We had the pleasure of hosting Inside Loudoun at our distillery last month.  They had a great time sampling our seasonal cocktails, and visiting with Denise, our tasting room manager:

Sipping the spirits at Catoctin Creek is part of the experience. Visitors can make reservations (necessary on weekends) to try flights of their Roundstone Rye, Watershed Gin and brandies straight, or make choose to enjoy them mixed into incredibly creative cocktails by bartender brainiac, Denise Petty. Every recipe from the monthly changing drink menu captures the season and features locally-sourced juices, syrups and bitters.

You can read the full story, here, or watch the video above.

We were absolutely delighted to be part of the One Nation Under Whisky podcast.  If you're a whisky nerd, who wishes to know all the details, this is a fun, clever, and not-taking-itself-too-seriously podcast. Love, love, love it!

Give it a listen, here.

While President Trump and EU chair Junkers met to begin the process of negotiating the tariffs, Catoctin Creek received more press coverage as an unintended victim on the ongoing trade war.  Both BBC (UK) and ARD (Germany) have stories on the issue, featuring out distillery:

From the BBC article, "Now in the craft distilling industry [in the United States], we have small distillers like ourselves in all fifty states," says Scott Harris, founder of Catoctin Creek.  "If these trade negotiations go on for many months, or a year or more, then we're really going to have to re-evaluate our European strategy. and it means we may have to pull back from Europe for a while."

From the ARD article, "The difficult thing about being in the whisky business," says Mr. Harris, "is, you know, we've laid down whisky years ago in anticipation for markets for today."

Here are links to the various web, radio, and TV spots:

• BBC Web Coverage, 2018 July 26
• BBC Radio Coverage, 2018 July 26
• ARD Web Coverage, 2018 July 26
• ARD Radio Coverage, 2018 July 26
• ARD TV Coverage, 2018 July 26

The BBC audio was also picked up by American Public Radio, which ran it on the Marketplace Morning Report:

• Marketplace Morning Report, 2018 July 27 (minute 4:30)

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) highlighted our company as an example of how the trade tariffs are hurting US small businesses, particularly manufacturing and agriculture jobs.  From their press release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, pressed a Trump Administration official on President Trump’s trade war and the concerns he’s heard from Virginia farmers and business owners about the negative effect it is having on their business. In a Committee hearing on tariffs, Kaine, with a bottle Catoctin Creek Whiskey from Purcellville, VA in hand, told the success story of the Loudoun County company’s expansion and how that is now at risk because of the trade war that the Trump Administration has created with our allies.

You can watch the full video, here.

Further coverage:

• Loudoun Times Mirror, July 12, 2018
• WVTF Public Radio, July 13, 2018

Photo courtesy Kristen Dill.

Bloomberg has continuing coverage of the Trump Trade Tariffs, and their unintended impact on craft distillers like us. Janine Wolf reports:

For the Harris family in Purcellville, the European market was supposed to represent 25 percent revenue this year—a significant share for a company of just 20 employees. It started spending the $100,000 in 2013 with a focus on Germany and Italy, with the expansion into its new markets expected to take off this year. Now, Catoctin Creek won’t be sending another shipment to the continent until either tariffs are lifted or a European customer places an order where they're swallowing the tariff cost.

"The only option that we’re really left with,” Scott Harris said, “is to tread water and see how long this will [shake] out."

Read the full story, here.

Scott Harris (our founder and general manager) was on Fox Business this week, on Countdown to the Closing Bell with Liz Claman, discussing trade tariffs and their impact to our small business.  This is great insight into the unintended consequences of this trade war with the EU, in a non-partisan forum.  This topic isn't about politics, but rather, about allowing free and fair trade between the EU and the USA so small businesses like ours can grow and create good paying American jobs.

“The impact of these tariffs is going to wipe out all the benefits we got from the tax cuts for our particular business,” he said during an interview with FOX Business’ Liz Claman on Wednesday. “That’s really disappointing for us.”

See for yourself in the video above, or for the full story, click here.

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Wenn ja, können Sie gerne erfahren, wie sich die Trump-Zölle negativ auf amerikanische Whiskyhersteller wie Catoctin Creek auswirken. Dies ist eine übersetzte Version der ursprünglichen AP-Geschichte von Bruce Schreiner.

US-Whiskybrennereien bangen um Exportgeschäft — Echter Bourbon könnte schon bald deutlich teurer werden. Grund sind die von der EU verhängten Vergeltungszölle auf US-Produkte. Doch nicht nur Verbraucher dürften künftig unter dem Handelsstreit leiden. Viele Whiskeybrennereien in den USA blicken mit Sorge auf die Handelsstreit.

Sie können das Video anzeigen, indem Sie auf das obige Video klicken oder hier klicken.

Do you speak German?  If so, you can enjoy learning about how the Trump trade tariffs are negatively affecting US whiskey makers like Catoctin Creek.  This is a translated version of the original AP story by Bruce Schreiner. 

US whiskey distilleries are worried about export business - real bourbon could soon become significantly more expensive. The reason is the EU's retaliatory tariffs on US products. But not only consumers are likely to suffer from the trade dispute in the future. Many whiskey distilleries in the US are worried about the trade dispute.

You can view the video by clicking the video above, or click here.

Further German language coverage:

• Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, July 3, 2018

Owen Fairclough, reporting for CGTN America, does a thorough job explaining the perils that small whiskey producers, such as ourselves, face due to the trade tariffs.  He writes:

Distilled spirits have enjoyed huge growth in the U.S over the last 20 years and are now manufactured and exported from 42 U.S States. The impact of those tariffs is being felt across the country.

According to the Distilled Spirits Council, nearly half of the exports are being targeted by tariffs. And it’s not just the liquor.

The tanks used in the distilling process are made from European metal – and even they’ve been hit by tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

You can read the full story, here.

Local news channel WJLA ABC 7 covered our story on the trade tariff impacts on our whiskey business.  Tim Barber reports:

Distilling whiskey takes time. And so does positioning a small business for a big, overseas expansion.

“These are solid, good American manufacturing jobs and these are being impacted,” says Scott Harris of Catoctin Creek Distilling Company in Purcellville.

Right now, the price of his most popular bottle is $45 overseas. But if the tariff turmoil continues, that price could jump to $56 per bottle.

You can read the full story, here.

The coverage continues.  Vanity Fair has a story sweeping up the impact of the tariffs across a broad set of industries, including ours:

American whiskey makers are worried the E.U.’s retaliatory 25 percent duty on whiskey will obliterate its export business, with Scott Harris, a founder of Catoctin Creek Distillery, telling the Times, “We are just launching into the European market now in a big way, and . . . we’re probably going to see all of our European sales now come to a screeching halt”

Read the full story, here.

More coverage from the New York Times on the Trump trade wars, and how they're hurting our growing small business.  Alan Rappeport reports:

A self-described free-trade Republican, Mr. Harris is disappointed with the path that his party has taken on trade.

“I remember just two years ago we were talking about pushing hard for the Trans-Pacific Partnership so we could open markets in Asia, but all of that has just been turned upside down,” Mr. Harris said. “It really is quite puzzling.”

Read the original story, here.

Fox5 DC came out to Purcellville to interview Scott Harris, founder of the distillery, about the impacts of the trade tariffs on his growing small business.  Matt Ackland reports:

Starting on Friday, the European Union has slapped a 25-percent tariff on whiskey and other products. Harris said he has already produced more product for his European customers and worries what he will do with it if those customers go away due to higher prices.

“I have been asked, ‘Does that mean we’re laying people off?’” Harris said. “No, we’re not laying people off, but we may not be hiring anybody for a while now either.”

You can read the entire story, here.  Or click the image above to see the video.