Category: Current Articles

Minding Your Beverage Business Mantra

Cyndi

The power of manifestation through positive affirmation

human head with a symbol of bright light and intersecting curves and shapes

By Raj Tulshan, Founder & Managing Partner, Loan Mantra

New year, new you! A new year brings the opportunity for a business refresh and positive change. Many Americans turn the calendar and plan New Year’s resolutions as rite of passage each year.  But planning and keeping these resolutions is often easier said than done. However, a Quickbooks survey indicates that business owners may carry higher levels of ambition than those with no entrepreneurial interest. Business owners are more likely to make (and stick to) financial goals than the average consumer—65% say they tend to keep their financial resolutions.1 

  Interestingly, new data also shows that what’s on the mind of business owners in 2026 is different than in year’s past. New Year’s Resolutions made for 2026 reveal notable shifts in how business owners view the current business climate and what priorities matter when compared to resolutions that were made in previous years.

  Prior to 2026, we see resolutions centered on increasing sales, improving marketing efforts, cutting costs and boosting efficiency. In contrast, 2026 New Year’s Resolutions are more future focused with long-term thinking in mind. Goals for 2026 focus on building financial resilience, accelerating adoption of smart tools and technology, strengthening digital presence, sustainability and investing in workplace culture and people says findings from a Bank of America Study. The research further reveals that 74% of small and midsize business owners anticipate revenue growth in 2026 with over half, (60%) planning to expand their operations.2 

  So, what is the key takeaway? A renewed focus on the positive in the business landscape.

A Positive Focus

  Focusing on the positive, re-enforcing and repeating positive statements, or affirmations can have a powerful effect. Studies indicate that affirmative self-talk can re-wire critical neurotransmitters that fuse connections together in the brain. Writing down these affirmations further engages the reward and self-processing areas of the mind, enhancing concentration, improving performance under stress. Positive affirmations don’t just feel good—there’s research to back up their many benefits. Whether it’s improving mental well-being, shaping attention toward success-oriented actions, or aligning with a deeper purpose, the benefits are real and the impact is measurable.

A Mindful Purpose

  Developing a mantra is one way to use positively focused affirmations with intention. The word mantra originated in India and was derived from combining the Sanskrit, root word man- “to think” and -tra meaning, “tool”, together to mean “instrument of thought” or tool for the mind. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism use mantras as part of sacred ancient practices to harness spiritual power and alter consciousness. Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Islam and Christianity also use a similar idea of repeating words, either a prayer or phrase to bring enlightenment or as way to worship.

  In the secular space, mantras serve a variety of functions and are especially popular as aids to help mindfulness, deepen concentration and increase awareness. In business, a mantra is a future-focused statement that defines your business as you want it to be. Clarity of your business purpose is not only important to business owners, employees, and shareholders, but clients and potential customers too. Research by McKinsey shows that 82% of respondents say purpose statements are important in business, and 72% believe purpose should outweigh profit.3

  Mantras help shape what we notice and focus on collectively in a positive direction. Psychologists call this confirmation bias. This means your brain starts noticing and signaling opportunities that align with your desired outcome. Practicing and repeating mantras helps replace negative thoughts with positive ones, encouraging optimism, resilience, and growth. In a study done with U.S. Veterans, mantra repetition was associated with greater reductions in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and anger and helped improve mental health.

Team Alignment for Successful Outcomes

  Mantras are part of our company culture and belief systems – so much so, that we use this practice daily. We are convinced of the power of positive suggestion and manifestation, which have made a big impact on our growth. When creating our mantra, we wanted to convey how our human expertise, secure technology, and painless platform allow borrowers, lenders, and partners to fund loans easily and efficiently anytime and anywhere. With this in mind, we created the mantra: Democratized lending for all.

  Business owners and leaders are discovering the performance secrets that elite athletes already know.5 Intentional thoughts or minding your mantra, repetition, and focusing on the desired outcome can help manifest your dreams in personal and professional life, leading you on the road to victory and long-term value.

How to Create Your Own business Mantra

  Ready to develop a business mantra that reflects your company? The first step is to write a few short powerful phrases that capture the essence of your business. Ask yourself (and maybe grab partners, customers or associates to help) — why does your business exist, who do you serve, what sets you apart and what feeling you deliver. Think beyond the obvious answers. To create a compelling business mantra, follow these steps:

1.  Craft Short, Powerful Phrases:  Begin by capturing the essence of your business in just 2-5 words. Reflect on your core purpose, the audience you serve, and the impact you wish to make. Keep in mind that a mantra is more than a tagline—it’s an expression of your business’s truth.

2.  Clarify Your Why: Articulate the true impact of your business in 1-2 concise sentences. For instance, you might say, “We help small businesses feel confident managing their finances.” This step requires you to dig deep into the real reason your business exists and the difference it makes.

3.  Define Your Audience and Impact: Specify who your audience is and what you offer them. Consider the transformation or change your brand brings to your customers. An example statement could be, “We turn confusion into clarity.” This ensures that your mantra is aligned with the needs and experiences of your audience.

4. Describe Your Actions:

     Use strong, active language to describe what your business does. Choose words that are bold and human. Examples of action-oriented phrases include Inspire Confidence, Simplify Growth, or Empower Every Client. These should reflect the dynamic actions your business takes to achieve its goals.

5.  Choose the True Mantra: Gather feedback from your team or customers to ensure your chosen mantra resonates well with them and aligns with your brand values. This collaborative step helps in fine-tuning your mantra to reflect the collective vision of your business.

6. Test, Trial and Use Your Mantra: Say your mantra aloud to confirm it energizes and motivates you. Integrate it into your internal materials and use it as a guide in decision-making processes. Consistently reinforce it within your company culture and marketing efforts to ensure it becomes an integral part of your business identity.

  For more information contact Raj Tulshan the author, visit loanmantra.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/tulshan/.

Sources:

1.    QuickBooks. “Entrepreneurship in 2025: The Trends and Insights You Need to Know | QuickBooks.” Intuit.com, 17 Dec. 2024, quickbooks.intuit.com/r/small-business-data/entrepreneurship-in-2025/#resolutions. Accessed 20 Nov. 2025.

2.   “BofA Report: 74% of Small and Mid-Sized Business Owners Expect Revenue to Increase in the next Year.” Bank of America, 2025, newsroom.bankofamerica.com/content/newsroom/press-releases/2025/11/bofa-report–74–of-small-and-mid-sized-business-owners-expect-r.html. Accessed 20 Nov. 2025.

3.   Mckinsey. “Corporate Purpose: Shifting from Why to How | McKinsey.” Www.mckinsey.com, 22 Apr. 2020, www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/purpose-shifting-from-why-to-how.

4.   Malaktaris A, McLean CL, Mallavarapu S, Herbert MS, Kelsven S, Bormann JE, Lang AJ. Higher frequency of mantram repetition practice is associated with enhanced clinical benefits among United States Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2022 Jun 10;13(1):2078564. doi: 10.1080/20008198.2022.2078564. PMID: 35713599; PMCID: PMC9196752.

5.         Hatzigeorgiadis, A., Zourbanos, N., Galanis, E., & Theodorakis, Y. (2011). Self-Talk and Sports Performance: A Meta-Analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(4), 348-356. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691611413136 (Original work published 2011)

American Gin

Cyndi

Your how-to guide for developing world class gin

a glass of gin next to various small bottles containing herbs and spices and other ingredients

By Kris Bohm, Distillery Now Consulting

The process of developing a new gin can be a fun trip into the world of flavor and the many possibilities of flavors that can be extracted from unique botanicals through ethanol distillation. While at first the concept of developing gin may seem daunting to a distiller, the process of making a great gin can be simplified by following our handy dandy gin distillation guide.

  Before we jump right into the process let’s take a quick moment to go over what gin is and is not. In America gin is traditionally made from a neutral spirit that is redistilled with botanicals to create a flavored spirit that is gin.

  A typical gin will have juniper and coriander as its primary botanicals with many other botanicals also adding flavor to the spirit.

  In Europe and beyond gin is often a much broader term to define a spirit redistilled with almost any type of fresh botanical or ingredient. There are even some gins that taste more like fresh cucumber than juniper. I find it helpful for a distiller who is looking to make gin to understand the category of gin well, before beginning the endeavor of developing their own. This process of tasting some commercial produced gins made by other distillers is an excellent way to find inspiration for your own gin.

  With that said let’s dive right into the process of distilling with botanicals to start your journey with gin. It is important we take a moment to note that home distillation is not legal on a federal level in the United States. As always, if you intend to distill, we recommend doing it legally and that you secure the proper state and federal permits.

  For initial product development it is best to distill on a small scale and do concept trials. You can do good product development work with a small lab 1 liter glass still. Glass lab stills which utilize hot plates as a heat source and domestic water for condenser cooling are easy to work with and relatively inexpensive. Glass laboratory stills can be procured with a botanical basket for vapor infusion of botanicals.

many ingredients used to make gin are spilling out of glass bottles onto a table

  For the neutral spirit being redistilled, we recommend a sourced a clean neutral spirit (like vodka or grain neutral spirits) diluted to 40% ABV. It is unsafe to place any spirits in a still higher than 50% so we recommend 40% as a starting point for botanical distillation. It is critical to take detailed notes throughout this process to create replicable results.

  The only difference between science and screwing around is taking good notes. So, take good notes though the whole process and you’ll be better able to produce replicable results. Weigh all ingredients, take notes on yield. Take notes on flavors. This process of note taking will be essential as you move further into product development.

  The botanicals themselves are essential to the quality of your gin. Not everyone has fresh juniper growing in their backyard, so a distiller often must look to buy juniper from a commercial botanical supplier.

  Now, while you can find botanicals quick and easy on Amazon, it is important to talk about freshness and quality. The freshness and overall quality of a botanical is paramount in producing a good gin. Buying botanicals directly from reputable botanical companies will help to ensure you are working with high quality ingredients. Fresh juniper will be soft when squeezed, slightly sticky inside and very aromatic.

  If you buy juniper that is shriveled and bone dry, it will likely not make a good gin. Botanicals of all varieties are a seasonal agricultural product. Taking the time to understand the seasonality of some ingredients can help to make the best possible gin. For example, if you are making gin with citrus, it is helpful to buy it and distill it fresh during harvest season.

  Distillers frequently contemplate using many different botanicals when crafting a gin. Understanding how each botanical contributes to the flavor of gin is not easy to do.

  During product development the best way to develop your palate to recognize botanical influence is through single botanical distillation. This process is in essence placing neutral spirit in your still and adding a single botanical to the still, then distilling the spirit to extract flavor from the botanical. This will yield a spirit that is solely the single flavor of a botanical.

  By doing a single distillation of each botanical it will help you develop your product in two ways. First it helps in that you can taste each botanical individually to understand the essence of its flavor. Once you have gained an understanding of flavor you can then work on blending the spirits from your single botanical distillations to create a complete gin. As we get in more detail, we discuss quantities and ratios to give you a starting point for development.

  Now that you have a variety of flavored spirits you have distilled via Single Botanical distillation it is time to get into blending. The best starting point for blending is to understand common gin botanical ratios.

  In a glass while weighing out your distillates a simple starting point could look like…

60-grams juniper

10-grams coriander

2-grams Angelica

2-grams bitter orange peel

2-grams lemon peel

1-gram orris root

1 gram cardamom

1-gram cinnamon bark

1-gram grains of paradise

1 gram cassia

  After you have blended all these individual distillates into a jar, you should take a moment to make sure you have written down all the blending work that created this gin. This newly created gin will need to be diluted to bring the spirit down to a bottling strength. Add a bit of distilled water to reduce the concentration of alcohol.

  The ideal concentration is somewhere between 40-50% Alcohol by volume. Your gin is now ready to taste. Taste the gin and consider the overall flavor profile. If some botanicals are lacking, then add a bit more of that botanical distillate to the blend. If a certain botanical is overpowering, then create a new blend with different ratios.

  This process of blending and tasting can feel arduous and may take many tries to get just right. It is worth the work to do this blending process. It will not only ensure your gin is excellent but create a solid base to scale up your gin production. Once you have found a blend that you love it is time to scale up the recipe and make a big batch of gin.

  Scaling up production can be done in a few different ways. The most common way to scale up is to do what is known as single shot gin distillation. Single shot distillation consists of adding neutral spirits to the still along with all botanicals then redistilling the spirit to create a gin.

  After distillation the only thing added to the gin is water to dilute its strength. Determining how much of each botanical to add to the gin should be done using a multiplier based upon the quantities that went into your original blends. It is important to note that all stills behave a bit differently.

  You may find that your scaled up gin recipe may differ a bit in flavor from the lab scale recipe. As you have individual botanical distillates you can tailor the gin with the additional of single botanicals to adjust the flavor of the product if adjustments are needed.

  The development and creation of gin is a fun endeavor in the world of botanicals. Good gin takes work to create and has the potential to be a great product in your distillery lineup.

  How Aviation Gin is Made

Kris Bohm is the owner of Distillery Now Consulting and over 10-year industry distiller. When Bohm is not making gin, you can find him pursuing two wheeled adventures around the world.

The Evolution of Craft Beer 

Cyndi

The craft beer industry was built by people who had been to the promised land and seen the light!

two beer mugs full of beer clinking together and causing beer foam to shoot up out of the mugs

By Erik Lars Myers

That promised land was usually somewhere in Europe, and the light was not all that light. It was a revelatory moment in which a drinker found themselves confronted with beers that were not the light, bland, American-style macro lager they knew at home, but rather beers that were dark, moody, and hoppy. They were beers bursting with flavor and individuality, something that those American beers lacked. Those people returned from their promised land as evangelists, priests of a new order built to spread the gospel of those beers to a new, insulated, naïve market. Craft beer was born.

  The roots of what we learned to see as normal craft beer offerings came through the lens of one book. It is so ubiquitous in the craft beer industry that some older beer veterans have referred to it as “the Bible”. The reverence with which Charlie Papazian’s book The Complete Joy of Homebrewing has been treated, as well as Papazian himself, who recently retired from the Brewers Association, makes it easy to draw a direct line from that book to the development of the modern beer industry.

  Ignore, for a moment, that many professional brewers still brew with the dated knowledge presented in that book: knowledge that still makes great homebrew but is fairly basic for a professional brewery. The recipes presented in the book in the 1970s are the harbingers of the industry’s path to maturation some 15 to 20 years later.

beer glasses full of beer of different colors and glasses different sizes

  By the 1990s, in the first big boom of the craft brewing industry, every brewery in the country worth its salt was putting out the same simple lineup: Golden Ales, Brown Ales, Pale Ales, IPAs, and Porters or Stouts. All the flavors of beer. Breweries with extra tank space might have thrown in the occasional lager, but since money and space were often limited, lagers sometimes fell by the wayside. Invention and innovation in the brewing industry leapt directly from Charlie’s books. He published what was probably the first pumpkin beer recipe. He let us know that honey was a great addition to brown ales, that fruit belonged in dark beers, and that historic styles that no longer existed were cool.

  At the same time, the beer industry itself was working as hard as it possibly could to lower the barrier of entry to open a brewery. As startup brewers were treated like royalty by eager homebrewers, those brewing pioneers began to release books regaling fans with the tales of opening a brewery and all of their mistakes, so that you – the eager reader – would not be doomed to repeat them. It seemed like writing a business book was a prerequisite for owning a nationally-distributed brewery for a decade or so. Ken Grossman (Sierra Nevada), Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head), Jim Koch (Sam Adams), Tony Magee (Lagunitas), Steve Hindy (Brooklyn), Tom Schlafly (Schlafly), and James Watt (Brew Dog) among others have all written books about starting their breweries that, to some degree or other – mostly blatantly – encourage the reader to believe the idea that starting a brewery is an achievable task, even if you don’t know what you’re doing.

  The Brewers’ Association itself followed suit by releasing a book plainly titled “Starting Your Own Brewery”. The first edition was a loosely tied together collection of academic articles and essays that acted as a dry review of boilers and floor sealants of the 1990s, but the second edition was transformed into an easy manual to start a brewery by Dick Cantwell (Elysian, Magnolia). The Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology even went so far as to hold a “How to Start a Brewery” course using that book as a rough textbook. The course did not teach people to make beer or run a business. It taught people how to start a brewery.

man holding glass full of beer in the production room of a brewery

And so, the barrier to entry became the notion that “It’s just so crazy it might work” and the finances to afford the most minimal amount of equipment. Buoyed by an industry (and industry association) that boasted double digit growth numbers for 20+ years, banks were eager to throw loans at anybody who could write a passionate business plan.

  But when those breweries started, they were different than the earlier ones. They were not built by the originators and inventors, the people that had traveled abroad and found new ideas to bring home. They were started by their fans. They were started by eager homebrewers who wanted to do the same thing their heroes did, and when they started breweries, they started homebreweries instead.

  Over the past decade and more, homebrew took a natural step from Charlie Papazian’s creative recipe starts into the concept of Extreme Brewing. You can thank Beer Advocate for it. Though their tame definition, “A beer that pushes the boundaries of brewing” is an easy definition to apply to even, say, the latest trends of non-alcoholic beers and low-cal IPAs, their intent was made clear in their preference for high alcohol offerings and rare, outlandish ingredients that was showcased on their website, and at Beer Advocate’s Extreme Beer Fest.

  In breweries at the time, these extreme beers were fairly uncommon. Dogfish Head’s brewers stood out among their peers as the people who were most likely to throw lobster in the boil kettle, or have their entire staff chew corn to make a traditional chicha, but in homebrew it was an easy step. Ingredients that are off-limits to commercial brewers due to cost, scale, or regulatory reasons pose no impediment to a homebrewer.

  The only thing stopping any homebrewer from making a beer out of 10 lbs of Snickers bars is the cost of 10 lbs of Snickers bars.

  For years, the Brewers’ Association had a mantra based on fear: Quality is the most important thing. The fear was that a potential customer would try craft beer for the first time and it would be terrible and they would never try any craft beer ever again. The idea that a macro American lager drinker would walk into a craft brewery, drink a sub-par IPA, and then give up forever is a myth. Instead, that drinker tried beer again, maybe not that day, but at some point. Everybody drinks craft beer now, macro American lager drinkers.

  For years, craft breweries were not at the mercy of their customer’s tastes, they defined them. Now, the educational period is over.

  When thousands of homebreweries started throughout the country, they brought their recipes with them and taught millions of craft beer fans to love what they made: chock full of lactose, breakfast cereal, candy bars, fruit, and all kinds of sugars. More and more brewers experimented with more and more ways to get hops into beer, because they had been trained by those giant hopheads of yesteryear, and they found the gold mine in New England IPAs.

  Today, our most successful small breweries flourish on a small variation of hazy IPAs, fruited sours, and dessert stouts. Our most successful large breweries cling to the waning popularity of their flagships in a broken distribution system.

  Now, most craft beer fans value alcohol, adjuncts, and adjectives over quality and classic styles.

  And they should. We taught them to.  The only way back to classics is forward through education and inspiration of a whole new set of craft beer fans.

  Erik Lars Myers is an author, brewer, and lover of beer. He strives toward innovation every day while supporting the Southern Beer Economy by using brewing ingredients sourced and grown across the American South.

Stop Playing Safe!

Cyndi

What a frozen herb brand can teach beverage makers about standing out

stop playing it stafe start standing out

By Jake Ahles, Morel Creative

Too often, beverage brands play it safe. Scroll through social feeds or flip through trade publications and you will see the same creative patterns on repeat: a glistening bottle, a slow pour, a moody cocktail in soft window light. It’s beautiful, but predictable.

  And predictability rarely builds momentum.

  That’s why one of the most inspiring campaigns I have seen recently didn’t come from a distillery or brewery — it came from a frozen herb brand.

The Safe Trap

  In the craft beverage world, “good creative” often means “safe creative.” Founders and marketers play by invisible rules meant to fit the category:

•     Use lifestyle photography, not humor.

•     Talk about the process, not the people.

•     Highlight the ingredients, not the impact.

  But safe creative doesn’t drive sales. It preserves comfort.

  When everyone’s following the same playbook, the brands that win are the ones bold enough to break patterns – not by being loud, but by being real.

That’s what Dorot Gardens did. And it is exactly what beverage makers can learn from.

The Dorot Story: From Freezer Aisle to Brand Momentum

  Dorot Gardens makes pre-portioned frozen herbs and vegetables. A category that’s functional, not sexy. A product people love when they try it but often forget exists.

  When our team collaborated on their new campaign, the goal wasn’t to invent a new story — it was to reignite an old one with clarity and energy.

  The concept was simple: “Make a Note to Grab Dorot.”

  Instead of over-romanticizing fresh herbs or focusing on ingredients, we leaned into honesty and self-awareness. The campaign admitted exactly what it was — a reminder. A wink to the shopper who forgets until they’re already in the store.

  The tone was fresh, fun, and confident. The visuals were bright and intentional. Every shot, every tagline, every frame was designed to make you smile and remember.

  The result wasn’t just a clever ad — it became an organizing idea that unified the brand’s story across packaging, digital, retail, and trade.

Why It Worked (and Why Beverage Brands Should Take Note))

  Dorot’s success came down to three core principles that apply just as much to spirits, beer, and RTDs as they do to frozen garlic cubes.

1.    Energy is Contagious:

      When a brand expresses joy and confidence, it changes how people engage with it.

      Too many beverage campaigns feel restrained — technically beautiful, but emotionally flat. Dorot took the opposite route: every frame buzzed with energy.

      That vibrancy doesn’t just appeal to consumers; it gives your sales team and distributor reps something to rally around. It makes people proud to represent the brand.

      Because internal energy translates to external momentum.

2.   Clarity Wins Over Cleverness:

      Dorot’s story was clear enough for anyone — a retail buyer, a merchandiser, a busy parent — to get instantly.

      No over-explaining. No long ingredient lists. Just: Here’s what we do. Here’s why it matters.

      In the beverage world, clarity can be the difference between staying regional and scaling nationally. If your buyer deck or sales call requires explanation after explanation, the story’s not clear enough yet.

      A great brand story can be told in one breath — by anyone, anywhere.

3.   Consistency Builds Belief:

      Every element of Dorot’s campaign worked together: social clips, POS, packaging, and internal sales tools all spoke the same visual and verbal language.

      That consistency built trust – not just with consumers, but with retailers and investors too.

  In the craft beverage world, fragmentation kills belief. When your Instagram looks one way, your sell sheet another, and your distributors are saying something completely different, buyers lose confidence.

  The strongest brands build creative systems, not just campaigns.

Lessons for Craft Beverage Makers

  So, what can beverage brands actually do with this?

Here’s how to translate Dorot’s principles into your own storytelling system:

1.   Audit Your Content for

     Clarity:  Gather your sales materials, brand deck, web copy, and social posts. If someone new to your brand can’t tell what you do, who it’s for, and why it matters within 10 seconds — simplify.

2.   Build a Repeatable Story System:  Create assets that work across sales, trade, and consumer touchpoints. Your content should help distributors pitch you as confidently as your founders do.

3.   Embrace Personality: Humor, wit, and authenticity don’t make you less premium. They make you more human. Dorot leaned into personality — and that made their utility product memorable.

4.  Stop Hiding Behind “Craft”:  Craft isn’t a differentiator anymore. Clarity is. The more your brand story focuses on how you help the buyer or bartender win, the more doors you will open.

What Happens When You Stop Playing It Safe

  After Dorot’s campaign launched, something interesting happened. The creative didn’t just perform well externally — it energized the brand internally.

  Sales teams started using the new content in presentations and follow-ups. Retail partners requested assets for digital displays. Even long-time employees said they finally felt the brand had a clear, confident voice.

  That’s the ripple effect of aligned storytelling: it creates pride, momentum, and market presence.

  And that’s exactly what every craft beverage brand needs right now — in a category that’s more competitive than ever.

From Frozen Herbs to Craft Spirits: The Shared Truth

  At the end of the day, what Dorot proved is the same truth that drives every successful brand:

  Clarity and consistency are not creative constraints. They’re competitive advantages.

  Whether you’re selling gin, hard kombucha, or frozen herbs, the brands that grow are the ones that know who they are, what they stand for, and how to say it — repeatedly.

  Because when you stop playing it safe and start showing up with clarity and confidence, you stop asking for space. You start earning it!

  Jake Ahles is the founder of Morel Creative, a visual strategy studio helping purpose-driven beverage brands build storytelling systems that scale. Feel free to contact Jake: jake@wearemorel.com

Cleaning & Sanitation Essentials

Cyndi

Protecting quality, compliance and consumer trust

person in hazard suit and rubber boots spraying down a distillery production facility floor

By Alyssa L. Ochs

In today’s modern breweries and distilleries, cleaning and sanitation aren’t just afterthoughts or background busy work. These essential tasks are core functions that directly shape the quality of your products while ensuring regulatory compliance and upholding your brand’s reputation.

  Regardless of whether you produce just a handful of beers or spirits per year or run an expansive multi-state operation, your approach to cleaning impacts much more than the aesthetics of your facility. Proper cleaning and sanitation in the craft beverage industry affects a product’s flavor, yield, and stability, as well as employee safety, inspection results, and distributor relationships.

  Here’s a deep dive into why cleaning and sanitation matter so much for craft beverage producers and how you can train and equip your staff to establish a business culture with consistently high standards. 

Why Cleaning and Sanitation Are Essential

  Even the most minute contamination can dramatically affect the quality and taste of a beer or spirit. For example, bacteria like Lactobacillus and Pediococcus, as well as yeasts like Brettanomyces, can cause undesirable haziness, sourness, or inconsistent carbonation in beer.

  Meanwhile, residues from oils, fusel compounds and grain mashes can ruin spirits, causing harsh off-notes and lower yields. Biofilms, slimy bacterial communities that adhere to surfaces, are especially problematic and can resist standard cleaning methods if not promptly addressed.

  Sanitizing brewery and distillery equipment is essential to prevent these types of harmful microorganisms from entering finished products. And no, the alcohol content in these products isn’t sufficient to avoid contamination during the initial stages of production.

  When you always keep your equipment clean, you improve its operational efficiency, reduce downtime, and extend its lifespan. Kegs fill easily, heat exchangers maintain optimal thermal transfer and sensors remain accurate, leading to cost savings over time.

  Even just a single, publicly known contamination incident can destroy years of building your business’ reputation. Your customers demand a safe and delicious product, while distributors and retailers expect consistency and professionalism. So essentially, keeping everything clean in-house is a final guarantee behind your label.

Regulatory Standards and Compliance

  Beverage producers must comply with multiple regulatory requirements to continue operating legally, including the FDA’s Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs). According to 21 CFR Part 117, beverage producers must maintain clean, sanitary equipment and implement pest control programs. All food-contact surfaces must be regularly inspected, and the cleaning water must be potable. Breweries and distilleries must also maintain cleaning records for official review.

  The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) primarily focuses on production records and tax compliance. However, it also requires beverage production facilities to maintain conditions that prevent contamination. Proof of unsanitary conditions may result in TTB warning letters, suspended operations or delayed approvals for new labels or expansions.

  Your brewery or distillery may also be subject to local and state health regulations, such as wastewater discharge limits and floor drain sanitation standards. Local and state requirements may require you to follow approved chemical lists for cleaning products, maintain water hardness/softness standards and ensure employee hygiene requirements are met.

  Additionally, there are Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards to be aware of while running a craft beverage business. OSHA governs cleaning-related tasks such as chemical handling, personal protective equipment (PPE), eyewash and shower stations, spill control, and confined space entry.

Ensuring Safety with Chemical Hazards  

  Safety is paramount when cleaning and sanitizing a brewery or distillery, as the chemicals used may be aggressive and toxic. For example, caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) can burn the skin and react with aluminum. When not mixed according to the directions, acid cleaners can release harmful vapors into the air.

  If your operation uses peracetic acid, you should know that this strong oxidizer can irritate a worker’s eyes and lungs. Chlorine sanitizers require careful rinsing and ventilation for safe use.

  Anyone who manages these types of chemicals should wear chemical-resistant gloves, goggles or face shields, aprons, and boots. Respirators are even recommended for some handling of cleaning chemicals.

  It’s also essential to store cleaning chemicals properly, such as separating acids and bases and using secondary containment when recommended. All cleaning products should be clearly labeled in their containers and stored in areas with proper ventilation in your facility.

Frequency & Scheduling of Cleaning Tasks

  Although individual owners of craft beverage operations may have their own visions for cleaning and sanitation based on their experiences, there are industry standards to use as starting points.

  For instance, staff members should clean fermenters after every batch using a clean-in-place cycle and sanitize them before subsequent use. For mash and lauter tuns, clean these after every brew, manually scrubbing away grain residues when needed.

  Ensure stills and columns are cleaned after runs and be mindful that copper and stainless-steel containers require different care. Clean bright tanks after every use so they are free of biofilms before packaging. Heat exchangers should also be cleaned after every use, with flow plates cleaned as well.

  For kegs, clean them immediately after emptying because beer stone can form quickly if you delay tending them. Clean packaging lines before and after each run, giving special attention to conveyor belts and crowning or capping heads. Make a point of cleaning walls, floors and drains daily, as these areas can become significant contamination risks if left uncleaned. There’s also the risk of aerobic contamination from wood pores if you don’t clean your barrels regularly.

two people in hazard suits spraying down the production facility of a brewery or distillery

Training Staff and Building a Culture of Clean

  Cleaning and sanitization aren’t necessarily entry-level jobs that just anyone can do. In the craft beverage industry, cleaning tasks require precision and expertise to prevent contamination incidents and produce predictable, high-quality products.

  Your cleaning and sanitation training should cover the various soil types, such as hop resins, protein soils, beer stone, fatty acids, and sugar residues. Matching specific soil types to relevant chemical products can improve cleaning efficiency and reduce waste.

  Your employees should also understand the correct concentration ranges for chemical dosing and how to measure the products accurately. Training should include equipment disassembly and reassembly of gaskets, valves, spray balls, and pumps, ensuring these components are thoroughly cleaned and reassembled correctly.

  During training sessions, you should also plan to cover verification methods beyond visual inspection, such as pH and conductivity checks, ATP testing, and micro-testing for sensitive processes. Lockout and tagout testing are critical for mills, pumps, augers, and automated lines.

  Also important, brewery or distillery cleaning professionals should receive training in record-keeping to maintain consistency and ensure that your facility will pass future inspections.

Cleaning and Sanitation Methods for Craft Beverages

  Various methods are used to clean and sanitize a brewery or distillery. To start, clean-in-place methods automate the cleaning of tanks, lines, and pipes without the hassle of taking them apart. A typical CIP cycle involves a pre-rinse with warm water, an alkaline wash, a possible acid rinse, a final rinse and sanitization with heat or chemicals. CIP methods are efficient and make tasks safer for workers; however, they require proper pump sizing, spray ball design, and chemical balancing.

  Breweries and distilleries also use clean-out-of-place methods for removable items, including fittings, hoses, gaskets, and other small components. COP methods typically involve soaking the pieces in alkaline or acid baths, then scrubbing them by hand and rinsing.

  Fully manual cleaning is still necessary for some beverage production components, such as mash and lauter tuns, floors, drains and other hard-to-reach areas. You can maximize safety with manual processes by using dedicated brushes and color-coded tools.

  Some distilleries use foam cleaning to clean sticky mash spills and sugar residues. Utilizing a foam application, you can apply cleaning agents to large tank exteriors, floors, and walls.

  Meanwhile, steam sanitation helps with the cleaning of barrels and lines. It’s energy-intensive but effective in areas prone to chemical residues. There are also no-rinse sanitizers to explore, such as chlorine dioxide, iodine solutions and peracetic acid. The equipment material, water hardness and contact time will dictate which sanitizer is most appropriate.

How to Choose the Right Chemicals and Materials

  Before comparing specific, commercially available products for cleaning and sanitizing your beverage production area, it’s essential to understand how the basic types of cleaners are useful.

  Alkaline cleaners break down organic soils, hop residues and proteins, making them ideal for kegs, fermenters, and lines. Acid cleaners target mineral scale, beer stone, and milk stone, so they’re helpful as periodic deep cleaners.

  For sanitizing, peracetic acid is fast and effective for low-residue areas. Iodophor is slower acting but gentler on metals. Chlorine is an effective sanitizer, but it can pit stainless steel if misused.

  You can also use surfactants

and detergents to break down biofilm barriers in a brewery or distillery. However, it’s critical to always confirm that the cleaning agent you’re using matches the material, especially for stainless steel, copper, plastics, hoses, and fittings.

  CIP system partners, chemical suppliers, and brewery/distillery-specific consulting services can help you choose the right types of products for your operations if you have questions beyond the basics.

Implementing a Successful Cleaning and Sanitation Program

  As you can see, establishing safe and effective cleaning protocols involves much more than just scribbling down a quick to-do checklist. In today’s competitive breweries and distilleries, cleaning and sanitizing is part of a fully integrated system that covers everything from documented schedules to staff training, safety procedures, proper chemical selection, and continuous improvement based on lessons learned.

  Cleanliness in beer and spirit production goes beyond meeting regulatory requirements and is a core part of responsible, professional craftsmanship. Every product you produce reflects your cleanliness standards and your commitment to your customers. With extra time, attention, and education, you can create a culture of cleanliness that’s not a chore but a pathway to safe, consistent products worthy of your brand’s name.

Evolving Packaging Needs Show No Signs of Abating

Cyndi

A machine’s cost, speed, efficiency, and flexibility are the top considerations when contemplating a purchase.

rows of different spirit and beer bottles in cans and cartons

By Rebecca Marquez, Director of Custom Research, PMMI

Consumer preference drives many of the decisions made by beverage packaging companies. Today’s consumers want additional sizes, flavors, and types of beverages, as well as more sustainable and recyclable packaging options. They also want ready-to-drink and single-serve, smaller-sized packaging, according to the 2025 Beverage Industry Packaging Trends report, from PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

  “To continue to fulfill consumer needs, creative and unique packaging being developed today will continue to evolve and will be a focus of development in the future,” says Jorge Izquierdo, PMMI’s vice president, market development. 

  Novel packaging formats require machinery that is up to the challenge. Cost, speed, efficiency, and flexibility are key factors when considering which equipment to buy. So is finding the right supplier — one who will be a true partner far beyond the initial sale, says PMMI’s study. However, the survey revealed that support from suppliers is what many beverage companies feel is currently lacking and could be enhanced.

  The answer to today’s packaging challenges may likely be found in the use of technical integration in the coming years. Even as beverage producers contend with inflation, supply chain disruptions, regulatory compliance, and labor challenges, they must still upgrade existing equipment and acquire new machinery.

  In fact, many U.S. beverage companies anticipate modest to significant increases in machinery investment over the next three years, primarily driven by optimism surrounding company expansion plans, the introduction of new stock keeping units (SKUs)/products, and increased consumer demand.

  Growing consumer demand and interest are also driving the need for more diverse beverage products and packaging sizes, which will prompt a proliferation of packaging formats over the next two to three years, according to PMMI’s research.

  Additionally, the opportunities for co-packers to expand production are contributing to increased investment, as they seek to meet rising demand and support new brands. Beverage manufacturers, as well as co-packers, will need to improve and replace infrastructure to ensure they remain efficient and competitive in an evolving market.

  However, the increase in investments will not be concentrated on a single type of packaging machinery but will be spread across various equipment categories.

  The reasons for these purchases include:

•    Expanding production capacity

•    Enhancing efficiency

•    Increasing flexibility and reducing packaging material

  Not surprisingly, cost is the primary factor when determining what beverage packaging equipment to purchase. This includes the overall price of the machinery, parts, and maintenance. Filling equipment is the most planned purchase, followed by conveying, feeding, and handling equipment, as well as palletizing and load stabilization systems.

  In fact, affordability is a need mentioned by smaller businesses, such as those in the craft beer and spirits industry, with most finding it difficult to invest even on a small scale. They feel that pricing can be a significant barrier to entry for smaller producers, who want to invest in automated machinery. Plus, many craft manufacturers tend to initially focus on practical applications that can help solve real problems on the plant floor.

  Beyond cost, finding the right supplier is equally important for companies of all sizes. In fact, post-sale service and support play a crucial role when selecting a supplier.

Changes in the Offing

  Interview participants identified several factors driving changes in how beverages are packaged and processed. Today, beverage companies are adapting to consumer demand by offering a wider variety of sizes, flavors, and beverage types. As a result, they are working to develop more flexible and creative packaging solutions to enhance consumer interest and drive sales growth.

  PMMI’s research participants also believe the demand for expanded product choices will continue, as consumers seek an even greater variety of drinks and flavors. It’s no longer just beer, wine, soda, and water. Rather, new flavors and types of beverages are proliferating. In addition, consumers will continue to demand more size and format options, driving an increase in new SKUs each year.

  “To meet evolving packaging demands, [survey] participants seek to optimize machinery use by leveraging digital insights and diagnostics for faster, more efficient production,” Izquierdo says. “Downtime directly impacts revenue, making technology-driven troubleshooting a top priority.”

  Beverage industry success depends on innovation and an optimized supply chain, as well as social media- and data-driven marketing strategies, even as market fragmentation complicates the landscape with emerging brands challenging established players, according to research from EY Americas, “Trends in the Beverage Industry: Navigating Change and Innovation.”

  Innovation is crucial for driving new consumer demand, as evidenced by the rise of hard seltzers, the growth of craft beer brands, and ready-to-drink beer alternatives on the alcohol side.

  One of the most significant influences today is the growing emphasis on sustainability and recyclability from both beverage makers and consumers.

  However, current packaging does not always align with consumer expectations, which include the desire to move away from plastics. Nevertheless, rigid plastic remains the most commonly used beverage packaging material today.

  Sustainability continues to hold promise for craft beer and spirits producers seeking to boost efficiency and profitability. Still, priorities are shifting as these companies attempt to balance environmental mandates with cost and operational necessities.

  One threat to the craft beer and spirits industry is the way consumers are changing their view about the consumption of alcohol. A 2024 Gallup survey revealed that 45% of Americans believe moderate drinking is detrimental to their health, with participation in initiatives like “Dry January” rising significantly.

  To take a more in-depth look at today’s evolving packaging industry, download PMMI’s 2025 State of the Industry report as well as PMMI’s 2025 Beverage Industry Packaging Trends study.

Fast-track Your

Packaging Projects

  Packaging and processing professionals who want to maximize their return on investment (ROI) and fast-track projects should attend PACK EXPO East 2026.

  The most comprehensive packaging and processing event in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic in 2026 will feature more than 500 exhibitors, spread out over 125,000 net square feet of exhibit space in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Convention Center on Feb. 17–19, 2026.

  With an easy-to-access location convenient to much of the eastern United States, PACK EXPO East allows teams to attend together for maximum ROI. In fact, the show offers numerous opportunities for networking with fellow team members, peers, industry experts, and personnel from established suppliers and prospective vendors.

  Offering solutions for more than 40 vertical markets, the show provides in-person interaction with machines, materials, and other products related to packaging and processing. It also features free educational sessions on the show floor, covering best practices, industry trends, new technology, and key concerns, such as sustainability, artificial intelligence, productivity improvement, automation, and workforce development.

  The event is big enough to provide attendees with all the solutions they need, but intimate enough for productive, face-to-face conversations with exhibitors to learn how their innovations can solve some of today’s most challenging manufacturing issues.

  Register today for PACK EXPO East. Early registration costs $30; after Jan. 23, 2026, the price increases to $130. 

A Touch of Beverage Cheer

Cyndi

People are ready to celebrate but also take a moment to relax, reflect, and reset.

two people with their feet up in front of a fire each holding a cocktail

By Hanifa Sekandi

It’s time to get cozy again. Warm blankets, knit sweaters, flannel pyjamas, and a beverage to complement the mood. Luckily, there are boundless occasions to get people into the winter cheer spirit, from Thanksgiving and Christmas to Valentine’s Day and all the other memorable holidays in between.

  This time of requires a dynamic marketing strategy. It also demands creativity and stamina due to the continuous festivities. Christmas is just on the heels of Thanksgiving, and before you know it, it’s time to paint that town red and pink for a month dedicated to love. One thing is certain: people desire to be inspired. A brand that hits this mark will see the benefits not just during the winter months but as we segue into the spring and summer months.

  The main goal for every beverage brand should be to build a community, an ethos that magnifies togetherness. What does this really mean? It means that a brand aims to meet desires; nothing less and nothing more. Stay in your domain and refrain from interjecting personal conjectures into your marketing campaigns.

  It is not about what you think or what you believe, but rather about what truly exists—the authentic qualities, unique experiences, and genuine moments that your beverage brings to the table. This “what IS” refers to the essence of your product, whether it is the comforting warmth of a seasonal whiskey or brew, the nostalgia evoked by a festive mulled wine, or the sense of togetherness fostered by sharing a winter-themed cocktail. These real and tangible attributes are what your audience will connect to, inspiring them to seek out your beverage.

  There is no better time to redeem yourself than the array of festivities that happen during the winter months. People are mostly in a festive and forgiving mood. Summer campaigns often struggle to make a significant impact, largely because there are fewer major holidays to serve as focal points for promotional activity. With limited occasions such as the likes of 4th of July or Labor Day, marketers have fewer opportunities to create themed promotions that resonate with audiences. As a result, these campaigns can sometimes lack the festive energy found in winter, making it more challenging to engage consumers and boost sales.

Marketing strategies during this time require innovative thinking and strategic planning. Luckily, in winter, brands get a break as marketing becomes easier for marketers.

Holiday Marketing – The Hero

  Seasoned brands understand this quite well. You’ll see them put more resources into winter marketing campaigns, with an emphasis on cheer and festivity. Starbucks’ recent Bearista Cup is an example of what a marketing campaign can do for a brand that may have lost favor or experienced a lull. Let’s be honest, the once gold-star beverage chain is no longer in its golden era. There are a multitude of reasons for this. As you can see, the Bearista Cup frenzy has breathed new life back into this brand. A campaign that had patrons line up before store opening hours just to purchase a winter-exclusive product.

  What is your winter exclusive product or beverage? What will have your customers lining up, wanting to get just a little bit of your company’s winter cheer? Is it winter magic or simply great marketing minds understanding the behaviour of buyers during this season? McDonald’s has another great winter campaign, the Grinch-themed meals. This may represent one of several winter campaign launches; nonetheless, it constitutes a strong initial effort. What is The Grinch synonymous with? Christmas. The grumpy, green-furred hero of the holiday season, who people both love and hate, but seems to put a touch of cheer in everyone.

  What is your marketing hero? You can either reference pop culture or other traditional themes that symbolize the season. Doing so allows you to draw upon familiarity and emotion. It is easy to sell something people already love. A moment, a film, a core event, anything that represents what they seek when entertaining during the winter months. As you know, home decor is the pinnacle of winter moments. The moment begins at home, influencing buying decisions as shoppers browse the aisles at their local store. How can you add to the moment?

All About Moments

  Help your audience capture moments. Every marketer is scouring the internet looking for what’s trendy. Why don’t you create the trend? By now, your brand should have in-house content creators, individuals who create content exclusively for your brand. For example, Advent calendars are quite popular. Have you considered doing an Advent daily reveal with mini versions of your beverage to your audience? A nice touch would be to add a familiar Christmas theme song that plays through the campaign. The 12 Days of Christmas is an excellent song. It is classic, familiar, and much-loved. Do you have an extensive product line of beverages? Better yet, what’s your holiday exclusive beverage?

  Ideally, conceptualize your winter campaigns in the summer. Right after Thanksgiving, you should debut your winter launches. Of course, you can get a head start in mid-November. Understandability influencers make influencing easy, so brands think they can just wing it and do something ad hoc. Anyone in influencer marketing will tell you that they also must plan accordingly for each season. As a brand with multiple parts to move, you need to ensure the strategy execution phase runs seamlessly. The marketing world has changed significantly. Viral moments and trends have brands scrambling at times. Did you know that many viral or trendy marketing moments didn’t just happen, they were meticulously planned, sometimes for days or other times over weeks and months?

  The most essential elements are execution and consistency. Beverages do not necessarily grab the viewers’ attention immediately. But the more they see it, with a great visual story behind it, they will not forget about it.

Mini Commercial Cheer

  Spend a little. Yes, you. Your commercial may not make it to the big screen or a Super Bowl slot, but you have other vertical options to place it in. Social media is a mini commercial friend, let’s call it the mini-commercial – it’s small but mighty. If you don’t have the paid version of YouTube or Amazon Prime, for example, you may have noticed not just ads but mini commercials.

  This could be your beverage brand showing its beverage cheer all winter. The beauty of a mini-commercial campaign is that it can be a series of videos that tell a story. It is also a fantastic way to spend your budget. If your videos are timeless and perform well, you can reuse them the following year in addition to new mini commercials, as many legacy brands often use for traditional advertising.

  When creating your mini-commercial, avoid making it look like an outright advertisement. Think about your favorite holiday ads or ads in general that are memorable. Coca-Cola has great classic holiday ads to reference that tell a story with product placement. The idea is that your product is there, but it is just part of life, part of the scene you are capturing. It is subliminal marketing at its finest. After seeing your campaign, people should feel compelled to look up your brand and product. From here, they are more likely to purchase your product when they see it, recommend it, and, in turn, become loyal customers.

Storytelling Is Timeless

  As you transition into January, this will help you stay relevant. Perhaps parody commercials that highlight New Year’s resolutions, where people reach for your non-alcoholic or low-sugar RTD beverage after imbibing on other beverages from your product line all December. A time to give that pumpkin-spiced calorie-packed ale a rest! Be creative, look at your beverage from a storytelling perspective. Just two or three useful product images aren’t enough; consider how far your brand can go with visual storytelling.

  A touch of beverage cheer may open doors to a spring campaign that is in full bloom, allowing you to dive into your marketing. Your audience will begin to anticipate what is next. And you show that you care about the product that you have invested a significant amount of time to tell a story worth listening to. You value them and their decision to join you on a beverage journey, with cheers to go around!

Holiday Spirit Inspiration

Cyndi

Close out 2025 & hot sip tips for 2026!

snowman man in santa hat sitting in hot tub while snowing and holding a cocktail glass

By Christiaan Röllich

The December holidays are here, and that means everyone is in the festive spirit. As the year closes out and a bright new one begins, craft breweries and distilleries have the unique opportunity to tailor their beverage menus to the holidays and to get a jump start on new 2026 trends.

  Christiaan Röllich, aka “The Bar Chef,” is particularly experienced in creating cocktails that bridge the gap — or perhaps blur the line — between the kitchen and the bar. Doing so during the holidays, or any time of year, allows guests to enjoy a taste of the season — whether in the glass or on the plate.

  “For me, it’s more than just making something that feels like a holiday cocktail,” said Röllich, who serves up incredible cocktails for Hush Public House, a neighborhood hidden gem in Scottsdale, Arizona. “Usually, I start with what’s in season — fruits, herbs and veggies that naturally fit the time of year. I also think about what people are eating and drinking around the holidays and how I can reimagine that in a cocktail.”

  He reminds cocktail creators that just because it’s cold out, it doesn’t mean the beverage menu has to be focused on aged spirits. He suggests looking for something a bit unexpected that still fits the time of year. He also finds inspiration in the kitchen and tries to incorporate the same or similar ingredients into his beverage menus, which could be done at a craft brewery or distillery as well. This not only makes for great pairings, but it also supports the use of peak produce and seasonal ingredients.

  While he enjoys using such flavors as saffron and truffles, for example, Röllich said that when working with big, rich flavors, “You don’t want one note to take over the whole drink.”

  He joked that truffles in particular “don’t play nice with everything, so you really have to think about it and how much you use them.”

  Beyond flavor, cocktails should entice the other senses as well, beginning with the eyes. Röllich enjoys the beauty, realness and vibrancy of natural colors sourced from carrots, beets and parsley that scream “please drink me.”

four different cocktails lined up in front of table of christmas greenery

  “You won’t need a fancy glass, because the ingredients are talking for you,” he said, but he advised: “The tricky part is that the colors and flavor fade over time.”

  Look at ways to keep the natural beauty alive without compromising the flavor or the integrity of the ingredients to ensure the last sip is as eye-catching and fresh as the first.

  Cocktail pairing menus are a popular draw for restaurants, distilleries and craft breweries, particularly during the holiday season. For Röllich, a successful pairing begins by breaking down the food menu completely… right down to basic salt and pepper.

  “Every herb, spice and ingredient that goes into the dishes matters. From there, I work backward to build the cocktails and see what bridge I can build,” he said. “When you look at pairings, there are two ways you can go. You can match the flavors that are already in the dish and go with that, or you can look at the ingredients and think about what complements it rather than repeating it.”

  Finding a balance in texture, mouthfeel and how the drink moves with the food is key to perfect pairings.

With 2026 on the horizon, many establishments in the hospitality industry, from craft breweries to distilleries, turn to the trends to entice current customers, bring in new clientele, and capitalize on what’s hot. One way to do this at the top of the year, particularly with Dry January in mind, is to offer mocktails.

  “More guests are taking breaks from alcohol or just quitting drinking altogether,” he said. “What I like about that is it pushes you to be more creative within the limits given to you.”

  Röllich believes that beyond specific ingredients and liquors, the biggest trend for 2026 will be a focus on the hospitality experience overall, with budget as a major contributing factor.

  “I think the focus will keep shifting more and more towards details and giving guests the full hospitality experience, from the moment they walk in until the moment they leave,” he said. “Trends come and go, but what really matters is how the experience you offer your guests makes them feel. Guests are also becoming more price-conscious. It’s essential to make sure what’s in the glass is thoughtful and worth it for the guest to return and feel good about our transaction.”

  Genuine hospitality, the reason many craft brewers, distilleries and restaurateurs get into the industry in the first place, never goes out of style. With more and more options out there, it’s crucial to give guests a reason to come back and to tell their friends about a specific establishment.

  This comes down to offering something they can’t get anywhere else, according to Röllich. This can be evident in the details, for example, serving Triple Sec or Cointreau…or making in-house scratch-made orange liqueur.

  “That uniqueness, the commitment to doing something extra, is what sets a bar program apart,” he said. “It sounds so much easier than it is. Commitment and execution are everything.”

  Whether serving up a festive holiday spirit this season or concocting a one-of-a-kind mocktail for Dry January to help guests maintain their New Year’s resolutions, the core of this business remains rooted in providing something special, something unique that builds a memory and creates a connection. Serving that mentality will always be met with cheers — regardless of what is in the glass.

  Christiaan Röllich began his career in the hospitality industry at the age of 15. As his passion took shape, he found himself working for Suzanne Goin at Lucques, considered the No. 1 restaurant in Los Angeles at the time. His interest in building a bridge between the kitchen and the bar grew as he spoke with farmers at local markets about fresh produce, hung out in the kitchens where he worked to engage with chefs, and reinvented cookbook recipes to make syrups and liqueurs. He is the author of “Bar Chef: Hand Crafted Cocktails,” which features 100 original recipes. His passion continues to inspire his endeavors, and he attributes his success to surrounding himself with like-minded people.

Winsome Ciderworks

Cyndi

Re-branding a gem that lost its luster

Alan MacDonald and Peter Click owners of Winsome Ciderworks

By Gerald Dlubala

Winsome Ciderworks in Woodinville, Washington, first opened its doors in 2015, but its origins date back to 2013 and beyond, when successful winemaker Leroy Bradford used his winemaking skills to experiment with hard cider production. Two years later, in 2015, Winsome Ciderworks was officially born, with Bradford taking over the former Woodinville Ciderworks site. Using only Washington state apples, Bradford introduced his customers to the nuances and unexpected flavor profiles of hard ciders. His successes ultimately led to his ciders being available in over 150 local bars and restaurants.

  Years later, those same nuances and flavor profiles caught the attention of Alan MacDonald and Peter Click, two seasoned beverage executives seeking opportunities in the alcohol industry. And while other alcohol categories were not performing well, craft hard cider was seen as a growth industry, even growing faster this year than last.

  “You know, most folks would wonder why anyone would want to get into the alcohol market now,” said MacDonald, Co-Owner with Peter Click of Winsome Ciderworks. “But craft cider is growing and trending in a positive direction. And we were confident that we had the capability to succeed in these conditions and market trends because of our previous experience in differentiating brands and bringing them to market in a way that made them stand out among other brands.”

  The two industry veterans with a combined five decades of experience in the alcohol beverage industry purchased Winsome Ciderworks, a craft cidery with deep roots in the craft wine industry, in May 2024. MacDonald and Click first met when MacDonald was hired as VP of Marketing and PR for Click Wine Group, a company that Peter started. MacDonald previously held a key leadership position at Green Mountain Cidery, leading Woodchuck Cider to become an industry leader.

  “Together we launched several brands throughout the US in partnerships that we created and designed, including the packaging,” said MacDonald. “They were very successful, giving us confidence that, with these ciders, by thoroughly understanding the consumer and the market, we can also design towards and communicate with them successfully.”

bartender at winsome cider celebrating with 4 other women holding cider glasses

    “We both have deep experience in the wine space, partnering with wine companies around the world,” said Click. “We’ve been creating and bringing brands to market and successfully commercializing them for about a decade, starting in 2000. Between the two of us, we have experience developing and differentiating brands in a marketplace in highly fragmented categories like wine.”

  “What we didn’t possess was the understanding and production of high-quality hard ciders,” said MacDonald. “We were very fortunate to have the founder of the cidery, Leroy Bradford, provide that missing skillset that we were missing. He was a previous red wine maker and made excellent ciders using his incredible recipes. He transferred everything over to us, including those recipes and all his intellectual property. He’s been extremely instrumental in the transition, enabling us to focus on what we do best.”

It all Begins with the Natural Goodness of Washington Apples

  Winsome Ciderworks contracts with and sources its apples from central and eastern Washington. MacDonald said they want diversity among suppliers and use different apple varieties to achieve the distinctive flavor profiles of their ciders.

  “Our flavor profile is naturally sweet while being fruit-forward,” said MacDonald. “Our ciders have no added sugar. They are not as sweet as others you may have tasted. And then we back-blend our juices into the base to get the flavor profiles we want. We generally carry our four primary flavors plus an array of small-batch, single-tank seasonals for temporary distribution and direct feedback from our guests who visit the tasting room. All of our offerings are carbonated, and we’re always experimenting with new ideas.”

  That tasting room is situated within the Winsome Ciderworks production facility, where guests can see the tanks and watch the cider-making process. Winsome Ciderworks offers its four core ciders,  including Asian Pear, Pom Cherry, Apricot Hop, and Peach Ginger, along with seasonal selections distributed on a limited-run basis.

   “Our tasting room is an authentic, pretty cool space where our guests can see the production of our ciders in real time,” said MacDonald. “It’s a great space to enjoy our ciders, but we also use two in-state distributors to get our products out to restaurants and retail spaces. We are open on weekends and for events, and available to rent for special or exclusive events.”

Infusing New Life into an Already Established Brand

  Although Winsome Ciderworks was already a successful brand under Bradford’s leadership, MacDonald and Click say they have breathed new life into it.

  “The brand was successful but maybe a bit stagnant,” said MacDonald. “It was mainly available only in kegs, with only a few small canning runs. Then COVID came and literally knocked the wind out of businesses like this one that relied on on-premises business and in-house customers to stay afloat. Leroy is an exceptionally skilled cider maker, and that’s what he does best. He wasn’t as skilled at marketing his product. As most of his business was on-premises, COVID provided a real challenge to his company. Leroy’s cider was exceptional, and it still is, but it had lost all its market momentum during that time. It needed a revival  and a solid plan to reinvigorate it and bring it back to life. With our experience, contacts, and resources in the marketplace that we’ve built up over the years, that’s exactly what we planned to do.”

  MacDonald told Beverage Master Magazine that the brand relaunch included new packaging, an updated logo, and events to reintroduce themselves. We reduced the can size from 14 to 12-ounce cans to better align with the category standard.

  “It was a rebrand, complete with events,” said MacDonald. “Additionally, we both brought in our children to work in the business. Simply having the younger people here and out helping to sell and market the business with fresh ideas has really helped get us to the next level.”

  “It was a gem that lost its polish,” added Click. “Leroy succeeded in growing his cider business by developing a wonderful product with excellent recipes. We know this because everyone that each of us speaks with in the tasting room tells us they love this cider because it’s fruit-forward yet not overly sweet.”

Future Plans Include Calculated Growth

  “We do want to increase our distribution,” said Click. “But we need to do it the right way. Cider is an interesting category, but it’s labor-intensive up front. You spend a lot of time meeting with restaurateurs, bars, pubs, taverns, etc., just trying to get your tap handle or packaged product into those locations.

  We want to start by mastering the distribution here in Washington State. Once we’re convinced we’ve done a good job of taking advantage of our opportunities and channels within our state, we can consider expanding into other NW regions, including Idaho, Montana and Oregon. We’d like to fill the Northwest region first before considering Northern California. We’re committed to doing this sustainably and not overextending ourselves because it really is an intensive selling effort.”

  “The one good thing about cider is that growth can occur quickly,” said MacDonald. “The government treats cider production in the same manner as wine production, even from a tax standpoint, but the truth is that it’s much more similar to brewing beer. We always found in the wine industry that with wine, you have to have a five-year plan. It takes longer just because of the vineyards, growing patterns, and the various aging times. But cider is something that, once we have the ingredients in-house, by the time we go from initial production through blending and filtering, carbonation, and kegging or canning, we’re looking at less than two months. Growth can occur quickly from idea to finished product because, unlike wine, we don’t have to wait for another vintage to come off our vines. If you get the right product, the right style and packaging, and consumers like it, it’s not unbelievably hard, except for the cash aspect, to expand to meet those needs, whereas wine can take a lot longer to do that.

  Once the apples are in house, crushed, and fermented, the process from the start of fermentation to finished product takes 12–14 days to make a batch of cider. That includes the days needed to get flavor profiles right and carbonate. The flexibility to adjust to the changing times and trends is always there.”

There’s Always Been Cider

  “Cider is a very interesting, exciting, and historically significant category,” said MacDonald. “As a crafted beverage, cider has been around almost as long as anything. Throughout America, there’s always been cider around to drink, whether it’s for celebrations, health reasons, or something else. As an alcoholic beverage, hard cider has always been stable alongside beer and wine, but we love it because it allows us to quickly create unique flavors. And the consumer base for hard ciders is vast. The age of our customer base in our tasting room enjoying our ciders spans decades. You know, some alcohol drinkers seem to go through phases of drinking beer, wine, and maybe spirits, but cider has always remained consistent, and as a hard cider business owner, that consistency is nice to have.”

  To learn more about Winsome Ciderworks and what makes them unique, call, email, or visit their website or taproom.

Winsome Ciderworks

19495 144th Ave NE, STE A140

Woodinville, WA 98072

206-661-8197

alan@winsomeciderworks.com

harper@winsomeciderworks.com

Rye Whiskey

Cyndi

The rise of pacific northwest rye whiskey

stone barn rye whiskey bottle with pitcher of mixed drinks

By Becky Garrison

During the Colonial era two distinct styles of rye whiskey emerged within the original thirteen colonies: Pennsylvania or Monongahela-style rye and Maryland-style rye. As reported by David Pickerell for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, “Since the bulk transportation of large amounts of grain was not practical during this era, the distillers made whiskey from the grain grown on their farm or from grains grown nearby. Corn was not generally native north of the southern edge of Pennsylvania; hence, the distillers made rye whiskey with no corn in it. Monongahela Rye was known for its ultra-high rye content and its full-bodied and spicy nature. Distillers operating in the southern part of America made Maryland-style rye, a mixture of rye with some corn.”

  All alcoholic beverages took a significant hit during Prohibition (1920-1933). Most fields that once grew grains used primarily for producing distilled spirits and beer remained unplanted. Following Prohibition, bourbon emerged as America’s drink of choice, made from corn grown especially in Kentucky and Tennessee.

  As reported earlier for Beverage Master Magazine, Steve McCarthy, founder of Clear Creek Distillers (now owned by Hood River Distillers) had the distinction of being the first distiller to bring an American single malt to market in the 1990s. Since then, Pacific Northwest distillers have been at the forefront of the American Single Malt Whiskey revolution.

  However, in recent years, an increasing number of distillers have included a rye whiskey in their spirits portfolio. The following are a few curated profiles of rye whiskeys from this region that highlight the diversity of Pacific Northwest rye whiskeys.

Browne Family Spirits (Spokane, WA):  Their Special G Rye Malt Whiskey made with 100% Spokane Valley malted rye is part of their new Farm series that displays the creative vision of Master Distiller Aaron Kleinhelter and highlights Washington’s exceptional local grains.

The Distillarium (Yakima, WA):  The mashbill for their Straight Rye Whiskey consists of 95% Gazelle Rye and 5% Malted Barley for a full-bodied bold taste and a medium finish. This whiskey is aged for a minimum of five years in #3 and #4 char American Oak barrels before being bottled uncut and unfiltered at 90 proof. In addition, they make a straight rye small-batch whiskey made from central Washington rye that’s aged for at least three years in charred American Oak barrels. Also, they have a cask strength of rye (109 proof) aged for six years in the works that will be called Rayzer’s Edge.

Freeland Spirits (Portland, OR):  Inspired by her love of whiskey and a desire to highlight Oregon’s terroir, Jill Kuehler founded Freeland Spirits with the goal of producing a rye whiskey. As she notes, “The spice flavor along with the grassy, herbal notes really highlight the best of Oregon farm fields in a bottle.” Also, rye whiskey is used in her favorite Old Fashioned cocktails. A true embodiment of the state’s rich agriculture and dedication to quality, Kuehler’s journey begins in the heart of Oregon’s fertile fields. She partners with Camas Country Mill to select heritage and ancient varieties of rye, barley, and buckwheat that are stone-milled into a coarse flour to preserve full flavor. Their latest rendition of rye whiskey is bottled in bond, distilled at 100 proof, and aged for four years in New American Oak barrels with a mashbill consisting of 75% organic dark northern rye, 20% organic purple karma barley, and 5% organic buckwheat.

Glacier Distilling Company (Coram, MT):  Their decision to produce a rye whiskey stemmed from their quest to recreate an old moonshiner’s recipe from Josephine Doody. This former dance-hall girl was a moonshiner in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the spouse of Dan Doody, who was the first park ranger for Glacier National Park. Their North Fork rye whiskey (92 proof) made from a single-origin organic rye from Vilicus Farm (Havre, MT) and pure glacial water from the Northern Rockies is named for the wild North Fork of the Flathead River that runs from a remote corner of British Columbia to Montana. The mashbill for this rye consists of 51% rye, 24% malted rye, and 25% corn. They choose this combination to take advantage of the bigger earthy flavors that the malts provide along with a little sweetness from the corn. This whiskey is aged in 15-gallon #3 char white oak barrels from the Barrel Mill (MN) for at least two years and then finished in a solera system. As described on their website, “Younger whiskey is blended with older whiskey in the solera, which is never fully emptied, ensuring a smooth, consistent flavor. Their solera, started in 2011, still contains some of the original whiskey.”

  Also, they produce a limited release called Bad Rock that uses the same grain bill as their North Fork Rye but it’s a cask strength rye aged for an additional year in a #4 char barrel. Their future plans include a 100% rye whiskey that’s currently aging in barrels.

Heritage Acres Distilling (Abbotsford, BC):  Since rye whisky is considered to be the true Canadian whisky, they wanted to participate in their Canadian heritage by producing a world-class spirit that highlights their part of the world. With their QuickDraw Whisky – The Outlaw, they strove to produce a product where consumers could really “Taste the History” of this whisky. On their website, they describe this rye whisky as a “bold and adventurous spirit that tells a rebellious tale,” and adding “it’s best savored neat to appreciate the full complexity of this spirit. All ingredients for this whisky are sourced in BC with the distillery producing some ingredients in Abbotsford.

New Deal Distillery (Portland, OR):   According to co-founder, Tom Burkleaux, their Distiller’s Reserve Straight Rye Whiskey embodies their grain-to-glass approach to producing craft whiskey. The current release of this rye whiskey has a mashbill consisting of 72% dark northern rye sourced from Eastern Oregon, 17% unmalted barley, and 11% malted barley. This combination gives their spirit an earthy texture that recreates the classic Kentucky Rye while playing with a bit more depth of flavor and more focus on the grains. This spirit is distilled in a single pass through their 3-plate brandy column still and then aged for five years in #2 char new American oak barrels.            

  In addition, they produce 40 Acres Straight Rye Whiskey (90 proof), courtesy of Karl Rohdin-Bibby; an avid whiskey enthusiast and distiller at New Deal Distillery. While Burkleaux admitted he didn’t think about barrel finishing, he discovered that Rodin-Bibby’s use of Oregon wine barrels to finish this spirit brought out different flavor combinations. Also, they produce small releases of up to three barrels where they experiment with different mashbills and distillation styles.

New Basin Distilling Company (Madras, OR):  Since Rick Molitor’s grandpa only drank rye whiskey and he loves this spirit, he decided to make his own. The name for their whiskey “Resignation Straight Rye Whiskey” stemmed from his decision to resign from one excellent job as superintendent of Jefferson County 509-J Schools and ESD in 2017 to begin another one with the first edition of this whiskey released in July 2017. The Oregon heirloom rye used in their Straight Rye Whiskey made with 100% rye comes directly from their farm in Madras and is then ground on site. Molitor mashes, ferments, and distills with the grain still in the mash. He observes, “This process gives amazing tasting notes though great attention is needed to ensure it does not foam or scorch during the cooking and distilling process.”

Oregon Spirit Distillers (Bend, OR):  When Brad Irwin launched Oregon Spirit Distillers with his wife Kathy in 2007, he wanted to feature a rye in his portfolio as he was drawn to the spicy flavor profile inherent in rye whiskey and the history of the Sazerac cocktail in particular. When he produced 12 barrels of wheat whiskey and six or eight barrels of rye whiskey during their first year, Irwin realized how much harder the process was for making the mash bill for making the mash for rye whiskey in comparison to wheat whiskey.

  Also, given that rye does not produce the same yield per acre as other grains, Irwin quickly learned from a farm broker that he needed to lease land to guarantee farmers would not lose money by growing rye. So, he contracted 160 acres from farmers near Hermiston, Oregon where they grow the rye variety called Hazlet. Irwin chose this variety as it grows well in Oregon’s desert climate and has good starch content.

  The mashbill he developed that they still use today contains 100% rye. According to Irwin, “We were making a product for the person who really wanted all the flavors of rye. So, we didn’t want it to be chained down by other grains that might soften the big red flavor profiles.”

  Their rye whiskey is aged for four years in new American white oak barrels and bottled at 90 proof. Also, they’ve released a 100-proof bottled-in-bond version of this rye. In 2025, they experimented with a wheat-rye by blending some of their 100% rye with their wheat whiskey as an introductory rye whiskey for those consumers new to the taste of rye. Also, Irwin hosts the annual Oregon Whiskey Festival, a celebration of the state’s best whiskeys. As Irwin opines, ” I really do believe Oregon has the resources to make great whiskey such as great grain, whether it’s corn, barley, and fantastic water.

Stone Barn Brandyworks (Portland, OR):  Sebastian Degens describes his rye whiskeys as exceptionally smooth due to his focus on getting good barrels that create harmony with the spirit from start to finish. All his whiskeys are distilled on their Kothe pot still to coax pure grain flavors and rich sweetness out of each batch. There’s no set time for how long a whiskey ages, as he relies on smell and taste to determine when a particular spirit is ready to bottle.

  Most of his rye whiskeys are made with 100% dark organic rye that Degens originally sourced from Bob’s Red Mill but he now sources from Dave’s Killer Bread and other local sources. Also, he has been experimenting with a dark rye malt in the mash bill that adds a coffee-like finish and deep roast character to the spirit. In addition, Degens sources the rye used for his Nocino and Peach Rock & Rye from Oregon Spirit Distillers as he likes Irwin’s approach to distilling and trusts his sources.

  Because rye produces less yield per pound than other grains like corn, Degens explains that this leads to a higher cost per barrel. However, as he opines, “In the end of the day, I like, you know, it’s what I like to drink, so that’s what I like to make.”

PNW Rye Whiskey Blends:  Those wishing to offer a rye whiskey without the complications involved in distilling this tricky and sticky grain choose to source their base rye spirit, which they then finish to create a spirit infused with their unique imprint. For example, Wildwood Spirits Co. (Bothell, WA) features a Rendition Rye. Inspired by owner/distiller Erik Liedholm’s grandmother. She was an accomplished violist and played many renditions of classical works with her deft spin. Since the rye is not our composition, per se, but as they added our own spin, they decided “Rendition” would be an apt name. For this spirit, they purchase five-year Rye from MGP in Indiana which they make their “theirs” by completing the aging in one of their used bourbon barrels. Also, they’ve produced an Oloroso Sherry barrel finished rye.

  Also, Doc Swinson’s Whiskey (Ferndale, WA) takes a chef’s approach: sourcing exceptional American whiskeys from MPG, then finishing and blending them in-house using rare and globally sourced casks—like Caribbean rum, Oloroso sherry, and Cognac—to craft complex, expressive profiles. Their goal is to create rye whiskeys that are approachable and complex, without sacrificing the bold character that makes rye special.