Things have gotten pretty busy around here. Busy enough that this blog update is long overdue. Apologies for that. Anyway, the news!

To begin with, The Brothers Vilgalys Spirits Company now has a location! Our first start-up home will be at 803 D Ramseur St in Durham. We’ve also narrowed our focus to just making Krupnikas and put it in bottles. This meant having to shelve some of our goals such as running off biomass fuels and distilling our own spirits. However this way we can make this happen without having to raise, and risk, hundreds of thousands of dollars. To make this happen we have two wonderful lenders who we’ve met through Slow Money NC, a credit card through our local BB&T branch, and an equipment lease through Brewery Finance. Not to mention that our Founder’s Club has grown to 69 70 members, which is just amazing to me.

The other item is that as of today, our Distilled Spirits Plant application has been filed with the TTB. This isn’t the only permit we’ll need, but it’s a major step, and the most in-depth out of all the red tape that we’ve been working through. It takes an average of 60 days to process, during which time we can get to work on the other stuff. In the next two months we’ll be handling our state and local permits, putting our remaining equipment in and making sure it works, and contacting suppliers and media folks getting ready for the big day.

And then the really fun part can begin. I am so, so ready to be finally making some Krupnikas. I’m not even going to hazard a guess as to when we’ll actually be in production, but it definitely feels like it’s within sight now.

As always, you can follow our (much more up to date) progress on The Brothers Vilgalys Facebook Page.