Craft distillery worker adjusting valves on a large copper pot still in a production facility.

Distillery Planning Guide for First-Time Owners

by

What to Expect From This Guide to Starting a Distillery

This guide walks you through the key decisions and practical steps of starting a distillery. The highlights below show selected areas, not everything covered.

Inside the guide, you will find:

  • Startup steps: An ordered path from choosing a production model through approvals, equipment, funding, and pre-opening checks.
  • Industry interviews: Read how distillery owners and industry figures describe starting out, daily production work, and dealing with approvals.
  • Common questions: Get answers on home production, part-time operation, experience, timelines, shared space, and bond requirements.
  • Daily reality: See what a typical day involves, including the parts owners often enjoy and the parts they find hard.
  • Local requirements: Learn how federal, state, and local approvals fit together and which offices to check before you commit to a site.
  • Financial planning: Work through cost categories, pricing, funding, operating capital, and break-even logic without relying on another distillery’s numbers.
  • Risks and warnings: Review red flags to weigh before you start and again before opening day.

Start with the overview below to see how a distillery’s production flow shapes your floor plan, staffing, and cash use.

Startup Phase Overview

A distillery is a regulated food and beverage production business.

As the owner, you turn grain, sugar-based ingredients, fruit, botanicals, or purchased spirits into finished alcohol for sale.

Your first job is not decorating a tasting room.

Your main job is building a compliant production site that can receive ingredients, make or process spirits, package them, store them, and release them lawfully.

You can open with vodka, gin, rum, whiskey, brandy, or liqueurs.

Some owners mash, ferment, and distill from scratch. Others start by redistilling or blending purchased neutral spirits.

Your production approach changes your equipment list, waste stream, timeline, and startup costs.

Your customers may include distributors, retailers, bars, restaurants, and direct visitors if your state allows on-site sales.

Buyers look for taste, consistency, cleanliness, packaging, and value.

If you add a tasting room later, the customer experience matters even more. Production still drives your risk.

The workflow is more concrete than many people expect. Raw materials arrive, and you receive and store them.

You produce or process spirits, then proof, filter, blend, bottle, label, case-pack, and store them.

Orders then move through the legal sales channel that applies in your state.

The production workflow affects your floor plan, staff needs, recordkeeping, and cash use from day one.

Owners are drawn to a distillery for the control it gives them over the product, the brand, and the release schedule.

The hard realities are real too. Licensing takes time, and facility work can get expensive fast.

Aged products can tie up cash for a long stretch before you sell the first bottle.

If you want broader startup thinking before you commit, read Points to Consider Before Starting Your Business.

Is a Distillery a Good Fit for You?

A distillery fits you best if you have patience for paperwork, tolerance for delays, and the discipline to keep details straight as costs stack up.

Owning a distillery asks a lot because you deal with manufacturing, alcohol rules, safety, storage, utilities, suppliers, and records all at once.

A distillery can look creative from the outside, but the day-to-day startup work is often technical and repetitive.

You may spend more time reviewing plans, checking labels, and talking with agencies than discussing flavor ideas.

Comparing equipment quotes and fixing layout problems can fill the rest of your time.

Do you enjoy process work? Can you handle pressure when an approval slows your opening?

Are you willing to spend capital on items customers never see, such as ventilation, drains, fire review, and utility upgrades?

Passion matters, but it must be grounded. A strong interest in spirits, hospitality, or craft production helps.

Still, passion will not replace cash planning or compliance tasks.

To think through your motivation, read How Passion Affects Your Business.

Ask yourself this once and answer it honestly: “Are you moving toward something or running away from something?”

Starting a distillery only to escape a job, chase status, or solve financial pressure can backfire.

That motive can push you into a bad lease, a rushed buildout, or a product line you are unprepared to support.

A quick reality check helps. The upside is creative control and brand ownership.

The downside is a long list of approvals and expensive equipment. One bad facility decision can also force costly rework before you open.

This reality changes the kind of person who tends to succeed in a distillery.

Before you go too far, talk with real distillery owners. Speak only with owners you will not compete against.

Those owners should work in another city, region, or market area, so they can answer more openly.

A strong place to start is Inside Advice From Real Business Owners.

Ask practical fit questions like these:

  • What part of opening your distillery took longer than you expected?
  • What facility problem cost you more than planned?
  • What would you do differently with your first product line?
  • How much time did you spend on compliance versus production in the first months?
  • What kind of person should not open a distillery?

Red Flags Before You Start

Several industry conditions can stop, delay, or reshape your plan, so weigh them before you commit capital.

Each condition below is a fact about the industry, not a verdict on you. Treat each as context for realistic planning.

Distribution can gate your sales. In the three-tier system, spirits move from producer to distributor to retailer, and each step adds its own margin.

In many markets, your spirits reach store shelves only if a distributor agrees to carry them.

Distributors already carry large portfolios, so winning their attention can be hard for a small brand.

If your plan relies only on wholesale, test your pricing and cash timing against distributor and retailer margins first.

Approvals can stall your opening. Licenses and label reviews can hold finished product while rent, equipment payments, and insurance continue.

If you cannot fund the wait for approvals, delay your opening or simplify your first product line.

Late changes mean more filings. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) requires a new diagram when you change your bonded premises.

Moving to another state means filing a new original application, so settle your site and layout before you apply.

A Day in the Life of Running a Distillery

Running a distillery day to day means production runs, constant cleaning, record keeping, and fixing problems as they come up.

Your day depends on whether you distill from scratch, how big your team is, and whether you host visitors.

On a production day, your schedule follows the batch. Distillers describe heating mash water, running stills, and moving finished spirit into storage or packaging.

Cleaning runs through the whole day. Owners and distillers describe cleaning between production steps and again at day’s end.

Between production steps, you may handle ordering, inventory counts, emails, and deliveries of grain or barrels.

Many distillers also check quality each day, through lab checks or by sampling spirits.

Paperwork repeats on a schedule. TTB operations reports begin once your permit is approved, even before you have any activity.

If your state allows on-site sales, tours and tastings can also fill part of your day.

No two days match. Distillers often describe days that vary, with problems and tasks that arrive without warning.

What owners often enjoy:

  • The craft itself, including recipe development
  • Sharing your spirits with visitors who are curious about how they are made
  • Building a business that carries your name, where successes and failures are yours to own

What owners often find hard:

  • Constant cleaning, between production steps and across the floor at day’s end
  • Long hours and personal sacrifice, especially during the startup stretch
  • Problems that surface daily and need quick fixes
  • Recurring federal tax and reporting paperwork

Does a day split between production, cleaning, paperwork, and troubleshooting sound like a day you would want to repeat?

Step 1: Decide What Kind of Distillery You Are Opening

Your first big decision is the production model. Will you mash, ferment, and distill on site?

Or will you start by blending, rectifying, or bottling purchased spirits?

Will you open with unaged products, or tie up cash in barrels from the start?

Each path leads to a different startup shape. A grain-to-glass setup usually needs more equipment, utilities, cleaning, and waste handling.

A rectifying or blending model can reduce complexity at opening. It still requires a licensed facility, a compliant process, and product approvals.

Your production model changes your layout, staffing, supplier list, approvals, and how soon you can sell.

Many owners cut risk by opening with products that reach the market faster, then adding more complex releases later.

Step 2: Define Your Product Line and Route to Market

You should not open with a scattered product list.

Pick a small opening line that you can produce consistently, package reliably, and support with dependable inputs.

Vodka and gin often reach the market faster than barrel-aged whiskey or rum, because aging adds storage time and cash delay.

You also need to decide how your product will reach customers. In some states, you can sell on site under the correct license.

In other states, the main path runs through wholesale channels.

Some states add control-state rules, listing rules, or price posting that affect how you open.

Your sales route affects more than sales. It shapes your pricing model, cash timing, and packaging needs.

Your sales route also determines how much effort in your first months goes to trade relationships versus visitor experience.

Step 3: Validate Demand Before You Build Around Assumptions

Validating demand means asking whether your target customer will choose your bottle, at your price, through your sales channel.

You are not just asking whether people like spirits. A distillery plan can fail before opening if you never test local demand.

Look at these local factors:

  • The local shelf mix
  • The bar scene
  • Direct-to-consumer opportunities, where legal
  • Tourist traffic
  • How crowded the craft spirits space is in your area

Talk with retail store owners, bar managers, and potential distribution contacts. Pay attention to where your category is already saturated.

Market validation also means checking whether your first products fit your facility reality.

An idea that sounds strong on paper may not fit your available space, supplier access, or time to market.

That mismatch changes both your risk and your cash needs.

Step 4: Choose Your Name, Domain, and Brand Basics Before You Design

Clear your name before design work starts, because the brand touches almost every printed and packaged item.

Your name will appear on:

  • Labels
  • Cartons
  • Bottle art
  • Signs
  • Social profiles
  • Wholesale materials

Search your state business records and review federal trademark records.

Then secure the domain and the main social handles before you spend on printed materials.

If your trade name differs from your legal entity name, your state or local area may require a filing for it.

Your bank, suppliers, and permit paperwork also need consistent naming, so do not treat it as a small detail.

Clearing your name changes how cleanly the rest of your opening moves.

A name problem late in the process can force label edits, packaging delays, and extra legal cost.

Step 5: Form the Business and Get the Core Tax IDs

You need a legal structure before most serious setup can move forward.

Many owners choose a limited liability company or corporation. The best structure depends on ownership, tax planning, and funding.

Distilling involves fire, equipment, and alcohol risk. Ask an attorney and a tax professional how each structure affects your personal assets.

Settle your structure before you sign a lease or equipment agreement.

Once the entity is in place, get your employer identification number.

Your employer identification number usually shows up everywhere. You may need it for banking, tax registration, payroll setup, vendor accounts, and alcohol applications.

If you expect employees before you open, you will also need state employer registrations for items like withholding and unemployment.

In a regulated production business, this is not a paperwork box to rush. Your entity affects ownership records, signatures, banking, tax accounts, and permit filings.

Step 6: Find a Facility That Fits Distillery Production

You need a site that fits alcohol manufacturing, not just square footage. Check utilities, drainage, storage, packaging flow, and fire safety review.

If you plan to add direct sales, tastings, or tours, confirm the property supports them where local rules allow.

Do not assume a cheap space is a good deal.

A low-rent site can become expensive if it needs:

  • Major electrical work
  • Extra ventilation
  • Floor-drain changes
  • Wastewater handling
  • Occupancy changes

A production layout with bad flow can slow receiving, storage, processing, bottling, and case handling before you open.

The building is one of the biggest startup decisions you will make. It changes permitting, buildout cost, safety planning, and how easily you can grow.

Step 7: Confirm Zoning, Building Use, and Local Suitability Before You Commit

Before you lock in a lease or purchase, confirm the property allows beverage alcohol manufacturing.

Check each of these later uses separately, because none is automatic:

  • A tasting room
  • A retail area
  • Tours
  • Events
  • Food service

You may also need building permits, fire review, sign approval, sewer review, or a certificate of occupancy before opening.

Local rules vary. Ask these offices what applies to your exact address and use:

  • The city or county planning office
  • The building department
  • The fire marshal
  • The sewer authority

Starting operations before these approvals are in place can delay your opening or force expensive changes.

This one check can protect both your schedule and your buildout budget.

Step 8: Build the Distillery Layout Around Real Production Flow

Build your layout so the physical setup follows your actual production sequence.

Think in this order:

  1. Receiving
  2. Ingredient storage
  3. Production
  4. Proofing or blending
  5. Bottling
  6. Labeling
  7. Case packing
  8. Finished goods storage
  9. Order staging

If your zones fight each other, your first days get messy fast.

Food and beverage production needs clean storage, clear separation of materials, and sensible traffic paths.

You also need a way to handle cleanup without disrupting the next task.

Even if you start small, plan the layout for safe movement of ingredients, glass, cases, chemicals, and finished product.

Layout changes more than convenience. It affects labor, breakage risk, sanitation, production pace, and whether opening week feels controlled or chaotic.

Step 9: Apply for Federal Distillery Approval

You need federal approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) before you begin covered operations at a beverage distillery.

Your application package can involve entity records, signing authority, site control documents, and a premises diagram.

The diagram must clearly show the bonded and general areas of the plant.

TTB generally expects construction to be finished and equipment to be in place or on order before you submit your application.

Finish your equipment plan in Step 12 before you submit.

You also need to know whether your setup triggers a bond requirement. Some do, and some do not.

Document preparation matters on the federal side. Errors can slow your opening even if the rest of the business is ready.

Federal approval is a core gate to opening. It changes your opening date more directly than almost any branding or marketing task.

Step 10: Secure State Alcohol Licensing and Related Local Approvals

Federal approval does not replace state licensing, so you also need your state’s alcohol manufacturing license.

Your state may also control tastings, on-site sales, self-distribution, direct shipment, and other sales rights.

In some states, control-state procedures add another layer to how spirits move to market.

At the local level, you may still need a general business license, building sign-off, fire review, or sewer approval.

Tie these approvals to your exact setup. Do not copy what another distillery did in another place.

Licensing changes what you are legally allowed to do once the doors open.

The same still and the same bottle can lead to very different opening models, depending on the state and city.

Step 11: Handle Food Facility, Formula, and Label Requirements

Some facilities must register with the Food and Drug Administration unless an exemption applies.

Distilling belongs to the food and beverage world, so food-safety rules can still matter.

Registration depends on the activity and the setup, so review the rules for your facility type before production begins.

You also need to review whether each product requires formula approval, lab review, or label approval before release.

Product approvals matter most for flavored products, colored products, liqueurs, and other formulas beyond a simple standard spirit.

Do not assume every bottle follows the same path.

Product approvals change your release schedule.

A product that looks simple from a branding angle can take longer to clear if its approval path is more involved.

Step 12: Plan Distillery Equipment With Opening Priorities in Mind

Your equipment list depends on your production method.

A grain-based setup may need mash equipment, fermenters, pumps, and more wash handling.

A rectifying or blending model may need fewer process steps. It still needs tanks, proofing tools, filtration if used, and packaging equipment.

Most openings need some version of these categories:

  • Receiving and storage tools
  • Utility support
  • Production equipment
  • Tanks
  • Proofing tools
  • Filtration or finishing tools, if used
  • Bottling and labeling equipment
  • Cased goods storage
  • Sanitation tools
  • Safety gear

If you plan to age product, barrels and barrel storage become part of your opening plan too.

Do not buy equipment in isolation. Review how each item fits your floor plan, utility load, and the next task in the sequence.

Equipment choices change labor needs, bottlenecks, and how quickly you move from test batch to saleable product.

Step 13: Set Up Suppliers Before Small Problems Become Big Delays

Production depends on stable inputs, so line up your suppliers before small problems become big delays.

Typical inputs include:

  • Grain
  • Neutral spirits
  • Yeast
  • Botanicals
  • Barrels
  • Bottles
  • Closures
  • Labels
  • Cartons
  • Pallets
  • Sanitation chemicals
  • Lab supplies

Each supplier relationship comes with real-world details such as minimums, lead times, freight terms, artwork approval, and payment terms.

In food and beverage production, supplier consistency matters. A label delay can hold finished goods.

A bottle change can affect fill setup and case packing. An ingredient shortage can force you to change the batch plan.

Supplier choices change your opening reliability. They also affect storage space, reorder timing, and how much cash gets tied up in packaging and raw materials.

Step 14: Build Your Cost Plan Around the Decisions That Drive Risk

Your distillery budget is shaped by a handful of major choices.

The building, production model, product line, and amount of automation all matter.

So does the choice between unaged products and barrels that sit for a long time.

Your startup cost categories will usually include:

  • The facility and buildout
  • Engineering
  • Permits
  • Utility work
  • Production equipment
  • Packaging equipment
  • Storage
  • Safety systems
  • Raw materials
  • Packaging inventory
  • Professional fees
  • Insurance
  • Working capital

If you add direct sales, you may also need point-of-sale tools, customer areas, and more front-of-house setup.

Be cautious with vague estimates. Distillery costs can change sharply from one setup to another.

Tie your budget to your actual model, not to a random range from another business.

Step 15: Set Pricing With Taxes, Channels, and Packaging in Mind

Distillery pricing is more than cost plus a markup.

Your pricing needs to account for:

  • Federal excise tax
  • State taxes, where they apply
  • Bottle and closure costs
  • Labels and cartons
  • Freight
  • Yield and proof adjustments
  • The margins your sales channel requires

In wholesale, retailer and distributor margins shape the final shelf price even if you never meet the customer.

Control-state systems, price posting, and listing rules can also affect what works in your market.

If you sell directly where allowed, your numbers will differ from a wholesale-first opening.

Pricing changes your positioning and cash flow. A bottle that looks great in your margin sheet may be too expensive for the shelf it needs.

Step 16: Line Up Funding and Set Up Banking Before You Spend

Most owners need more cash at opening than they expect, because spending starts before finished goods bring revenue back.

Owner equity is common at the start.

Some projects also use Small Business Administration loan programs for equipment, working capital, or real estate. Fit and lender approval decide whether you qualify.

Ask each lender or investor which documents they require before you apply.

The Business Plan section below helps you pull your costs, pricing, funding, and break-even inputs into one place.

Plan operating capital separately from startup costs. It covers rent, utilities, payroll, insurance, and inventory until your sales cover your costs.

The American Craft Spirits Association’s startup guide warns that running out of money can force a distillery to close.

Open the business bank account as soon as your entity and tax ID are ready.

Set up online access, bill pay, and the payment methods you will use with vendors and customers.

If you focus on wholesale, you may rely on invoices, Automated Clearing House payments, wires, and checks.

Card sales may play a smaller role at the start.

Banking changes how cleanly you handle vendors, taxes, payroll, and tracking from your first purchase.

Step 17: Put Insurance and Risk Controls in Place Before Production Starts

Some insurance may be legally required, depending on your state, payroll, and vehicles.

Workers’ compensation is a common example when you have employees.

Other coverage is not always legally required but is still widely used because the risk is real.

Distillery owners often review these coverage types:

  • General liability
  • Commercial property
  • Equipment breakdown
  • Product liability
  • Liquor-related coverage, where appropriate
  • Business interruption
  • Cyber
  • Umbrella
  • Commercial auto, if needed

Your broker should understand alcohol production and facility risk, not just general retail coverage.

Risk planning also includes:

  • Fire protection
  • Ventilation
  • Spill control
  • Eyewash
  • Chemical storage
  • Sanitation procedures
  • Safe traffic flow around glass, cases, pumps, and hot equipment

Risk controls change both safety and insurability.

Step 18: Hire and Train Only When the Workflow Supports It

Add payroll only when you know exactly where help is needed.

Some owners open lean and handle most daily tasks themselves.

Others need help with:

  • Production
  • Packaging
  • Warehousing
  • Compliance support
  • Sales
  • Visitor service, if direct sales are part of the plan

Training has to be practical.

Your team needs to understand:

  • Sanitation
  • Packaging accuracy
  • Storage rules
  • Safe movement
  • Records
  • What to do if a batch or label issue shows up

If you have a tasting room, customer service training also becomes part of your opening.

Hiring decisions change your labor cost, speed, and how many daily tasks still fall to you.

Step 19: Build the Distillery’s Digital Footprint Before Opening Day

Your digital setup should match your opening model.

At minimum, most distillery owners need:

  • A clear website
  • Contact details
  • A brand story
  • Product pages
  • Approved imagery
  • Basic trade information, if wholesale outreach is part of the plan

If you will have direct visitor traffic, include location details, hours when allowed, and visitor expectations once confirmed.

Core brand assets often include:

  • A wordmark
  • A bottle label system
  • A carton look
  • Product photos
  • Simple sell sheets for trade contacts

Keep everything consistent with the name and product approvals already in motion.

Your public materials change how ready you look when buyers, partners, or customers check you out.

In a regulated business, sloppy public materials can create confusion you do not need.

Step 20: Plan the Marketing Around Your Actual Opening Channel

Focus your opening marketing on the sales channel you can actually use.

If trade accounts drive your opening, focus on account lists, wholesale materials, and relationship building. Include product samples where lawful.

If your state allows direct sales at the distillery, local visibility, visitor awareness, and opening events can matter more.

Keep your message grounded in what is real, not in what you hope to add later.

Promote only products you can supply, experiences you can deliver, and channels your license allows.

Your opening channel changes where your time and capital go. The wrong message can send attention to a sales path you cannot support yet.

Step 21: Know What Your Pre-Opening Days Will Involve

Before you open, your days will mix planning, paperwork, and problem-solving.

Your pre-opening days may include:

  • Checking contractor progress
  • Reviewing agency questions
  • Confirming equipment delivery
  • Talking with suppliers
  • Updating records
  • Comparing quotes
  • Reviewing label proofs
  • Checking the budget against the next payment due

You will often switch between planning and problem-solving all day.

One hour may go to floor drains or ventilation.

The next may go to bottle lead times, a licensing question, or a packaging error that changes your schedule.

If a day like that sounds draining rather than interesting, pay attention to your reaction.

Owning a distillery changes your daily life long before it changes your income.

Step 22: Picture a Real Pre-Opening Day in a Distillery

You start the morning at the facility. A contractor is waiting on a decision about a drain or utility line.

After that, you check whether your still installer has what they need.

Before lunch, you answer a question tied to an application or a product approval.

In the afternoon, you review label proofs and confirm a bottle shipment. Then you check your cash position before another invoice arrives.

A pre-opening day like this is common in a distillery startup. It mixes production planning, paperwork, purchasing, and damage control.

If that mix feels realistic to you, your expectations are probably on target.

Step 23: Watch for Red Flags Before You Spend More

Several warning signs are easy to miss when excitement is high.

Watch for these warning signs:

  • Signing a lease before zoning and facility use are clear
  • Opening with too many products
  • Assuming your favorite spirit category is enough reason to build the whole business around it
  • A cost plan that depends on perfect timing, fast approvals, or direct sales your state may not allow
  • A product line that depends on aging without enough working capital to support the wait
  • A facility that only works by forcing people, pallets, and glass through the same tight path

These warning signs are not small.

In a distillery, they can change pre-opening preparation, insurance cost, safety, and your chance of making it through year one.

Step 24: Use a Pre-Opening Checklist Before You Open

Open when the core pieces are ready and verified, not because you are tired of waiting.

A short, honest checklist can keep you from rushing the last stretch.

Before opening, confirm these items:

  • The business entity, tax ID, and naming records are in place.
  • The facility use works for alcohol production, and local approvals tied to the space are complete.
  • The federal distillery approval is issued.
  • The state alcohol license is approved for your exact opening model.
  • Any local business, fire, sewer, sign, or occupancy approvals that apply are done.
  • Food facility registration has been handled if your setup requires it.
  • Product formulas, evaluations, and labels are cleared where required.
  • Production equipment is installed, tested, and safe to use.
  • Packaging materials and raw inputs are on hand or scheduled with reliable lead times.
  • Banking, accounting, and payment flows are ready.
  • Insurance is active.
  • Records for production, storage, tax, and reporting are ready before the first run.
  • Your website, opening materials, and first sales plan match what you are legally allowed to do.
  • You have completed a controlled test run and fixed the obvious weak points.

This final pass matters, because it turns opening day from a guess into a controlled start.

Business Plan

Start drafting your business plan as you complete the previous steps. Finish it once your costs, pricing, funding, and break-even inputs are in place.

Use your business plan to organize what you decided in each step and see how the pieces fit.

Your plan should pull together:

  • Your production model, product line, and route to market (Steps 1–3)
  • Your facility, layout, and local approvals (Steps 6–8)
  • Federal and state licensing, formula, and label approvals (Steps 9–11)
  • Your equipment list, suppliers, and cost categories (Steps 12–14)
  • Your pricing, funding, and operating capital (Steps 15–16)
  • Your insurance, risk controls, and staffing (Steps 17–18)

Break-even is the point where your sales cover your costs. Work it out before you commit major capital.

Four factors shape your break-even logic:

  • Sales channel mix: wholesale passes through a distributor and a retailer that each add a margin, while direct sales, where your state allows them, skip those middle margins but bring their own costs and rules.
  • Taxes: federal excise tax applies when finished spirits leave your bonded premises, so build it into every per-bottle number.
  • Fixed costs: rent, utilities, insurance, equipment payments, and payroll continue in slow months.
  • Cash timing: aged products tie up cash until they are ready to sell, so show how you cover costs in the meantime.

Calculate break-even sales with your own local quotes, prices, and expected sales mix. Do not borrow numbers from another distillery.

Opening-Day Red Flags

Pause your opening if any red flag below remains unresolved, because each can stop sales or create compliance problems.

Hold your opening if any of these remain true:

  • You have not received federal approval. TTB says operations must not begin until it approves your application.
  • Your labels are not approved. TTB says to obtain label approval before bottling.
  • Taxpaid products on your bonded premises are not clearly marked and segregated, as TTB requires.
  • Your recordkeeping is not set up. TTB operations reports begin once your permit is approved, even without activity.
  • Your test run exposed problems you have not fixed.

TTB officials may enter your premises, and you must keep approval documents available for examination.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Can I start a distillery from my home or garage?

Answer: No. Federal law prohibits producing distilled spirits at home.

The TTB also says a distilled spirits plant cannot sit in a residence.

It cannot sit in a shed, yard, or enclosure connected to one either.

Plan your site search around this limit from the start.

Question: Can I run a distillery part-time while keeping my job?

Answer: Yes, but expect it to demand more time than you planned.

The American Craft Spirits Association says part-time is possible, but it calls distilling a full-time job even at small scale.

One co-founder profiled by Breaking Bourbon built his distillery on nights and weekends while running another full-time business.

Question: Do I need distilling experience to start a distillery?

Answer: No, but a lack of experience can slow you down.

The American Craft Spirits Association says experience is not required, but it takes a long time to understand the industry.

The association suggests attending its start-up courses and working or volunteering at a distillery.

Question: How long does it take to open a distillery?

Answer: Trade sources describe a range from about six months to two years.

The American Craft Spirits Association gives that range, and a profile of the American Distilling Institute’s founder describes about two years.

Check TTB’s posted processing times when you plan your schedule.

Question: Can I share space or equipment with an existing distillery instead of buying my own still?

Answer: Possibly, through an arrangement TTB calls an alternating proprietorship.

In it, two operators with different employer identification numbers share space or equipment at the same premises.

The host and the tenant submit an alternating proprietorship agreement and a variance request to TTB.

Confirm the full steps with TTB’s National Revenue Center before you plan around this option.

Question: How do I know if my beverage distillery needs a bond?

Answer: TTB requires a bond for a beverage distillery in some situations, not all.

You must provide a bond if your federal tax liability under one employer identification number passes a set threshold.

You must also provide one if you will not pay excise taxes on a deferral basis, meaning semi-monthly, quarterly, or annual returns.

Confirm the exact threshold with TTB, since it can change.

Interviews With Distillery Owners and Industry Leaders

Read first-hand accounts from people who started, run, or support distilleries.

Ari Klafter, Co-Owner of Thornton Distilling Company

Ari Klafter is head distiller and co-owner of Thornton Distilling Company. This interview covers production, distributor relationships, on-site sales, tours, and trade shows.

This interview shows how much an owner’s day can depend on sales, visitors, and distribution, not only production.

Read the Interview

Anthony Marinese, Head Distiller at Jettywave Distillery

Anthony Marinese is head distiller at Jettywave Distillery. He describes a typical production day, his first-distillation challenges, and the skills distilling demands.

This interview shows how hands-on the daily routine is and what a distiller does between production steps.

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Brenden Backus, Co-Founder of Lock 1 Distilling Company

Brenden Backus is co-founder and master distiller of Lock 1 Distilling Company. This profile follows his startup, including equipment, the federal application, and label approval.

This profile shows how time, money, and approvals compete for your attention during a startup.

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Bill Owens, Founder of the American Distilling Institute

Bill Owens founded the American Distilling Institute. This profile covers the setup time, paperwork, and long days that come with starting a distillery.

This profile gives you a candid look at the personal commitment a startup can demand.

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