The Monthly Mash: January 2020 Part I

The successful candidates will help lead the Association, one that is dedicated to elevating and advocating for the community of craft spirits producers.

The successful candidates will replace the following outgoing members whose terms will expire:

Colin Keegan, Santa Fe Spirits; Courtney McKee, Headframe Spirits; Chris Montana, Du Nord Craft Spirits [Central/Mountain Region]; Jake Holshue, Old Trestle Distillery [Pacific Region]; and James Montero, Dogfish Head Distilling [East Region]. All elected will serve on the ACSA Board of Directors for three years, with staggered yearly terms, for the 15-person board (plus ex officio members). Positions are open across the country in each of the three regions.

Interested parties should contact Election Chair, Renee Bemis, Driftless Glen, at renee@driftlessglen.com. You may self-nominate or be suggested by another member of our craft spirits community. Renee will contact you for additional information, so please supply relevant contact information.

Whether you are in the early concept stage or running an established distillery, you won’t want to miss the keynote address from Joth Ricci at ACSA’s Distillers’ Convention and Vendor Trade Show on March 30 in Portland, Oregon.

As the president of Dutch Bros Coffee, Ricci guides a brand that is the nation’s largest privately-held drive-thru beverage company, with more than 365 locations in seven western states. He is a consumer product and beverage industry veteran with nearly 30 years of experience encompassing sales, marketing and executive management over a range of companies, including Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Over the last 20 years, Ricci has had a front seat to the growth of the craft spirits, craft beer, wine, coffee and kombucha brands that have emerged from Portland and the state of Oregon.

We checked in with him recently to see what he’s drinking besides coffee and ask how his address will benefit craft distillers.

First, we have to ask: How do you take your coffee?
Joth Ricci: Black. It’s the best way to appreciate the varietal and flavors of the bean and origin.

We saw that you said this in a podcast: “I’m a beverage guy. I don’t know that I’m necessarily a coffee guy. I think coffee is one of the things that I do.” So when you’re not drinking coffee, what are your favorite drinks?
Ha! I like a great glass of Oregon pinot Noir, a good cold pilsner, high-end whiskey and, yes, some water for hydration! Seriously, I try many different beverages to see what is on the market and who is doing interesting things.

All brands start with similar principles: a positioning, a consumer and marketplace. Then how each brand breaks down its consumer base and channels will vary by category segment. Understanding your customer and developing your brand is the key to any business. So it’s actually very similar and understanding the nuances of a category brings it all together.

I think coffee is very similar to spirits. Highly competitive, various price categories, a story of source and flavor to differentiate product type, and some brands can scale where others have a smaller niche to serve a market.

Sure, the keynote will focus on the cross section of the consumer and brand development and how important it is to be disciplined in your execution of both. While it sounds simple, I have seen so many brands—big and small—skip steps through the journey and ultimately result in a business that doesn’t meet the founders’ expectations. Given the competitive and regulated nature of the distilling business, discipline is critical!

People are cool … this is a great place to live … and we have great water! Can’t wait to see you in March!

What can attendees expect to take away from that session?

AP: The goal of this session is to give attendees a broad understanding of the many facets of running a distilling business. We will go as in-depth as possible on each topic while still covering the breadth of material needed to touch on each area of importance to attendees. Attendees will leave with a variety of recommendations on further reading and resources to help them dig into topics deeper as they continue in the industry.
CM: The session will be a firehose of information. Folks will walk away with some high-order overviews, handouts from each of the presenters, the notes they take and some great new relationships both with the presenters and with their classmates as well. We see it as an opportunity for ongoing dialogues and assistance with the presenters, peers and ACSA’s membership. It takes a village to raise a child and to successfully launch a business.

JH: The most important thing we hope to give the attendees is a solid list of network contacts that can help them get to where they want to be—whether it’s a vendor with a specific specialty or a person that can point them in the right direction.

AP: The motivation was to ensure than all aspiring industry members have access with top notch education. We tried to remove as many barriers to this education as possible to help more people elevate their knowledge.

JH: We have often been told that one of the deficits of our education programming is we provide such high-level info, that we miss the newcomers to our industry. We want to change that and make sure everyone, regardless of background or industry experience, has opportunities to come and learn with us.

CM: We know that the better each of us does, the better we all do together. Assisting new entrants with identifying potential blind spots, tools to help solve for those, and folks who can help them along the way, is the best way we know to ensure that new distillery owners are building businesses with strong foundations, which will become healthy peers in our industry. We’re excited to help everyone feel setup for success.

CM: The class is all day Saturday and Sunday morning. Saturday we’ll cover Business & Financial considerations in the morning including Insurance, Exit Strategies, Cash Flow, and Policies, to name a few. Then we turn the rest of the day’s attention to Production & Safety. We’ll discuss everything from selecting a site, raw materials and equipment to safety, including preventing accidents, OSHA compliance and how to develop a Safety Program. We’ll dig into some chemistry and recipe development and touch in on TTB compliance as well. We close Saturday with a cocktail reception including our speakers so attendees can get a little extra time with those they might want to hear more from. Saturday’s a big day.

Sunday we devote the morning to sales & marketing. We’ll talk about packaging and branding, revenue generation decision making, sales Plans vs. marketing plans, working with distributors and leveraging relationships. By noon Sunday, our goal is to help open attendees to a scope of new questions and to have some of those questions answered as well.