What is a Craft Distillery?
A craft distillery has many meanings, depending on who you ask. The American Craft Spirits Association defines a craft distillery as, “A distillery who values the importance of transparency in distilling, and remains forthcoming regarding their use of ingredients, their distilling location and process, bottling location and process, and aging process.”
The American Distilling Institute defines craft spirits as, “the products of an independently-owned distillery with maximum annual sales of 100,000 proof gallons where the product is PHYSICALLY distilled and bottled on-site.”
Generally speaking, this small-volume focus allows distilleries, like ours, to focus on the quality of the ingredients and the method of distilling, while supporting the community we live in.
Butters' Family Farm
The History of Craft Distilling
Craft distilling dates back centuries to the first making of spirits. When distilling came to America however, the large distilleries took over and started mass-producing bourbon and whiskey. In response to these mass-produced spirits, the craft distillery industry was born.
The American craft distilling industry has grown dramatically over the last few decades. There are now more than 2,000 micro or craft distilleries in the United States. Each distillery has its own unique story to tell, its own unique process and spirits, and a unique connection to the community around them.
This is also true of Eight Oaks. We are as much about the community we support as the spirits we make. We Don’t Just Make Whiskey, We Make A Difference.
What being a Craft Distillery Means to Our Crew
Because there is no official definition of a craft distillery, it can mean different things to different people. We asked our crew to tell us what a craft distillery means to them, and here are some of the things we heard:
“Made with love”
“From grain to glass, we are hands on”
“Starting from the moment the grain leaves the field, to the finishing touches on the bottling line–-we touch it all”
“It starts with community; From our farm to your glass.”
What’s it mean to you?
Cheers!
At Eight Oaks we don’t just make whiskey, we make a difference.
Tell us what you want to see in future blog posts. You can do that by sending your feedback to Josh at jvandenberg@eightoaksdistillery.com.
We’ll work as many questions into future posts as we can, and for those topics selected we’ll make sure to send you a fun prize pack.