Societ y of Spirit A New Kind of Distilling Organization Written by Reade A. Huddleston, MSc.
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hen I first started working as a professional distiller, I was lost. Although I was a graduate of Heriot-Watt and had a master’s degree in Brewing and Distilling, I had very little actual hands-on experience in a distillery. As most other distillers will tell you, there is no real one size fits all manual on how to distill, and since most of my knowledge came from books, I had very little practical experience to fall back on. What is more, I knew very few other distillers, so I didn’t really have anywhere to turn to for help. This meant that a lot of the time when problems arose, I was on my own and had to learn on the fly. Nevertheless, I persevered, learned from my mistakes, and after a while, even made some friends that were willing to teach me some things that books just can’t. For many distillers, my story probably sounds familiar. On the whole, distillers have always been a pretty self-reliant bunch, in part because we had to be. Unlike other professions, such as accountants, architects, and even morticians, there is no centralized body or group that is designed to connect individual distillers and disseminate best practices. Even one of our most closely related professions, brewing, has an organization called the Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA), whose goal is to help individual brewers connect and learn new skills. True, there are organizations like DISCUS, the ACSA, and ADI, which have all worked in their own ways to bring knowledge and community to the industry. Still, their focus and scope have mostly been about the companies or politics involved in the distilled spirits industry and not the individuals that actually make the spirits. It is high time that our industry fixes this oversight, and it is for this reason that I have decided to help spearhead the creation of a new organization. The Society of Spirit. — Reade A. Huddleston
When I started in this industry 15+ years ago, there was only one organization, and it served an amazing purpose, putting us in one place once a year to network, learn, and become friends. Eventually, it became obvious that there was a need for a member-directed alternative, and so one was created by a group of amazing people. I did what I could to support it, serving on the board and many committees. That is a mature entity and community now and has done amazing things that I’m grateful for and proud to have been a part of. There are others that play a variety of roles as well, some more oriented toward craft and some toward bigger companies. I still see a need. While the organizations that serve the industry and the many bodies that offer education are providing excellent opportunities, there is little organized evaluation and feedback and no certifications for either education or members of the industry. I would suggest no way of gathering feedback about any of the available education for people entering the industry other than word of mouth. As a co-creator of an informal information-sharing group, I’m deeply aware of how important resource sharing is and how valuable peer review can be and I think it is a good time to formalize it. The Society of Spirit will fill this critical gap. We will tap membership to build formal rating and evaluation systems and work toward certification of operators and employees who seek recognition for their expertise. This will be created by volunteer members willing to contribute, and anything we create will be approved by the membership. We will build databases of introductory information for people entering the industry. We will provide forums for information sharing that exist to provide an archive of questions and answers and troubleshooting. We will create something together that fills a gap in the industry and make it a better place to work and build businesses. — Johnny Jeffery
I’ve always been willing to admit that I didn't know much about distilling before joining the industry. What saved me, and many others, was the informal gathering of industry peers that went out of their way to welcome new people in, mentor them, and point to a reliable education. Years later, it's still those small groups of individuals and friends that continue to provide the best knowledge, support, and resources to the industry as a whole. The only downside of these peer groups is that unless you meet the right person, you may not even know they exist. So, it's our goal to be the ones to invite you in and, as a community, identify the best education opportunities available to our industry. We aren't a trade group like ACSA, ADI, or DISCUS (you should join them, though, they are awesome) instead, we are a member-focused society of individuals. A platform where you can ask questions and feel supported by your peers. The Society of Spirit is for us all. Sometimes we play Dungeons and Dragons too. — Brian Christensen
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