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.

The Associated Press released a story this week, and it featured Catoctin Creek.  The gist of the story is that the Trump trade tariffs will appreciably harm both big producers and small producers alike, just as the US whiskey market is set to explode in Europe.  The timing could not be worse.

[Scott Harris, Founder at Catoctin Creek] worries his overseas distributors might drop his spirits if the dispute drags on, and consumers will quench their thirst elsewhere. Already, rye whiskeys are coming out of Ireland and Scotland, he said, and with a bit of internet digging, "I could probably come up with a German distiller who's making a corn spirit that could, for all practical purposes, be very similar to bourbon."

The story was released nationally, and showed up in many newspapers.  We like the version in the Sacramento Bee best, because it included some cool photos at the distillery.  Read that, here.

Original AP story, here.

Scott was invited down to Fox News to talk about trade tariffs and how they'll negatively impact small business and large business alike in the spirits sector.  Trade wars like the one proposed are direct threats to the growth and expansion of manufacturing and agriculture jobs across all 50 states.  Click the video below to learn more.

Nine years have passed since our first appearance on Hotmixology.  Check us out again with our Roundstone Rye!