WASHINGTON WASHINGTON DISTILLERS GUILD The Washington Distillers Guild is delighted to announce that Susan Welch has accepted the position of Executive Director, beginning immediately. Susan has been involved in the sales and marketing of malt to the brewing industry— both internationally and in the US—for
WYOMING WYOMING DISTILLERS GUILD The Wyoming Distillers Guild recently held its latest meeting on the 11th of October. We are pleased to see the industry expanding in our lightly populated state, with two new DSP members joining, bringing our Class A membership growing to soon include seven Wyoming DSPs. Welcome Chronicles Distilling (Cheyenne) and Pine Bluffs Distilling (Pine Bluffs)! We worked hard and had a very successful 2016-17 state legislative session, where we successfully lobbied arm-in-arm with the Wyoming Liquor Division and Wyoming State Liquor Association to revamp some antiquated laws that posed serious
28 years. She is currently the 1st Vice President of the Master Brewers Association of America (MBAA), and has chaired the Education Committee for several years. Susan has a Masters degree in International Business, and has been on boards or chaired committees on several large boards throughout her career. We’re delighted to have attracted such talent, and look forward to how the WDG can grow with Susan as ED. The WDG is also preparing to drop an omnibus bill during the short legislative
session starting January 2018. Details of the bill will be available when the full scope of it is approved by the board. Contact President@ WashingtonDistillersGuild.org for more info. And finally, the Washington Distillery Trail Phase 1 web site is almost complete and will launch soon. The site will be available at www.washingtondistillerytrail.com.
risks for our industry. Now our focus, like most distillers’ guilds across the country, is to continue to garner support for the Craft Beverage Modernization Act. The bipartisan majority support we are seeing across the nation is encouraging, but we know there is still plenty of work to be done. As a guild and individually, we will continue to reach out to our representatives, senators, wholesalers, suppliers, farmers, and quite frankly everyone that has anything to do with our business. Our fearless leader and guild president, Amber Pollock (Backwards Distilling) traveled to Washington D.C. this summer to continue the federal legislative efforts toward eventual FET reduction.
There are still a few state laws that are inhibiting our ability for growth, so we will continue to fight the good fight. Primarily we are looking toward having the ability use our liquor license to host public events offsite from our distillery, such as Farmers’ Markets, concerts, community fundraisers, etc. This would be a very significant benefit to all of us to allow us to market more directly to our end consumer, and help generate a buzz in our communities. Travis Goodman
Jason Parker Co-Founder/President Copperworks Distilling Co.
Secretary, Wyoming Distillers Guild Partner, Jackson Hole Still Works travis@jhstillworks.com
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