Category: General

By: Gerald Dlubala

Strolling into Townsend, Tennessee, on the peaceful side of the Smokies, you can’t help but notice the relaxed atmosphere. Located at the base of the Smoky Mountains, Townsend is an outdoor activity hotbed featuring some of the best hiking, mountain biking and camping you’ll find. Along the main parkway, you’ll also come across a unique, welcoming, 4,000-square-foot glass-enclosed building with a back patio with games and outdoor seating. Look a little closer, and you’ll recognize the shimmer of distilling and brewing equipment gleaming through the massive windows. This is the home of Company Distilling, and we’re all invited inside.

  Jeff Arnett, the Master Distiller of Company Distilling, was with Jack Daniels for 20 years, 12 of those as a master distiller. Although demanding, it was a dream job, and he loved the people he worked with. But after expanding the Jack Daniels portfolio from three to 11 products and winning “Master Distiller of the Year” in 2017, Arnett felt the urge to build his own brand from the ground up. At Townsend’s annual Grains and Grits Festival, a yearly event on the first Saturday of November featuring locally produced spirits and food, that urge began to pick up steam.

Great Location & Great People Produce Great Products

  “I thought Townsend was a beautiful location,” said Arnett. “I knew the people there, and I knew they were interested in having a distillery in Blount

County. I knew that you need great people to produce a great product. After talking with other distillers, they all pushed their chips in, so we had distillers who could make whiskey, gin and beer. We also had GM experience within the group, so as friends with a common goal, we decided to take a leap of faith and create Company Distilling. We’re not the first distillery in Blount County, just the first legal one.”

  “The name for Company Distilling was inspired by the pandemic when we all had to rethink how we were gathering and how we could get together with our families,” said Arnett. “We couldn’t just go to restaurants or bars and order what we wanted anymore. We entertained and gathered in our homes with those we held dearest. They were moments to be cherished and shared, so we wanted to make a product that reflected that sentiment here at Company Distilling. When I was little, my mom told me to clean my room and shower when company came. You put your best foot forward for the guests that come to your home. We made a product that, once discovered, you want to share with your closest friends and family. It was natural that we call ourselves Company Distilling to reflect that attitude. It became our inspiration.”

  Arnett wanted to explore wood finishing. He started doing it at Jack Daniels on a small-scale distiller series. One of the eight new products he brought into Jack Daniels’ portfolio was the No. 27 Gold. It was double-barreled and double-mellowed using maple barrels and charcoal, along with the original white oak barrel. Arnett said that it was one of the best products that they made. However, the maple barrels tended to leak more, losing more liquid and driving costs up. The process needed improving. Arnett worked to modify the process, and after several years of development, it has created additional opportunities to replicate a double-barreling method using non-traditional barrel woods. This proprietary process allows Arnett to offer products containing a new and natural range of character and flavor without additional additives.

  “As a distiller, you want to work with water, grains, yeast, oak barrels and woods as much as possible to create nuance and character,” said Arnett. “There are three native forms of American whiskey known to be created in the United States: Tennessee whiskey, bourbon whiskey and rye whiskey. We wanted to respect and reflect that history with three successful, wood-finished products and offer flights for comparison. Our first product was our straight bourbon whiskey finished with maple, and now we offer our straight rye whiskey finished with cherrywood and our straight Tennessee whiskey finished with applewood. These perfectly demonstrate how our natural, wood finishing process builds unique character and flavor enhancements.”

Company Products for All Tastes and Occasions

  Company Distilling also produces the Ace Gap brand of flavored spirits. Although Company’s brand is not about mason jar moonshine, East Tennessee is a hotbed for it. With Ace Gap flavored spirits, Company stays true to the Smokey Mountains history and Tennessee’s moonshine roots.

  “Before forming the Smokey Mountains National Park, loggers were cutting trees in what is now known as the Ace Gap Trail,” said Arnett. “There was a still out there, and the loggers would sit around, play cards and drink their shine. To honor that, the GPS coordinates for Ace Gap are on the back of the Ace Gap bottles. Our flavored spirits are available in eight flavors and, more importantly, are very cocktail-friendly in contrast to true moonshine. When Townsend is full, there are about 15,000 people in the campgrounds, including many families. We wanted to offer a product that allowed the campers to make a simple cocktail in the campground with ingredients they may already have or could easily pick up at the market, like lemonade, limeade, cream, tea, milk or whatever. Our flavored spirits taste like what the labels say they taste like, without the traditional corn nose and note of traditional moonshine.”

  In addition to the Townsend location, Company Distilling has a smaller site in Thompson’s Station, south of Nashville. The Thompson’s Station location distills their Ghost Rail Gin, which won “Best Gin” at the 2021 Ascot Awards.

  Company Distilling is a true brewstillery, offering six beers brewed in-house and on tap for visitors, thirsty campers and parched mountain bikers. For those that prefer a cold, refreshing, locally made, great beer, choices include Fest Bier, Kolsch, American Lager, Black Rye IPA, American IPA and a New England IPA.

  “We took out the traditional mash cooker and fermenter system and replaced it with Deutsche equipment to make 3 ½-barrel batches of beer,” said Arnett. “You have to make beer first and then distill it into whiskey anyway. The two processes are pretty well tied together, but we included lagering tanks, a boiling kettle, the lauter tun and everything you need to get grain solids out and pasteurize and make high-quality beer.”

You’re Not Just a Visitor, You’re Company

  Walking into Company Distilling in Townsend, you are immediately taken by the massive windows looking into the production area and providing spectacular views of the surrounding landscape and mountains. Live music enhances the experience on weekends. Of Company Distilling’s 4,000 square feet, one quarter of it is production space viewable through large glass panels. Here, you’ll likely spot Arnett and his team hard at work getting things just right. Both locations feature tasting rooms, bottle shops and cocktail menus.

  Along with regular tastings, visitors can fill a bottle and enjoy a premium tasting with the master distiller experience at the Townsend location. A small service kitchen, the Amico Deli, provides hot and cold food. Having had lunch and experiencing the exceptional folks and customer service at the Townsend location, I can tell you that they really do treat everyone as welcome and cherished company, and the food is on par with their handcrafted spirits and beer.

  “We want to share our success with everyone else around here because, ultimately, that’s what it is all about,” said Arnett. “Townsend has a lot of green space, where people come to tube the river, mountain bike and hike. We cater to outdoor enthusiasts by making our distillery a glass box that connects to the outdoor landscape and beauty. Townsend experiences precipitation that gets pushed here from the mountains an average of 100 days a year, so connecting with the outdoors is important even on those less-than-perfect days. We create our spirits thoughtfully on the peaceful side of the Smokies so our customers can enjoy them surrounded by spruce, fir and hardwood. We make our bourbon with a proprietary, toasted maple wood finishing process. We take hard sugar maple and toast it, caramelizing the natural sugars in the wood. We reduce the maple for entry into the oak barrel and then pull periodic samples to determine when the liquid is ready for bottling. Our products are ready when they’re ready, determined only by taste and time.”

Looking Ahead

  “Besides our two locations, we have a 30+-acre property in Alcoa, near Knoxville airport,” said Arnett. “It’s an old brick plant that made the brick for the Alcoa Aluminum plant. It would be able to hold up to 10,000 barrels. We hope to build our main distillery adjacent to it if we can purchase an adjoining five-acre tract of land. We’re working on it. Until then, it’ll be another year or so for us to have our main facility up and running.”

  Arnett tells Beverage Master Magazine that he plans to develop a new product yearly. The release date will coincide with Townsend’s annual Grains to Grits Festival, when Townsend hosts 1,000-1,500 spirits lovers ready to experience new and innovative products.

Enjoying the Work Makes it Worthwhile

  “It’s been a slow process, and we’re pushing it uphill, making progress,” said Arnett. “It’s good to see. Distilling is a lot of work, but it’s enjoyable work. I’m super hands-on right now, still toasting my own wood with a proprietary process. You have to love and do what you do for the right reasons. Townsend was the first facility we built, with the new build being in the same location with the same grandfathered-in footprint. All our town has is electricity and septic, so we won’t build a national brand out of here. But we are close to Cades Cove, the most visited spot within the most visited national park. Our location allows visitors to get to know who we are. We have nearly two million cars passing us annually and are within a day’s drive of half the U.S. population. We directly distribute to six states and look to double that soon. Others can get our products through Seelbach’s online.”

  Arnett says that Company Distilling tests and tunes its products before moving them into the recognizable Company signature bottle. Their Cherrywood Finished Rye won double platinum this year and entered the Company lineup. The Applewood Finished Tennessee Whiskey was released on International Tennessee Whiskey Day, May 21, commemorating the day Tennessee repealed prohibition in 1937. Arnett said they lost out on the award cycle by holding it back. But because the product has been so welcomed and is now one of their most popular, it was also moved into the Company lineup, fulfilling Arnett’s initial goal of offering wood-finished versions of the first three spirits made in the U.S. In addition to the tasting flights and master distiller experience, Arnett will begin hosting whiskey dinners and working to get his products available in nearby restaurants and country clubs.

  Take it from me: visiting is a must if you’re anywhere within reach of Company Distilling. After all, you’re always invited because you’re company.

Company Distilling

8351 TN-73, Townsend, TN 37882

www.companydistilling.com

(865) 366-4360

info@companydistilling.com

Rising From The Ashes

By: Gerald Dlubala

In the 1880s, in Northern Lawrence County, Ohio, James Mullins noticed an abundance of coal mines popping up. The area was rich in coal, and Mullins decided he wanted to cash in on the surging coal mining business, so he purchased a plot of land between the already-operating Beechwood and Oakwood mines to open his own coal mine. However, before opening, he was reminded by his new hires, many of whom were local and in need of work, that it would surely be bad luck to open and operate a coal mine without properly naming the mine, similar to the naming of ships before launch. Mullins’ wife mentioned that their coal mine settled nicely between the neighboring mines, mingling between them. That single comment launched the beginning of the Minglewood Coal & Ice Company that has now, well over 100 years later, become home to the Minglewood Distilling Company, a small-batch micro-distillery located in Wooster, Ohio.

  Mullins sold coal from his mine and ice procured from the nearby lake when frozen until 1921, when he added a second building on the property. It was heavily insulated with natural cork and used specifically as an ice factory, providing sanitary or electric ice made from distilled water.

  As the years passed, electric refrigerators and natural gas availability sharply reduced the vast need for purchased ice and coal. That demand reduction led to Minglewood Coal & Ice Company closing its doors in the 1950s. An auto repair business took over the smaller building, and the larger, cork-insulated building that once housed an ice factory was transformed into a beer and wine carryout store. The carryout liquor store sustained heavy fire damage in the 1970s and sat in ruin from that day forward, including a massive amount of burnt cork waste. The damage was so bad that the city had plans to demolish the building until current co-owner Mark Morrison purchased the land with the remains of the two buildings included. The city also halted demolition plans on what remained of the damaged buildings providing Morrison would start working on and improving the property immediately. This land purchase began the beginnings of the Minglewood Distilling Company. Morrison opted to keep the Minglewood name out of respect for the area’s history, a trait that continues throughout the distillery, its story and its products.

Carrying on the Minglewood Name

  “We still have two buildings on the property,” said Andrew Morrison, son of Mark and now co-owner and distiller. “The larger building is the original 1880s icehouse heavily damaged in the fire. The smaller building had at least a partial roof and some electricity availability, making it the more practical place to start the restorations and renovations. We started distilling in 2016 and opened to the public beginning in 2017.”

  “The larger building, the former ice plant, has been under renovation for the last four years. It took a lot longer, not only because of the extent of the fire damage but the cleanup included so much burnt cork insulation waste. It must’ve been at least five feet deep, and we actually began by digging it out by hand,” said Morrison. “Additionally, the pandemic slowed everything dramatically. But in May 2023, we were able to host our first event in the space, and it is now open as an event venue for weddings, get-togethers, parties, corporate events and anything else that would benefit from being held in a private space. The back half of the building now houses our production area, and the smaller building we originally used for production is now a permanent bottling facility. We had been rolling out temporary tables to use as our bottling solution, but now, with updated production facilities and available bottling solutions, we hope to increase production and extend our reach substantially.”

  Morrison tells Beverage Master Magazine that patrons will enjoy a rustic, classy space when visiting. The tasting room vibe is reminiscent of the 1940s and 1950s eras, featuring industrial décor with brick walls, concrete floors and exposed ceiling beams.

  “I wouldn’t call it trendy or hip,” said Morrison, “But rather, it’s a place with a throwback feel that reflects and showcases our pride in doing things in the older, traditional ways. Our customers can immediately sense they’re in for a quality experience with owners who care about their products and the visitor experience.

  The Morrisons currently use a stainless steel, hybrid reflux column pot still with a 500-gallon capacity that feeds into a 12-plate reflux column. Their current production schedule is distilling two to three batches a week from November through April, when the city water temperature is perfect for their needs.

  “We use a lot of city water for cooling processes, and in those winter months, the water temperature hovers around 40 degrees, which is perfect for our operation,” said Morrison. “Additionally, our equipment is big enough that, for now, we can make what we need for the year during those months. We generally produce a barrel out of each distillation, which comes to about 50 barrels a year, mostly bourbon and rye, and we distill corn whisky for our flavored whisky products. So, we do have the option to ramp up production rather quickly if and when needed.”

Reigniting the Area’s Historical

Passion with Rye

  After the Revolutionary War and in the 1800s, Germans immigrated to Ohio, including Wayne County. They brought rye from Europe with the intent of farming. Rye is a winter crop that fits extraordinarily well with Ohio’s temperature fluctuations and extremes, including the high freeze and thaw rates in the winter months. When a successful harvest came in spring, farmers found themselves with an excess of rye grains and looked for additional uses, leading to small pot stills on the farms to distill the grains and raise extra money. However, during the Civil War in the 1860s, excise taxes became a reality. As you can expect, farmers didn’t want to deal with the taxes, so many became moonshiners while local granaries became distilleries. Morrison also speculated that with the proximity of Route 30, a major thoroughfare running from the East Coast to Chicago, it’s not a far stretch to think that moonshining and moonshine distribution were also lucrative businesses.

  “Most people don’t remember that the Cedar Valley Distilling Company operated in Wooster between 1862 through the 1940s,” said Morrison. “We like their story and try to keep it alive in our tours with historically accurate retellings. The owner started with a grist mill, purchasing grain from local farmers and hiring additional local farmers and construction workers when other work was unavailable. The distillery was successful enough that they eventually moved to a larger facility, and from all accounts, they could produce 25 barrels a day during their peak production in the late 1800s.”

  “That’s simply unfathomable to me,” said Morrison. “If we ran 24/7 here, we could produce two barrels daily. Cedar Valley Distillery only made rye whisky, and they suddenly found themselves with a very large backstock when prohibition hit. They were able to get a license to distribute medicinal prescriptions, so their backstock ended up being distributed through prescription only. By the time prohibition ended, their backstock was dwindling away to almost nothing due to their prescription distribution and likely a bit of bootlegging. So, they started selling a 65 percent Cuban Rum liquor cut with six-month-old rye whisky aged with wood chips. We actually found some of the bottles over the years, and as you would expect, the concoction was horrible and definitely not a money-maker, causing the distillery to close its doors. Cedar Valley’s buildings and memories are now gone, and it’s rare to find someone in Wooster who remembers them, but we want to keep that history alive. Like them, we make our rye whisky using all local ingredients. We enjoy highly communicative and exceptional relationships with our farmers, who have become more like partners than suppliers. Our corn is grown about five minutes away, just outside of Wooster. Our rye comes from about 15 minutes away, in Dalton, which is eastern Wayne County, and our wheat comes from a co-op just north of us in Seville.”

Community and Partner-Suppliers

Are Critical

  Mark Morrison originally opened Minglewood Distillery with help from a friend that owned and operated wineries in the region. His son Andrew would work with them when he was available. In 2019, Andrew finished his studies, and when Morrison’s partner wanted to return to his true passion, meaning his wineries, the Morrisons bought him out. From that day forward, the father and son team became 50/50 partners, co-owners and distillers.

  “We’ve been using the same farmers for six years since beginning our distillery,” said Morrison. “We are fortunate to have no worries about the consistency and quality of our ingredients or products, and our communication couldn’t be better. Even when our suppliers had a bad year, causing lower overall yields, they told us they had a crop dedicated to us, so we shouldn’t worry. That type of communication and partnership is invaluable.”

  The future looks bright and tasty for Minglewood Distilling Company. Morrison tells Beverage Master that they are looking forward to increasing production and bottling capacity thanks to the updated availability of both buildings. They plan to bump up their bourbon production, eventually offering bottled-in-bond bourbon and rye selections and expanding the overall lineup with more variety and premium offerings.

  For those following the path to owning a distillery in a state that controls licensing, Morrison says that those future distillers should apply to get their license early. He waited, and because the process was a lengthy one, Minglewood initially was only allowed to distill and provide small samples (one ounce per person, per day, cut into quarter-ounce samples) to their patrons, which wasn’t enough for proper tastings to be held or sell their liquors by the bottle. Morrison said that selling cocktails is critical to the bottom line, so obtaining that serving license is important for customers to get to know your products and want to purchase them regularly. Minglewood Distilling Company’s best sellers have been their flavored offerings, with peach leading the way. It really took off in 2020 and hasn’t slowed. Their upcoming pickle whisky is set to be a hit, and a much-anticipated root beer whisky will be available this fall.

  In addition to being able to taste their product lineup at their distillery and tasting room, Minglewood Distillery offers a kitchen and full bar for service and menu offerings featuring meat and cheese boards.

To learn more about Minglewood Distilling Company and its products, visit:

Minglewood Distilling Company

437 East South Street

Wooster, Ohio, 44691

(330) 601-1600

info@minglewooddistilling.com

By: Gerald Dlubala

Located in the arts district of Los Angeles, the Greenbar Distillery operates in a historic brick building built in 1905 and positioned in the same diverse neighborhood that houses iconic residents like Warner Brothers Music, Soho House and Hyperloop. Intermingled with high-end coffee shops, trendy barbershops and homeless tents, husband-and-wife team Melkon Khosrovian and Litty Matthews transformed an old strip club into the Greenbar Distillery in 2011.

  “Our space is colorful, modern, vibrant and warm,” said Khosrovian. “It is multicultural and optimistic, invoking the classic positive vibe of LA, where people come to fulfill their dreams, whatever they may be. There are giant windows overlooking our production floor, so customers can see and understand what we’re all about. We were the first distillery in Los Angeles since at least the Prohibition Era. For the true cocktail lover, Greenbar Distillery was the only exposure to the industry for at least a decade, so we wanted to make sure that if cocktail lovers found us, we did the best possible job to make their cocktail experience positive and up to all of their expectations, while showing them what goes into running a distillery.”

  Khosrovian tells Beverage Master Magazine that the distillery came about out of necessity to keep up with the demand for their homemade spirits beginning in 2004. Neither Khosrovian nor Matthews had any actual distilling or spirits experience. They met in graduate school, and their experience with spirits was only from the consumer side of the bar. But within two years, their home distilling hobby blossomed and became more work than a hobby.

  “We were engaged and doing the normal family circuit, meeting each other’s families, relatives and friends,” said Khosrovian. “For us and our heritage, that meant hosting big gatherings with big meals and frequent toasts featuring our homemade, fruit-based, high-proof alcohol. Litty is a trained chef and foodie with an educated palette, and she considered our homemade alcohol to be slightly medicinal and, frankly, not very good. She would politely pick up her glass for the toast but set it down again without drinking. That was awkward for me, so I set out to make something she would enjoy by incorporating the same culinary skills and techniques she used to produce her amazing food. Additionally, we took trips to the farmers’ markets to find ingredients to add in different ways and improve our alcohol’s flavor and aroma. We had some success, which we quickly bottled for future family gatherings using homemade printed labels. The ultimate feeling of success was when family and friends asked for more, and then friends of friends started requesting bottles of our product.”

  Khosrovian said that interest in their homemade spirits sparked a serious conversation about which direction to take their success. Luckily for all of us, they chose to start distilling on a larger scale. The first step was renting a small space in a nearby town that allowed a slightly larger scale of production to satisfy the demand from friends and relatives but also allowed them to be able to connect with and supply some of the local bars, hotels and restaurants that had an interest in using their products.

  “This was pre-pandemic when 80 percent of our business was related to being used as a bartender brand in restaurants, bars and hotels,” said Khosrovian. “We had tried to gain the home drinker’s interest by putting recipes on our labels, setting up stands at stores with recipes that they could make at home and hosting classes and tastings to try and see where we could improve our marketing and increase bottle sales, but nothing seemed to work. Actually, the reverse happened, even though our drinks received rave reviews. We were totally baffled but finally realized the only way to pursue our dream of showing customers how to drink better and more interesting things using our products was to make it easier for the consumer and provide ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails.”

  So, Greenbar started offering three spritz cocktails in cans, and as Khosrovian would later admit, that timing was crucial because shortly after, the pandemic closed the bars, hotels and restaurants, literally all of their income sources.

Pandemic Problems Lead to Successful Solutions

  “The pandemic took away our revenue stream, and since we already found that consumers were unwilling to put in the work to make our cocktails at home, our only choice at this point was to can our cocktails and provide them as additional RTD options,” said Khosrovian. “Initially, we made everything in-house, including vodka, but now our base alcohol is made to our standards off-site. We use the base alcohols to ferment things like rum and whiskey on site and then redistill things like gin, liqueurs and amaro using our unique flavorings. We initially made and carbonated our RTDs in-house and used mobile canners for packaging, but it became very costly and difficult to get on their schedule and adhere to their specified run sizes. Forecasting our needs that far in advance was also a challenge, so about two and a half years ago, we invested in a medium-speed canning line that allows us to do 100 cans per minute in-house, on-site. With a two-million-dollar investment in additional accessories, we can do everything in-house, from creating the spirits to creating carbonated beverages to packaging.”

  “Today, the RTD market remains about 75 percent of our business, and surprisingly, most of it is in the NA (no alcohol) market,” said Khosrovian. “That fact initially humbled us, but as we began to work with markets, who were quite literally our lifeline to the public, we saw that they were getting a lot of questions about NA or LA (low alcohol) options. Those markets were rapidly growing, but consumers wanted something different than only the juice additives or normally available seltzers.”

  Khosrovian said they dove into the NA topic to see if it was a legitimate option because the idea of cocktails without alcohol was unfamiliar to him.

  “We needed to know what the consumers were really after in these types of drinks,” said Khosrovian. “So, we talked to consumers who either drank alcohol minimally or not at all and found the qualities consumers were after in these types of cocktails were related more to the experience of drinking the cocktail than the actual effects of the alcohol.”

•   They wanted something that changed their mood. With proper flavoring and layering, consumers will respond to NA cocktails in the same ways they do to complex, layered, alcohol-based cocktails.

•   Consumers wanted something that reengineered their brains and jolted them out of work mode and into a more social mode, similar to the vibe that alcohol-based counterparts do.

•   They wanted something they could drink comfortably and slowly, changing the tempo and brain function to initiate a slower pace to their mental state and social interactions.

  “We began to ask ourselves if we could provide these things with NA cocktails and have them function and deliver the overall experience similar to their alcohol-based counterparts. The answer was obviously yes, because consumers are looking for more of these types of options. As a result, NA cocktails can be enjoyed more often and in more situations without the limitations or consequences of alcohol consumption.

Organics, Sustainability and One-Bottle-One-Tree

  Khosrovian tells Beverage Master Magazine that sustainability wasn’t a primary goal of Greenbar Distillery but rather an accidental, fortunate outcome of their business philosophy. In California, where the growing season is year-round, Khosrovian always requests the best aromatic and flavorful produce from partnering farmers. When he inadvertently received a harvest from a certified organic orchard without his knowledge, a batch of chocolate orange vodka was noticeably different. It was better, as in more aromatic and more flavorful, but different. That experience from a grower growing organic to make sure his farm would be a lasting legacy for future generations made such an impression because of the increased flavor and aroma that Khosrovian and Matthews immediately decided to use only organic ingredients from that day forward. But they also researched and learned more about implementing organic and sustainable practices in other production areas.

  “We applied this same way of thinking to our packaging, including bottles, printing, labeling, capsules and so on,” said Khosrovian. “We traditionally used heavyweight bottles with laminated labels on virgin paper that would last 100 years. But who would actually want to keep these things that long? We continually asked ourselves what else we could do to help. Both of our heritages have a tradition of planting a tree for every baby born in the family, and in a way, these bottles are our kids. So, we started a program to plant a tree for every bottle we sold, and the Greenbar name was born. It just felt right to give back for our success. We communicated this to all of our customers, and it sounded noble, but no one knew what it actually meant. We needed verifiable results, so after the first year, we hired agencies to determine what effect this action of planting high-canopy trees in return for bottle sales really had on our carbon footprint. In consumer terms, the results showed that if the average American drinks one and a half ounces of our spirits in a day, they are carbon negative for that day. It’s a little thing, but eventually, it adds up and makes a difference. Since 2008, we’ve planted over a million trees, equating to 10 to 12 million carbon-neutral people daily.”

  “So, now we ask, what has your drink done for you?” said Khosrovian. “We’re not revolutionizing or stopping climate change, but it’s something for the consumer to consider. We still have to deliver on our promise of drinking better and more interesting things with great taste, but if the consumer has a choice between products that give them the same or better experience, then maybe they can look towards products that go beyond the spirit and help out in other ways.”

Staying Within Yourself

  “I would tell anyone starting in this business first to get to know yourself and be true to your feelings because, in the end, that’s what you’ll end up doing,” said Khosrovian. “Don’t shortchange yourself or your possibilities because you don’t have to follow anyone’s footsteps in distilling. Grab your chance to be creative, and whatever you do will work and be satisfying. Some will like it, some won’t and that’s okay, but fakes usually don’t last. We’ve evolved over 18 years from helping restaurant, bar and hotel industries serve those who prefer to drink better outside of the home to helping customers drink better wherever they want to consume our products. We’ve learned things the hard way, but frankly, we got lucky on many business fronts as well. We are very good at manipulating and layering flavors to make our products delicious, flavorful and interesting to the consumer. In return, they appreciated and wanted more. Our love and passion come through in our products, so much so that as a loving gesture to my wife, Litty, there is a heart on nearly every one of our products, signifying how we got all of this started.”

  Khosrovian and Matthews also look for that same creativity, passion and willingness to play and learn in their employees. The freedom to express oneself and occasionally screw up is part of being a Greenbar Distillery employee. Khosrovian says mistakes happen and are okay because that learning experience will lead to improvements and ultimately result in happy customers.

Consumers Drive Future Goals

  “We will be going more towards the whole cocktail as our product versus only ingredients,” said Khosrovian. “This includes looking at RTDs in every format available, versus only base spirits. Our experience has opened our eyes to how much the customer is willing to embrace cocktails outside of the bar atmosphere, provided we can give them a similar experience and level of comfort. As happy as we are that the restaurant and bar world has returned, regularly going out to a bar can be inconvenient and expensive. We provide the best of the bar experience for consumers in every format possible, wherever they choose to drink better and more interestingly to enjoy our products”.

  Greenbar Distillery now makes the most extensive portfolio of organic spirits globally. Joining their TRU Vodkas are CRUSOE Rums, IXA Tequilas, SLOW HAND Whiskeys, FRUITLAB Liqueurs, CITY Gins, GRAND POPPY and GRAND HOPS Amari and BAR KEEP Bitters.

  “As a craft distiller, we always strive to meet the consumers where they are to ensure their craft cocktail experience is better, easier and more interesting.”

  For more product information, or to learn more about Greenbar Distillery, visit or call: Greenbar Distillery, 2459 E 8th Street, Los Angeles, CA  90021, (213) 375-3668, www.greenbardistillery.com