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w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m S e p t - O c t 2 016 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 7 3 The council's data indicates strong growth in 2015 in every whiskey category for the second straight year, with revenues rising 8%. Super premium whiskeys hit double-digit gains for bourbon, scotch, and Canadian and Irish whis- keys. Also hitting above-average sales growth were tequila at 9.4% and brandy and Cognac at 16.2%. While the council figures do account for big distilleries and imports, craft distilleries are at the table, too. "What's the upper limit? I don't think there's any ceiling in market share," Kinstlick says. COLORFUL HISTORY Like wine, distilling's heydays were before Prohibition laws locked out more than 80% of the country's alcohol producers from doing busi- ness. By the best estimates, there were 8,000 distilleries operating nationwide in the 1880s. This was a time when regional distillers sup- plied the market, including teeto- taler Abraham Lincoln, who helped make whiskey around 1830 during his pre-political days as a general store clerk in central Illinois. This try's spirits production relied on a handful of established distilleries and growing imports. The first craft distilleries didn't start popping up until the 1990s and momentum for growth started late in that decade. Bill Owens, one of California's craft beer innovators with his Buf- falo Bill's Brewery in 1983, took on craft distilling in 2003. He's also the founder of the American Distilling Institute, the country's first organi- zation for licensed craft distilleries. Founded in 2003, the American Distilling Institute is a national edu- c a t i o n a l t r a d e o r g a n i z a t i o n o f small-batch, independently owned distilleries. Its annual conferences rotate between Louisville, Ky., and other locations. "We're part of an unprecedent- ed economic boom in America," Owens says. "It's exciting when I hear about this entrepreneurial was a time when the country had a population of 50.2 million people, a figure roughly equal to today's pop- ulations of Texas and Florida. T h e Te m p e r a n c e m o v e m e n t prompted Prohibition and the Vol- stead Act in 1920. Alcohol distri- bution was outlawed, but private alcohol consumption was allowed. Even so, most distilleries, winer- ies and breweries were shuttered overnight. Only a handful stayed open to meet the sudden surge in medical prescriptions allowed for whiskey. Moonshining became more prolific. Although America stayed dry until 1933, renewal of alcohol dis- tribution occurred well after illicit liquor sales had already traveled familiar routes to customers and the Great Depression deterred any entrepreneurial upstarts. Over the next 50 years, the coun- Michael Kinstlick, an economic researcher who shares his annual distilling outlook with the American Distilling Institute and is co-founder of Coppersea Distilling in New York, notes the distillery industry's tremendous recent growth. C R A F T B E V E R A G E S R E P O R T WWW.VWMMEDIA.COM JULY - AUGUST 2016 NORTH AMERICA'S LEADING INDEPENDENT WINE TRADE PUBLICATION The Dawn of Agtech Winemaking Nutrients Annual Suppliers Guide Eco-Packaging Evolves B o t t l i n g L i n e s * H a z a r d o u s W a s t e * M a k i n g M e a d MAY - JUNE 2016 Available in print and digital www.vwmmedia.com/magazine/subscribe.asp S U B S C R I B E T O D AY !