SO WHAT IS A DISTILLERY?
Over time, more Sonoma distilleries are popping up around the area. As more local distilleries gain traction, local communities stand to reap some benefits from a booming distilling industry. With the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, many sectors are and have been hurting, including craft distilleries. There is no better time to start supporting local distilleries – especially your local Sonoma distilleries. Supporting your local distillery comes with all sorts of perks over purchasing your spirits from a run of the mill liquor store. Whether you choose to visit the distillery in-person to enjoy the atmosphere and the knowledgeable staff or prefer to buy spirits online from the comfort and safety of your own home, you will have a better experience from a local Sonoma distillery.
WHAT IS A DISTILLERY?
We’ve learned that many people don’t know what a distillery is, so if you do, you can skip over this section! Easily confused with a brewery, a distillery is different in that a distillery makes hard alcohol such as vodka, gin, whiskey, rum, etc., whereas a brewery solely brews delicious beer.
THE PROCESS OF MAKING SPIRITS
The process of making spirits in a distillery starts very similarly to making beer. It all begins by combining the essential ingredients like yeasts and grains in water. From there, the different types of ingredients will determine what kind of spirit they are making. In this process of creating alcoholic spirits, the grains break down, and the starches turn into sugars. Then the yeast and enzymes can do their job to convert that sugar into alcohol further. After this step is where the similarity between distilled spirits and beer ends. Once the yeast and sugar turn into alcohol, they drain off the spent grains. The remaining liquid is poured into a still.
Fun fact: A still is an apparatus for distilling alcoholic drinks, appropriately given its name by shortening distill.
Alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, so it vaporizes quicker when it is heated. This vapor rises and separates from the rest of the mixture, and then in a separate part of the still, it is cooled to turn it back into a liquid and collected as alcohol.
A STEP ABOVE – GRAIN TO GLASS WHISKEY
If you’re reading this, you care about spirits, and we do too at Young & Yonder Distillery – a Sonoma distillery located in Healdsburg. And we believe that the best spirits are made from the best ingredients, which is why we focus on sourcing local, non-GMO grains for our whiskies and organic grains for our clear spirits. For example, after trying and experimenting with various bases for our vodka, (which there are many options,) we chose to make ours from organic corn because of the sweet vanilla character that you get from it. When we thought about making whiskey, we worked with local producers to source the best quality grains in our area. But the quality doesn’t end at the source. We are a grain-to-glass production facility, which means we have the production capabilities do everything here in-house.
PERKS OF VISITING YOUR LOCAL SONOMA DISTILLERY
There are many reasons why tasting and purchasing liquor from a local distillery is superior to a liquor store experience. In short, you’ll get higher-quality liquor at a reasonable price – and you can feel good about it! That’s because supporting local business development in these challenging times is vital when local industries need it most to survive this pandemic. Here are some more detailed perks below.
Perk 1: Better Tasting Spirits
The biggest perk of supporting a local Sonoma distillery is the ability to enjoy the variations in the different tastes and styles of spirits. You will be mistaken if you think that all whiskey, vodkas, or gins taste the same. When you visit a local distillery, you will be able to stimulate your senses with different flavor profiles or infusions that you typically would never be able to taste or even buy from a liquor store. Distilleries take great pride in how they create and infuse their spirits that can’t be matched by mass-produced liquors. Supporting your local Sonoma distillery will allow you to taste and then take home your favorite spirits.
Perk 2: The Experience
If you enjoy exciting new experiences that stimulate your taste buds, then visiting a local distillery is a must. A great perk of visiting a local Sonoma distillery is the whole experience that comes along with it because each distillery has a distinct flavor or character to it. Just like breweries, distilleries will take you on guided tours and provide information on the distilling process, teaching you how the spirit you are sipping came to be. The distilling process is very intriguing, and you can see how it works first hand. You can also get tasting flights to compare products side by side and participate in events that distilleries will typically host. Since most distilleries have space to rent out, they are also a fantastic setting to have a get-together with family and friends, have a happy hour, take your special someone out for a date, or even celebrate more significant occasions such as birthdays or other parties. Most distilleries offer a great laid back setting with knowledgeable staff that can answer any questions you may have about the distilling process or spirits in general while also providing excellent customer service.
Perk 3: Supporting Local Business During a Tough Time
It is vital to support local businesses now more than ever during this pandemic if we want them to survive and be able to provide goods and services when things return to normal. You might think the only jobs that distilleries offer are service industry jobs like servers or bartenders, but there is so much more that goes into the grain to glass process (as we described above). Some of the more common job opportunities supported by the industry are:
Head and Assistant distillers
Warehouse and/or distillery technician
Vehicle operators and delivery drivers
Dishwashers
And more!
The Sonoma distillery culture is definitely not a scene you want to miss out on. When you visit a local Sonoma distillery, such as Young & Yonder, you can feel good knowing the drinks you order or the spirits you purchase are supporting your local economy – which is the cherry on top when you’re sharing a few drinks with friends. And there are so many ways to support your local Sonoma distilleries – we’ll discuss six ways below.
6 GREAT WAYS TO SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SONOMA DISTILLERIES
1. Buy Spirits Online and Buy Vodka Online From Platforms with Local Selections
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales have risen for nearly every app and platform that does alcohol delivery. Some of these platforms include Drizly, Flaviar, ReserveBar, Minibar, Thirstie, and Caskers. On Flaviar, they have an interactive map that allows consumers to find local brands in their region. They also have a section called The Top Shelf that features craft brands, while most other apps have some sort of local selection to choose from as well.
Here is a link to Young & Yonder’s Online Store.
2. Buy From the Producers Directly
Some states are proactive in taking measures to make alcohol distribution easier, such as local delivery and direct shipping to customers. California, New York, Kentucky, and Virginia have changed their direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipping regulations during the pandemic to make distribution easier for distilleries. According to Margie A.S. Lehrman, CEO of American Craft Spirits Association, “This is the type of lifeline needed to keep open the small craft spirits businesses.”
These relaxed regulations make it so that you can order spirits online and deliver them to your home. By ordering online, you can do your part in keeping yourself and distillery employees healthy by reducing exposure, all the while still being able to enjoy your favorite craft spirits and help keep your local distillery afloat through these challenging times.
From most local Sonoma distilleries, you can buy spirits online and have your order shipped or give them a call to see if they can do local deliveries or curbside pickups. Hint: Young & Yonder is offering curbside pickups right now!
Although it isn’t feasible at the moment, in-person tastings are a great way to experience a local distillery. It gives you the chance to socialize with others, learn something new, and discover a new favorite spirit. If you want to find out when we are offering in-person tastings again, visit our website and join our newsletter in the footer.
To find out if the distilleries in your area deliver locally or ship farther, can host virtual tastings, or have any special promotions, give them a call to ask, check their websites or check out this list from the Sonoma County website here.
3. Join a Distillery Club
A fantastic way to support your favorite Sonoma distillery is to sign up for a club membership. With a club membership, you can enjoy many perks above and beyond what a typical customer receives. With the pandemic, in-store shopping is much more difficult or not feasible. Still, with a club membership, home delivery is often included and an enticing way to keep getting the spirits you love while supporting your favorite local, family-owned Sonoma distillery.
Designed for a loyal patron, you will have access to perks such as first access to limited production bottles and exclusive discounts. Many distilleries put together fun cocktail kits, mystery boxes, or seasonal spirits and recipes to match the festiveness of the season for club members. Young & Yonder even offer free tastings and holds an annual club party for all its members!
4. Get Involved With Your State Representatives
Make your voice heard! You can use your right as a citizen to voice your opinion to your state representatives to urge congress to approve economic relief from COVID-19 for small businesses and craft beverage alcohol producers. Many of these businesses have had to close their doors, cancel events, and postpone production to help flatten the curve from COVID-19.
If you’re particularly passionate about spirits, you can visit and sign up with Spirits United to learn about and participate in the current broad initiatives they are taking to support the industry.
5. Show Your Support On Social Media
An excellent way for you to show your support and help out your favorite local Sonoma distilleries is to show them some love on social media by following them or posting images to your feed or story. Once you have followed your favorite local distilleries, you will see all the great promotions they have to offer. It could be offerings such as free delivery if you buy vodka online or discounts on spirits for following their social media.
SLIDE INTO OUR DMS
You can go even further to get involved by sliding right into your favorite distilleries DMs (DMs are short for direct messages for those of you not up to date). Reaching out to distilleries in their DMs can be a great way to voice any questions or concerns you have for the Sonoma distillery or just let them know what you do or don’t like about them or their products. Most craft brands love getting feedback on their products to understand how they can better serve their loyal customers.
If you’re a fan of our spirits, show your support on our Instagram by snapping a picture of yourself enjoying a cocktail made with one of our spirits! Or show your friends how sophisticated you are by mixing up a mouthwatering Lime Vodka Moscow Mule in a copper mug next to the bottle of Lime Vodka – pinkies up! Sharing photos like these immensely helps distilleries get their name out to reach new eyes (and new mouths!)
Psst...you can buy our Lime Vodka Mule Cocktail Kit Here!
6. Buy Hand Sanitizer From Local Distilleries
Distilleries worldwide have taken it upon themselves to repurpose their manufacturing equipment to produce hand sanitizer to aid the battle against COVID-19. It is a perfect transition to make with sanitizer being in such high demand right now. The American Distilling Institute (ADI) estimates that nearly 50 percent to 75 percent of distilleries in the United States have joined the efforts to create hand sanitizer. The ADI, partnered with several others, has compiled a comprehensive map of the distilleries producing hand sanitizer. On the map, you will find that the blue martini glass icons are all the distilleries, with green martini glass icons representing the distilleries producing hand sanitizer. You can zoom in to your local area to see which distilleries near you are making hand sanitizer, most of them with the contact information provided. Some of these distilleries are packaging their sanitizer for sale to their local consumers, while others are throwing it in for free to their customers to purchase their other products. Some are purely donating their sanitizer to the cause.
Also, you may consider choosing to spend your money with the brands that support a good cause. Many companies out there are making donations to provide relief for the service industry or local food banks and other such organizations that help the community. One example of that is Simple Vodka, which has been working to fight hunger since its inception. They ally with partners like Feeding America and will donate 20 meals per each bottle sold. Stunningly enough, during this crisis, they have doubled their efforts to contribute. Garrison Brothers Distillery has done its part by making special limited-edition bottles of their eight-year-old Lagunda Madre bourbon exclusively available to large donors supporting its Operation Crush COVID-19. Another company, called Novo Fogo Cachaca, has chosen to donate 100 percent of all their revenue made in April from selling their Sparking Caipirinha canned cocktails to industry relief efforts.
BUY SPIRITS ONLINE - LET’S SUPPORT EACH OTHER
We all need to stick together right now and support each other through these challenging times.
Young & Yonder is here to help keep you in good spirits. We genuinely love and appreciate all of you for supporting us in keeping your favorite spirits flowing to you with our award-winning grain to glass distilling!
JANUARY 26, 2021