2007 American Distilling Institute Conference

April 4, 2007

by Bob Ostrander

OK, it's not really Indiana Beer's forte but a trip to little Starlight, Indiana for 2 days of immersion about the new waves of micro-distilleries sounded like a good idea when Penn Jensen, VP of Sales for Upland, offered a press pass. This job does have it's perks.

OK, Upland isn't a distillery but Penn (left below) is the VP of the ADI. The legendary Bill Owens of Buffalo Bill's Brewery (right below) is the President and many other breweries are getting in on the act. Rogue, Dogfish Head, and New Holland were in attendance, for instance.

On Thursday, they took a bus tour to Vendome Copper, Kelvin Cooperage, Woodford Reserve, Buffalo Trace, and Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (Heaven Hill). Sounds like a busy day. wasn't there for that though.

Friday and Saturday the conference moved to the Huber Winery / Huber Starlight Distillery. Emphasis this year was on rum. Topics included Jamaican distilleries, licensing, marketing, and the effect of the barrel.

Right: A test batch of whisky from New Holland Brewing.
Left: Eric Watson examines one of the many bottles of boutique rum, gin, vodka, grappa, brandy, and other samples from attendees.

The Starlight Distillery is hidden away down in the basement, past the wine vessels, through a tunnel, to a windowless room that the revenuers would have a hard time finding if it wasn't for the licensing paperwork. A 4-chamber tower bubbles away and a tiny stream of C2H6O into a waiting pot. It's then made into brandy, or an infused spirit. They make apple, blueberry, peach, pear, and raspberry products. A big pile of wooden casks are maturing not far away.

Established distillers and startups were both present. People came from Prince Edward Island, Jamaica, Brazil, Hawaii, as well as all over the lower 48. The Hawaiian black rum was astounding.

The bottle below is a light rum from Brazil's Cachaça Fazenda. Good but the real gem was the aged version he kept under the table.

A dozen booths in the exhibitor's section spotlighted bottle sellers, cooperages, packaging companies, etc. There was plenty of time to see it all.

Next year the spotlight is on whisk(e)y, Eric's Green Bay Distilling will be back with samples. I hope Penn invites us again.