craft distilling is a movement of small-volume distilleries that emerged in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. By the 1980s, distilling had become a highly industrialized process dominated by large corporations. Much like craft beer, artisan cheese, and the slow food movement, the craft distilling movement reacted against this large-scale industrialization by emphasizing small-scale production, distillation in alembic or pot stills, sourcing of local ingredients, and quaint backstories.
In the United States, some of the earliest craft distilleries were Germain-Robin (founded in 1984) and Anchor (1993) in California and Clear Creek (1985) and Edgefield (1998) in Oregon. See Clear Creek Distillery and Germain-Robin. These earliest distilleries tended to focus on brandy and whisky. Craft distilling saw a boom in the 2000s, and by 2016 there were close to one thousand craft distilleries in the United States and Canada, as well as growing numbers throughout the globe. In Europe, there had long been small brandy and schnapps producers who could be considered craft distillers, but the craft distilling movement in America led to a wider variety of spirits being produced on small European stills, including a number of single-malt whiskies.
While craft distillers have received plaudits for innovation, there have been questions about quality. Critics, particularly of craft whiskies, have often noted harsh, tannic qualities that can be the result of failing to properly age the spirit or attempting to hasten aging by using small barrels, wood chips, or similar techniques. As time has passed and the movement has matured, more distillers have released spirits aged longer in full-sized barrels. A number of craft distillers are now producing bonded spirits, which are required to be aged for at least four years.
Some small companies have been criticized for implying they are craft distillers when in fact their product is sourced from one of the large industrial distilleries. In 2014, a widely circulated article in the Daily Beast highlighted the large number of “craft distillers” that did not disclose that their rye whisky was actually distilled by Midwest Grain Products, a large industrial distillery in Indiana. The article went viral and was followed by a number of lawsuits against spirits companies challenging the representation of particular spirits as craft distilled. Few such lawsuits succeeded.
It didn’t take long for the large spirits companies to take note of the craft distilling movement, and a number of larger companies have purchased craft distilleries. In one of the first such purchases, in 2010, New York’s Tuthilltown Distillery sold its line of Hudson Whiskies to scotch giant William Grant & Sons. Since then, there have been more buyouts: Campari purchased Canadian craft distiller Forty Creek in 2014, and in 2016 Constellation Brands purchased Utah’s High West, Remy Cointreau bought the Westland Distillery in Washington, and Pernod Ricard purchased a majority share of the Smooth Ambler Distillery in West Virginia.
Based on the massive proliferation of craft distillers in the early twenty-first century, the movement is likely to continue to thrive. However, as craft distillers continue to multiply, grow, and—in some cases—be purchased by large corporations, it will likely raise questions of who is and isn’t a craft distiller.
American Craft Spirits Association. https://americancraftspirits.org (accessed March 1, 2021).
American Distilling Institute. https://distilling.com/ (accessed March 1, 2021).
Felten, Eric. “Your ‘Craft’ Rye Whiskey Is Probably from a Factory Distillery in Indiana.” Daily Beast, July 28, 2014. https://www.thedailybeast.com/your-craft-whiskey-is-probably-from-a-factory-distillery-in-indiana (accessed March 1, 2021).
Sku [pseud.]. “The Complete List of American Whiskey Distilleries and Brands,” Sku’s Recent Eats, May 6, 2017. http://recenteats.blogspot.com/p/the-complete-list-of-american-whiskey.html (accessed March 1, 2021).
Ury, Steve. “Most Craft Whiskeys Suck!” Whisky Advocate, August 30, 2010.
By: Steve Ury