ACSA Affairs
Download Audio Recordings from Our 2021 Convention Audio recordings from our 8th Annual Distillers’ Convention and Vendor Trade Show are now available on our website. Convention attendees are granted lifetime access to recordings for the convention(s) they attended. If you attended our convention, you may access the content by logging in with the same email address you used to register for the convention. Courses can also be purchased individually if you did not attend. If you have issues accessing the recordings, send a note to education@americancraftspirits.org.
purchased only the Saturday Day Pass, you can purchase an additional ticket to attend the awards dinner. Dinner tickets will be distributed at registration check-in and collected upon entry at the event. Download or Update Our Convention App Download our app by scanning the QR code. If you’ve already downloaded the app, click the icon in the upper lefthand corner and click yes to switch evenst. From the homepage, click ACSA Annual Convention 2022. *These are separate, ticketed events with limited space.
REGISTER NOW FOR THE 2022 VIRTUAL PUBLIC POLICY CONFERENCE Registration for the 2022 ACSA/DISCUS Public Policy Conference is now open! This virtual conference is an opportunity to make your voice heard on the issues most impacting your distillery! We’re looking forward to joining the best and the brightest from the distilled spirits sector to meet virtually with lawmakers and advocate on the issues impacting distilleries across the country. On Tuesday, September 20, join us for a legislative issues overview and state delegation meetings to prepare for Congressional meetings.
On Wednesday, September 21, we will meet virtually with officials from Capitol Hill and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau before setting off for virtual Congressional meetings. We will close the conference with a virtual closing toast—offering the chance to connect with one another and raise a glass with industry luminaries. We hope you’ll join us virtually on September 20-21, 2022. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.
MEET ACSA’S NEW BOARD MEMBERS In April, ACSA announced the results of its latest elections for our Board of Directors. We recently checked in with the newest members:
Lucy Farber of St. George Spirits in Alameda, California; Mark A. Vierthaler of Whiskey Del Bac in Tucson, Arizona; and Kelly Woodcock
of Westward Whiskey in Portland, Oregon.
LUCY FARBER OF ST. GEORGE SPIRITS Lucy Farber is the operations manager for St. George Spirits in Alameda, California. Having watched the craft spirits industry explode over the past decade, she says that she felt the time had come for her to share the knowledge and perspective she has gained from almost two decades of experience. CRAFT SPIRITS: As a newly elected member, what are your top priorities for the coming year or two? Lucy Farber: I would like to see the group use the power of our growing membership
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to address issues which affect us all—both large ones such as DtC, and small practical ones such as the cost of shipping those packages. As well as the challenges with label and formula approvals, and outdated federal regulations which are mostly ignored, yet can suddenly be randomly enforced or called out during an audit. You’ve been at St. George since 2004 when it was a small operation. What lured you there, and what are some of your fondest memories from your early days there?
I was lured to St. George by founder Jörg Rupf’s wife, LaDene Otsuki, who was my friend, tennis partner and son’s piano teacher. Hangar One Vodka had just taken off, and Jörg found himself swamped with the administrative details of running a successful distillery. My older son was headed to college and, after filling out the financial aid forms, I realized something needed to be done! LaDene knew I was fascinated by the business aspect of St. George Spirits—we often chatted about it while we hit those tennis balls. My husband and I had run a small literary publishing com-
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