HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We hope everybody had a great Christmas and Hanukkah holiday season. During the break, we were waiting... waiting... waiting... for our equipment to arrive from Germany.

Right after Christmas, our container ship, the Liverpool Express, landed in Norfolk with our container of equipment from Germany. After a few days and a lot of phone calls, we got the container cleared through customs, and it arrived on our doorstep in early January! We're just finishing up hooking it all up and getting it ready for production runs.

Almost at the same time, we received our Federal DSP (Distilled Spirits Plant) permit! This is huge because it means we are now legal! Yes, we are now federally approved distillers! We immediately turned around and filed our applications for label approval for our first line-up of products. Stay tuned for more information about that!

So, as we slide into the deep, dark cold days of winter, we're anticipating our meeting with Virginia ABC and getting onto the shelves (hopefully) in May. We'll also be getting those distributor relationships set up for Maryland and the District of Columbia. Lots and lots to do! And that doesn't even count for all the spirits we have to make between now and then! We have to put that equipment to work!

So, Happy New Year! Let's hope it's the best one ever for you and your family, and until spring, stay warm!

L'Chaim and Cheers!

Scott & Becky

Now that we're sliding into late autumn, heading toward winter, we are almost ready for production to start at the distillery.

More and more equipment arrives each week. Our Durfo Enolmaster bottling machine arrived in the United States, but we are still working to free her out of customs in Atlanta. And our Kothe K-900 still is expected to arrive from Eislingen, Germany, in December along with all of our fermentation, storage and filtering equipment.

In November, we achieved the 500 members milestone in our Facebook fan page. As a result, we awarded a first run bottle to David Gadsby, our 500th member. The Catoctin Creek Facebook Page continues to be a fun place to find out the latest on the business, to interact, and to share information about the love of spirits in Loudoun County and the Washington Metro area.

During November, we've also received word from the Federal Tax and Trade Bureau that our distillery license should be approved in the next few weeks! This is great news, as we are on the verge of becoming the first federally licensed distillery in northern Virginia since before Prohibition! It also means that we did a pretty good job in submitting our gargantuan federal DSP application packet.

Looking to December and January, we expect to install the final shipment of equipment arriving from Germany, and we're hoping to begin our first production run before the year is over.

Until then...

L'Chaim and Cheers!

Scott & Becky

Although this article comes to an abrupt end (due to an editing error), it still provides some nice coverage of the business.

From Business Briefs, The Purcellville Gazette, November 6, 2009:

[Wineries] will no longer be the only game in western Loudoun that involves "proof."  The Harris family of Purcellville recently received their occupancy permit for their new distillery called [Catoctin Creek Distilling Company].  As the Harris family continues to fill out volumes of legal paperwork for both  local and federal agencies, they have developed a large following on Facebook and YouTube [where] the curious can follow along on their quest to be Loudoun's finest, and only, distillers.  Once operational, they will sell their fine spirits of Rye, Gins and Whiskeys to State run ABC stores where the general public will be allowed to purchase their product.