This week we had Roberta, Dave, Patti, Juston, Shawn, Todd, Laurie and Brian come help us bottle the big gin batch. This was the first gin bottling with our new custom capsules. They did an awesome job and were done in record time. Thanks for another GREAT group!

Craig Fell was our student for the week. Craig is from Western Washington and is working on a project there. Great guy with some great ideas. “Long live Diamond Lake!”

Don

 On May 9th we had Doug in for his class graduation. Doug is working on a project in British Columbia.

On May 16th we had Dash, Jonathan, Rachel, Andy, Jed, Drew, and Jon help us bottle. In all honesty they all had nice personalities, but really couldn’t bottle worth a damn. Rachel had her picture taken by a local reporter, and made the front page of the paper. Since then she has big timed all of us.

On May 23rd we had Kris, Bob, Christine, Steve, Tracey, Jim, Lisa, Ken, Maria, Yvette, Carolyn, Yvonne, Scott, and Sandra help us with our weekly bottling. They did an awesome job and were done in no time! Thanks to another great crew.

This week we also had John in for a class. He is working on a Western Washington project. We wish him luck and look forward to helping him on his journey.

On May 30th we had Mary Lee, Matt, Ann, Mike, Daryl, Rex, Steve, Leslie, and Dana help us bottle. Great crew and a near record pace. Thanks for your help!

That should get us caught up for now. We are honored to have so many volunteers helping us. It’s a great way for us to meet new friends!

Don 

Greater Spokane Incorporated (The former Spokane Chamber of Commerce) recently awarded Dry Fly Distilling an AGORA award for Entrepreneurial Spirit. Dry Fly was a finalist in the Small Business Division.

We are proud and honored to be recognized by our business peers and our community. 

Don 

A couple of days ago the Liquor Board was forced to increase the markup on distilled spirits from 39.2% to 51.9% making our state the highest priced state for spirits in the United States. This was a result of a move by our state government to capture $78 million from the liquor revolving fund ($$ used to run the liquor system.) This capture skirted proposition 960 which does not allow for new taxes unless the measure is passed by a super majority or is put to a vote of the people. So in other words, this is a backhanded way to tax the public. Washington now has taxes/markup TWICE the average of all control states, and SIX times that of private three tier systems, giving a complete new meaning to the tax and spend term.  Two other considerations - the Washington Restaurant Association estimates 1300 jobs will be lost as a result of this increase. Also, DISCUS estimates that decreases in volume due to consumer buy down, and purchases being moved across state lines will reduce the income from the increase to $50 million - some $30 million short of the objective. The result of this loss in revenue will result in . . . . . wait for it . . . . another price increase next year to make up for the shortcoming.  This will force small distillers to make a choice - allow the price of their products to increase per the changes, or lower the sales price to the state, thus lowering income, to allow for the same shelf price. In short, sales revenue per bottle from Washington could become lower than all other states, in theory forcing Washington distillers to pursue business outside the state as it would become more profitable.  Soon Washington will surpass the the 168% average markup in Canada, making us the highest priced spirits in north America. A lofty, but obtainable goal

OK, so I am a bit behind on my bottling updates . . . 

On April 4th we had the Deb Brady crew come in (Matt, Alisa, Howard, Ryan, Kari, Greg, Shelly, Doug (He-man cork specialist), Will, Carol, Brian, RoxAnne, and Dale) in to assit with bottling. The picture is on McGraws camera so I’ll post it later!

On April 11th we had Linda, Sid, Mark, Penny, Bob, Kari, Jessica, and Jeff help us with the bottling. They did an awesome job and we thank them for their help!

On April 18th the Kellee Quick group came in again to help us bottle. Patrick forgot to take their picture, so we fired him (and re-hired him the following Monday as there were tanks to climb into!) The group (on their second round of bottling this year) was on fire and completed the task in ALMOST record time.

On April 25th we had Gail, Dennis, Kevin, Bruce, Tane, Karen, and Lori join the crazy Yukon Boys for bottling at the distillery. Snakette ran the crew pretty hard, but they managed to complete the task perfectly.

We had a great time with the boys from the Yukon project - graduates of the Distilling School. Karlo and Marty are going to make some great stuff up there. We look forward to our continued relationship with them. And Marty, congrats on the awesome FML!

On May 2nd, we had the boys from Dunn and Black (Jason, Geoff, Nick, Kevin, Mike, and Chad) assist with the bottling of Vodka batch 34. A bunch of lawyers in a distillery can be a good thing! No lawsuits, no bad lawyer jokes, all is good in the world! Thanks guys!

Don 

BOOTH 8207 

We were happy to have the folks from Wilson Tool come in and help us bottle Vodka Batch 31. Jon, George, Gary, Kristie, Jay, Yvonne, Jessica, Mackenzie, Patrick, Lindsey, and Quentin all came in to help. Jon was the team leader and ran a pretty tight ship. Guest bottle Andy was in to further motivate the crew with her lightening fast bottling methods. 

We also had Amy Evans, the pride of Kalispell Montana in for Distilling School. We look forward to our continuing work with Amy to help he realize her dreams.

We also were able to spend some quality time teaching her part of the Hungarian method of distillery operation as developed by our good friend George Racz. She can be seen below demonstrating some of the more complex maneuvers.

Don

Ps - I did NOT make her mop the floor! 

San Francisco World Spirit Competition Awards Dry Fly Vodka

BEST OF SHOW VODKA

DOUBLE GOLD

Over 150 vodkas were entered in this years event, the premier spirit competition in the United States. 

We were glad to have Sarah, Denali, Rashel, Jason, Karey, Kyle, And Chris come in to help us bottle Gin batch 29. This was a great and fast crew. Pretty sure it was a new world record, but the ROLEX digital timing device we use was on the fritz!

Thanks again to a great crew! 

DOn 

Dry Fly is Proud to Support Casting 4 A Cure! 

www.casting4acure.com

Dry Fly is proud to announce it’s support of Casting 4 A Cure, a fly fishing series of events aimed at eliminating Rett Syndrome. Please check out their website above and find a way to help us all work towards this worthy objective!

We’ll be at the two 2009 scheduled events - July 30th in Steamboat Springs Colorado and August 26th in Teton Springs Idaho.

Fly Fishing combined with service to humanity - perfect!

Don