Ranger Creek's head distiller, T.J. Miller at Texas' only "brewstillery."
News from ADI  
Brandy Distilling Master Class 
with Hubert Germain-Robin
October 18 - 23, 2015 
McMenamin's Cornelius Pass Roadhouse Distillery
Portland, Oregon 
 This is a rare opportunity to work with a true master distiller whose name is recognized and respected on all continents for the high quality spirits he produces.


 The week-long workshop will combine traditional techniques of Cognac-style brandies with three decades of experience in working with New World varietals to create new flavor profiles. Class limited to 15 people.



New Product

 

This week,  
Rogue Ales and Spirits unveiled Rogue Chipotle Whiskey, small-batch distilled with Rogue Farms chipotle peppers.

 

Rogue Chipotle Whiskey begins

at the Rogue farm in Independence, OR, where two acres of jalape�os grow close to the banks of the Willamette River, and are allowed to ripen until they are bright red. Once harvested by hand, the jalape�os are driven to the Rogue Brewery in Newport, OR, where they are dried and slowly smoked over cherry and alder woods. The smoky chipotles are then used by Brewmaster John Maier to brew the Rogue Chipotle Whiskey wash. 

Rogue Chipotle Whiskey will be available at Rogue meeting halls and select retailers throughout the US. Visit their website.

Recipe of the Week
Farmer's Bloody Mary

* 2 oz 44� North Idaho Potato Vodka

* 2 oz Tomato juice

* 0.25 oz Horseradish

* 2 dashes hot sauce


Directions:

Shake all ingredients together, strain into a pint glass or mason jar over rocks. Garnish with celery, olives, tomatoes, radish, olive and lemon/lime wedge.



ADI's Certification Program has 
over 1,400 spirits!

View the stats here.

Apply today and join more than 200 micro-distilleries who are truly craft. 

Send us your 
craft distilling 

We're adding fresh updates and industry news regularly to our eNewsletter, as we share what is happening in our ever-growing industry nationwide.

Send your craft distilling news to our eNewsletter Editor.

to all of our Sponsors!

 

View our sponsors on ADI's 

 

Founding Sponsor:


CRAFT SHOWCASE
ornamental-icon.gif

** Your Ad Here **
Email us for more info.

Connect With Us
Keeping tabs on Ranger Creek
by Ron Bechol, San Antonio Current

T.J. Miller has just popped the stopper on a five-gallon oak barrel containing one of his many recent whiskey-aging trials. He sticks in a "thief" and extracts just enough amber liquid for two tasting glasses. Despite the air in this repurposed shipping container already being thick with "angel's share" aromas emanating from the several dozen other barrels of varying sizes, this spirit's nose demands attention.

 

Miller and his creative business partners at Ranger Creek, Mark McDavid and Dennis Rylander, didn't start out as barrel jockeys. Homebrewers all, it was beer that ignited the initial, hey-gang-let's-open-a-brewery spark and their exceptional brews, the robust Mesquite Smoked Porter and the seasonal Red Headed Stranger among them, continue to garner fans and awards. Read More

 
Bill allowing CA tasting room sales advances
by Katie Orr, Capital Public Radio / News

Unlike wineries or breweries, California consumers are not allowed to buy bottles of liquor in distillery tasting rooms. A bill by Democratic Assemblyman Marc Levine that advanced in the Senate Tuesday would change that. It would allow customers to buy up to three bottles a day.

 

Levin says the bill would also allow distilleries to expand their businesses in other ways.

"It authorizes a craft distiller to hold ownership in up to three restaurants," he says. "And it allows craft distillers to hold private events at the distillery and offer their distilled spirits." Read more.


ADI president begins 3-month road trip this week

 

On Friday, Aug. 7th, ADI President Bill Owens begins his 3-month, 9.000-mile road trip across the USA. It will take him six weeks to reach Boston, MA. Along the way, he will visit craft and farm distilleries in CA, NV, AZ, NM, CO, NE, SD, ND, MN, WI, IA, IL, MI, PA, NY and VT. This will be Bill's 4th road trip in 10 years visiting distilleries. Follow his tweets at: @tour-distill and in the eNewsletters. 

 

purple-yellow-pattern.gif

Bill will also be visiting Iceland, Ireland and the UK. If you'd like to join him on the distillery tours, you will be able to sample the local craft spirits, including an Icelandic whiskey smoked with dried sheep dung and oak from Eimverk Distillery. 
In Ireland you can join him on a two-day bus tour of eight craft distilleries (half of which are open). The tour will end in London on Oct 7-8 at the London Craft Distilling Expo. If you are part of the tour, admittance to the Expo is free. 

Join Bill for the full 10 days or come and go as you wish. Hotels and bus tours have not yet been confirmed.

Schedule
Sept. 29 ~ Arrive in Reykjavik, Iceland
Oct. 2    ~ Arrive in Dublin, Ireland
Oct. 6    ~  Arrive in London, UK
 
If you'd like to join Bill in Iceland, Ireland or the UK, send an email to his assistant, Christy.
 
Distillery coming to Frederick, MD
by Marissa Horn, The Frederick News-Post

Owners Tyler Hegamyer, right, and Braeden Bumpers.

 

The gutted shell of a 100-year-old mechanic's garage along Carroll Creek is set to open this fall as the first distillery in downtown Frederick since the Prohibition era.

 

Original windows, concrete rubble flooring and brick walls line the interior of the leased building, but it will soon have a glass wall splitting the 5,000-square-foot space in two for a tasting room and production room.

 

One of the walls will be demolished so that a German-made still, arriving in four to six weeks on a boat, can fit in the building. The 264-gallon copper still is believed to be the largest in the state, said Braeden Bumpers, co-owner of the distillery at 35 S. Carroll. 

 

"Our main business will obviously be distilling, but we'll have tasting available here, and we will be doing tours of the actual facility," said Bumpers, a Bethesda resident. Read More.

 
Desert Distilling can't sell its products -- yet
by Everett Cook The Desert Sun
Neil Lotz, owner of Desert Distilling

He's lost track of how many times this has happened, but multiple times a week, Neil Lotz will host customers inside the tasting room of his business, Desert Distilling, and sell quarter-ounce samples of the craft liquor he produces. The customers will try the vodka, rum, or gin, and say, 'This doesn't taste like anything I've ever had before. I'll buy a bottle please.'

 Sometimes, they want to buy more than one. Sometimes, they want to buy a case.


 Yet Lotz has to look these customers in the eye and tell them he legally can't sell them more than six of those quarter ounce samples. It doesn't matter that he and his brother, John, haven't made money since starting the first craft liquor distillery in the (CA) Coachella Valley in September 2013. It doesn't matter that they've put more than $300,000 into equipment. It doesn't matter that rent is almost due. Read more.