allow you to eat. This means, of course, that you will be doing double duty, work your job and work your business. It is also a new way to look at the job you want to leave. Instead of being “stuck” in the job it is what is going to allow you to flourish in your new endeavor. In time you will be able to transition to your business.

Now saying this, I realize I am telling you to play it safe. You could quit your job, work your butt off and make things work or get a bunch of investors. I guess it’s up to you to evaluate your situation and make the call.

As a new business owner you will work longer and harder for less money than you ever thought possible and you will love it, because it is yours.

Mentoring

In business as in life, find a mentor. This should be someone who can help guide you through the rough seas that are the business world and the world in general.

What is a mentor? In a nut shell a mentor is someone who gives you their opinion on certain situations and what course of action you should take. Now a lot of people reading this are thinking, “Well, I just love giving people my opinion and telling them what they should do. I must be an awesome mentor.”

A mentor does not tell people what to do. They respond to a person’s questions and give them different options, from the benefit of their experience; the person can then act upon it as they choose.

The nice thing is that you can be mentored and be a mentor yourself. You need guidance in certain things and through your experiences you can offer guidance to others. It’s all in the giving. Remember, when the tide comes in all boats float.

You can have more than one mentor.  Rarely will one person have all the answers. Find different people with different life skills and pick their brains. You will be surprised at how people will be happy to drop pearls of wisdom, as long as they don’t feel you are wasting their time.

Why a Distillery

I have often been asked, “How did you decide to open a distillery?” My usual answer is, “I got thirsty.” The truth of the matter is that my wife and I are both very creative and have very different skill sets. So we set off to find something we could do that would let us express ourselves and combine our differing talents. It also had to be something that we could share with our friends and families. We started thinking about opening a small Mom and Pop restaurant. Can anyone say, “Italian”? (I think I would be our best customer. Mmm lasagna). How about opening a Coffee House? (See previous comment). How about a Bar? All these seemed like possibilities but none really took our fancy.

We know many of the restaurant and tavern owners and knew that the margins on a restaurant were pretty slim and most kept their business’ afloat selling alcohol.  So that meant it would be an Italian restaurant with a bar attached. Again, we liked the idea but were not in love with it. Then one day my wife asked me, “How about a distillery?” We looked at each other and laughed. That was illegal! (Wasn’t it?). After a few days of looking at various buildings and discussing their respective merits and shortcomings, we came back to the concept of a distillery.

We did some research and discovered that indeed, it was perfectly legal. Now we had to look at how feasible a distillery would be. We went online to look if there were any distilling classes available and to our surprise there were quite a few, but which one to choose? Classes ranged from a day or two to a week long and the prices varied greatly, too. In the end the decision was made in favor of the week long class from ADI (The American Distilling Institute) being held at a distillery in Petaluma, CA. We figured it would give us the best overview of operating a distillery. It was, however, not inexpensive. The good news was that meals and lodging were included in the price and we would get a small price break because we would be sharing one room.

The class was amazing! It covered so much territory; from bottles, closures and labels to legal aspects, pumps, fillers and visiting working distilleries. Distillation was covered only briefly because, quite frankly, you can cover the basics of distillation in about 10 minutes.

Our fellow students ranged from a farmer who wanted to do something with his surplus crops, a Pepsi Co. rep who was looking to expand his horizons, a Diageo flavor chemist who wanted to know more about the distilling process, a pair who already had a product on the market but were contracting it out and wanted to take over the reins and us who were seeking information.  

What I found even more amazing was that I learned as much from the other students as I did from the classes. Everyone brought something to the table from their personal experiences. By the end of the class we decided that, yes, we could do this and we were on our way. Cheers!

How We Develop a Spirit

I haven’t taken a poll so I’m not sure how other distilleries come up with their recipes for their Spirits but this is how we generally go about it.

We drink a lot! Wow such a succinct and to the point blog post.

If it were only that easy! The first thing we ask ourselves is, “What do we want to make (next)?, “Is this something we want to drink ourselves?” and “Is there a market for it?” The second question, I feel, being the most important.

Once we have decided on a Spirit, let’s say Gin, we then go out on a fact finding mission and “see” what’s available in the market. (See the easy statement) If you think all of a certain type of Spirit tastes the same, you need to go out and sample more. By tasting several different brands of a specific Spirit you start to see some trends and a few outliers. In the case of Gin, Juniper is the dominant flavor.

Once we get a good grasp of the available profiles out there, we start to build a list of what we liked and didn’t like and then start to build our Spirits profile.  Of course, top of the list is it has to be sipping smooth, always.

In the case of our Native Gin, Caitlin had an idea she wanted to explore and immediately went searching for pertinent information. She had made tinctures of botanicals and played “Mad Scientist”. In the end she had created 13 different Gin recipes and I had to evaluate them (sometimes you just have to take one for the team). I spent the next few days pouring over the experimental Gins, taking notes. I had run into a problem, though, she had made 13 really distinct, good Gins. How to choose? So as any good scientist would do, we used “lab rats”, in this case also known as Mom, Dad, Steven and Julia. Yes, our family and friends are our lab rats.

I set down some rules of engagement and turned them loose. By the end of the night we had pared 13 down to 5. At this point I distilled small batches of all 5 of the finalists and we started the sampling process again. This time we pared 5 down to 2 and we were stuck. The two gins were different but we really liked both of them. What to do? (Cue ominous music, to bring tension to the situation). Then Caitlin has a brilliant idea. We will combine the two recipes for the final product. In the end we had created a very unique Gin our Native Gin and it’s a winner! (Time for a Native Gin and Tonic)

Cheers!

To Mix or Not to MIx

The burning question of the day is whether to mix Vivacity Spirits or to sip them straight. My definitive answer is…it’s your drink, make it how you want. At tastings we get a lot of people who taste our products and then inform us that they are too good to be used in a mixed drink. My reply to that is it’s like tasting a vine ripened tomato or a perfectly ripe apple from the tree and declaring that it’s too good to put into a salad or into a pie. A quality spirit is going to make a quality drink.  Otherwise you can use lower quality Spirits, bury them in juice and you get to play the “Is-there-alcohol-in-this?” game and by the time you figure out that there is indeed alcohol in the punch you are generally pretty drunk and you also have just drank your weight in sugar. That can be a very bad combination!

At Vivacity Spirits our Spirits are designed to be so smooth you can sip them neat. This also means that if you do choose to mix them you only have to accent them with a mixer, thus giving you a well-balanced drink. I mean how can you turn down an amazing Native Gin and tonic or perhaps you might want to try a Corvallis Blunderbuss (equal parts Vivacity Spirits Turkish Coffee Liqueur and 4 Spirits Bourbon). Cheers!

When Things go Wrong

Have you ever had one of those days when it seems like everything is going wrong? You come into work and there is a dark ominous cloud hanging over your head? Boy I sure have!

There are a few ways to deal with this; one is to get right back into bed and start over in an hour or so. It’s not always practical but it can help. Another is to charge on with the day and have it all fall to pieces, frustrating you, as you try to make things work; this is the usual path. My way of dealing with the bad day is to take a break. When things are going to hell in a hand basket and nothing I try is working then I attempt to step away from the problem and do something else (i.e. going for a walk). Taking your active mind off a problem lets your subconscious mind work on the problem without your conscious mind getting in the way. Usually by the time I get back to the task I am looking at it with fresh eyes and things usually go much better. On the occasions where things don’t get better, or maybe keep getting worse, I will call it a day because nothing is going to get done properly and I will mess things up that I will just have to undo the next day. Most times, however, you have to stay the course and take the day head on. Those are the suck days.

We had to deal with Tech support the other day and it was not pretty. What should have taken 10 minutes took 3 hours and Caitlin was ready to kill by the end of it. There was no walking away from that one; or when something is going wrong with a ferment, that’s when Caitlin the scientist comes in to save the day, however, if the alarm company calls at three in the morning I get to roll out of bed and deal with it.

 Conversely, we had an FDA inspector come in to interview us about our processes (should we worry?). The gentleman was delightful to work with. He was friendly and made the whole process almost pleasant. (Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, in case his boss’ read our blog)

At the end of the day, all was made well by us sitting on the front porch, in the sunshine preferably, and enjoying a nice glass of Vivacity Spirits. She -a Native Gin and Tonic. He -a Corvallis Blunderbuss (Vivacity Spirits Turkish Coffee Liqueur with equal parts 4 Spirits Bourbon). Cheers!