Page 29 - Beverage MasterOct Nov 2020

Craft Distillery

DISTILLERY STARTUP:

Where the Journey Begins

By: Gerald Dlubala

“ Y ou want to start a distillery? Try not to business,” said Kelty. “Talk to other owners. Learn
from their mistakes and successes and apply them
be overwhelmed, but by all means, pre-
to your situation. Get to be best friends with your
pare to be overwhelmed,” said Patrick
Kelty, President of VITOK Engineers,
Inc. VITOK Engineers help design and optimize Fire Marshal, insurance agents and inspectors. They
are the ones with intimate knowledge of the specif-
every element of the distillation process, from raw ic rules and regulations of your location. Base your
material receiving to proofing and bottling. Their design on your current situation, your forecasted
clients range from craft distillery startups to the production numbers and goals and your target cus-
likes of Wild Turkey and Jack Daniels. And if nothing tomers and marketing plans.”
else, Kelty wants potential distillers to remember a
few things. Kelty said that too many distillery startups begin
with the owner blindly agreeing to options and
“Educate yourself about the distilling process and amenities before obtaining proper cost estimates,

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