June 2010 Update
In May, we started selling... And what a wild ride it's been!
As Richmond began distributing our spirits to the various stores in Northern Virginia, we were overwhelmed to see the Roundstone Rye flying off the shelves. Reports from Loudoun County ABC stores were that the product was selling out within hours of arrival. This is always encouraging for a new business, and we thank all of you who have bought a bottle. We truly hope you enjoy your rye whisky.
Sales have settled into a more normal clip now, with the product generally available in all stores throughout the Commonwealth. If you are in a store and cannot find our product, ask the clerk to look up or order the following:
- 27030 - Roundstone Rye
- 952482 - Mosby's Spirit (special order by the case - 6 bottles)
- 952483 - Watershed Gin (special order by the case - 6 bottles)
With sales in Virginia underway, we're starting to see our spirits showing up in local bars and restaurants--The Ashby Inn in Paris, VA, and the Old Brogue in Great Falls, VA--to name a few. If you have a favorite restaurant or bar, ask them if they carry your local spirit--Catoctin Creek--and if they do, let us know about it! If they don't, tell them they should!
On our web site, we've expanded our section on cocktails and recipes. Many of our Facebook friends have sent in great cocktails, like the Sazerac and the Maryland Mint Julep, which we are happy to share on our site. Have a favorite cocktail that we don't know about? Send it to us and we'll post it!
May was also the month when we received our official eco-ganic certification. eco-ganic is really important to us. Besides affirming a standard of care for sustainable practices, eco-ganic equals truly better spirits. Why? Well, when you have grain that has been treated with synthetic pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizers, those chemicals attach to the grain. And if distillation is anything, it's the art of concentration. When you distill the grain, those chemicals come through in the spirit, giving "off" flavors and foul chemical taints that must be absorbed by the charred carbon in the barrel. But when you use 100% eco-ganic rye, as we do, the spirit is clean and crisp, and absolutely wonderful on day one. I guess that's why Jason Wilson, of the Washington Post, called it "a beautiful unaged whisky." Thanks, Jason. We definitely agree.
Keep an eye out, for in the coming weeks, we'll be announcing another bottling party. These are great fun, where we set up an assembly line of volunteers to bottle and pack cases of Roundstone Rye for shipment. The last time, we had 20-30 volunteers, and we cranked through 60 cases of rye in less than two hours! Everybody had a great time, got a free lunch, and was able to sign their name on a bottle or two.
As always, there is lots of fun and information on our Facebook and Twitter pages, where you can stay up to date with the daily activities at the distillery.
Remember, "Think Global, Drink LOCAL!"SM
Cheers!
Scott & Becky
In April, we were in bottling mode. Bottling was fun. We had a great team of volunteers who came in, and we rocked in one day what had been planned for two! It was a truly historic event, as we signed and shipped the very first bottles ever from our distillery. Plus, it was nice to meet up with some of our Facebook fans. We bottled over 90 cases of our first spirits for delivery to Virginia ABC in Richmond. As Scott was driving down I-95 with a pallet of spirits in his truck, it dawned on him he was fulfilling his lifelong dream to run liquor down I-95! Mind you, he was doing so driving 35 miles per hour with his hazard lights flashing! Must protect those spirits!
With the spirits delivered to Richmond, we now wait for the Virginia distribution machine to kick in so that the spirits are delivered to all of the stores we designated. Literally any day now, you should see Roundstone Rye on the shelves of your local ABC store. If you don't see it, ask for it! (Product # 27030). If you are a restaurant wishing to order all three spirits (including the Watershed Gin and Mosby's Spirit as well), you can use the ABC special order to ask for a mixed case (two of each spirit). You can find more information on buying our spirits 
In March, we started making our Watershed Gin. The process is simple: We start with twice distilled rye spirits as a base, and then we macerate a pillow-case sized bag of juniper and other herbs and spices, letting it steep in the spirit for 24 hours or more. Then, the gin is run back through the still one more time, to become a very smooth and totally delicious thrice-distilled Watershed Gin.
Becky and I enjoyed hosting our first Artisan Distilling Workshop. We had about twenty folks show up and spend their Saturday with us, learning about mashing, fermentation, distilling, and bottling. We ran a batch of rye whisky through the still, and even got to check out the pear wine and gin base in their pre-distilled forms. Becky and I had a lot of fun, and hope that everybody enjoyed the seminar as much as we enjoyed hosting it. For those of you interested, you can check out our summer workshop on July 24--you can 
Early this month, we 
If you're interested, get your Catoctin Creek branded merchandise by giving us a call. We're still getting our web store set up, but we now have branded collector shot glasses and Catoctin Creek t-shirts available. All major credit cards accepted!
January has been a whirlwind month for us at Catoctin Creek. During the last month, we finalized our equipment installation, received both our federal and state distillery permits, and began our production. THAT was a busy month!
After receiving the equipment in late December last year, we finalized its installation. The electrical build out proved to be the largest part of our equipment installation, since both our still and our mash tank are electrically heated. Our local electricians, Purcellville Electric, did exceptional work, working alongside our Kothe representatives. We had our equipment up and running in a week! We cannot recommend either company more highly.
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!
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.
And speaking of barrels, our three barrels arrived from Bourdeaux this month. We immediately set to cleaning them, delighted with the rich smell of red wine inside the barrel. We will use these for finishing off brandy once we start production. The character of the wine should add delicate elements of flavor into the brandy we produce.
Of course, with all those barrels, we're going to need something to lug them around. So we also purchased a used (new to us) forklift. This 2002 Nissan forklift, for which we're currently accepting name suggestions, is showing her age a little, but her scars are mostly from her days working in the DAP caulk factory. She's a hard working lass (or is she a lad?), and will do perfectly for moving around pallets of grape, grain and spirits. We'll also need her when it comes to getting that Kothe still off the truck.
After finally getting through with our CPAs, we now have a good handle on our financial situation. We are finally ready to ROCK AND ROLL! We will be ordering our custom-made 400 liter still from Kothe in the next few days! This still is the centerpiece of our entire business, and the one piece of equipment we were unwilling to skimp on--especially since they last upwords of thirty years!
