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7 2 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | S e p t - O c t 2 016 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m with the American Distilling Insti- tute. Kinstlick also is co-founder of Coppersea Distilling in New York. "The growth continues rapidly and is trending sharply up," he says. "There seems to be a robust num- ber of pre-entry producers waiting to enter the market." This market is one that's now secured just more than 2% of the American spirits market share, Kin- stlick estimates. Although this may not sound like much, the overall retail sales of distilled spirits in the U.S. market reached nearly $72 bil- lion in 2015 and supported 1.4 mil- lion jobs in the hospitality industry, the Distilled Spirits Council noted this spring. Comparatively, the council also reported that, in 2015, beer accounted for a 47.5% market share while spirits took 35.4% and wine was 17%. n p r e c e d e n t e d g r o w t h h a s many in the craft distilling industry wondering if their glass is half empty or half full. During the next five years, it's estimated that the nation's 989 licensed distilleries will more than double — and will hit 2,000 licensed distillery operations by 2018. What's crazier math is that this represents a 28,571% increase since the modern craft distillery movement launched in 1990. Here's another way to look at this rampant growth phenomenon: There were seven craft distilleries in 1990 compared to 288 distilleries in 2011 and 588 in 2014. That's a consistently steep upward spike. "It's really beautiful to see," says researcher Michael Kinstlick. He's an economic researcher who shares his annual distilling outlook BY KAREN BINDER + The craft distilling industry is experiencing unprecedented growth. + The renewal of American distilling is following a classic pattern of industry resurgences, most notably like craft beer. + Whiskey tops the list of what's most popular for distilling, then vodka, gin, other spirits and rum. + There's a lot of red tape to cut through regarding permitting, but also a lot of help. AT A GLANCE C R A F T B E V E R A G E S R E P O R T Active distillation within the first column potstill (named Hypathia, but often called Patty) used by Grand River Spirits in southern Illinois. The heat and copper interaction separates water from the alcohol vapor as it rises up through the column as a vapor. While alcohol continues upward, the water drips down back into the pot. Crazy Growth in Craft Distilling Crazy Growth in Craft Distilling N o t j u s t i n w h i s k e y , b u t f o r b r a n d y , t o o .