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This is for all the “Gin Haters” out there.  I’m telling you, SweetShine fixes EVERYTHING!

You’ll need Raspberry Lemon SweetShine, gin, tonic, and ice.

Step 1: pour 1 part Raspberry Lemon SweetShine over ice.

Step 2: add 1 part gin.

Step 3: top with tonic.

Garnish with a fresh raspberry, if you’re feeling fancy.

Cheers, y’all!

So long, maraschino!  Make way for our bold new cocktail garnish.

BLACK WALNUT COCKTAIL CHERRIES

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

*1 bottle Black Walnut SweetShine

*1 lb fresh cherries

*pint jar with lid

*cherry pitter

Step 1:

Wash cherries and lay in a single layer on a towel to dry.

Step 2:

Remove stems and use cherry pitter to remove all pits.

Step 3:

Place pitted cherries in pint jar, packing it tight, and cover with Black Walnut SweetShine.

Step 4:

Cover and refrigerate at least 24 hours before serving.

Cherries will keep up to 2 months in the refrigerator.

Step 5:

Use these delicious cherries to garnish your favorite cocktail.  (And when it’s empty add the remaining liquor to a Rum & Coke.  You’ll thank me later).

Or make a batch for Dad this Fathers’ Day (June 21!).

Or better yet, give them as gifts for your wedding party this summer.  Best. Wedding. Ever.

March 31, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Governor Tomblin Signs SB 574 as Bloomery Re-Opens Doors with a Double Gold Medal Win in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Senate Bill 574 was signed into law today by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, giving much needed economic relief to the craft distilling industry in WV. The Bill amends Chapter 60 of the WV Code to reduce the mark up fee charged by the State of WV from 28% to 5% and the market zone tax that distilleries are required to pay to retail liquor stores from 10% to 2%.

On February 11, 2015 Bloomery Plantation Distillery, Charles Town, WV, closed its tasting room doors while fighting for legislation to change prohibition-era laws to alleviate the economic hardship on WV distilleries. The Bill passed the Senate on March 1 and the House on March 10. A Title Amendment was adopted, with final concurrence on the Bill was on the last day of the legislative session on March 14. Thank you to the Governor, legislators, friends and fans for coming together on the passage of this Bill!

Before their tasting room closed, Bloomery had submitted their SweetShine Black Walnut to the 2015 San Francisco World Spirit Competition, the most industry respected competition in the world. Bloomery found out this past week that they had won a Double Gold, the highest award for Best Nut Liqueur with their Black Walnut entry. Chandler Moore, Managing Director of the competition, told Bloomery, “Congratulations! The judges were over the moon about your product!” One of the judges, Fred Minick, Wall Street Journal Best Sellling Author, stated in his article, on March 27, 2015, Best Bourbon: The Shocking Winner at San Francisco World Spirits 2015, “I also tasted an incredible Black Walnut Liqueur (Brand: Bloomery) that I can’t wait to make a bourbon cocktail with. Of the more than 150 spirits my panel tasted, we gave out a handful of Double Golds and many Bronze medals. The competition tasted more than 1,500 spirits.”

A Double Gold Grand Re-opening Celebration, for the passage of the Bill and Bloomery’s world win in San Francisco, is planned for Saturday, April 4, 11 am – 8 pm. For details, visit www.bloomerysweetshine.com.

####

Hi,

I am Linda Losey, co-owner and the visionary behind Bloomery Plantation Distillery in Charles Town, WV. My team affectionately, or at least I think it’s affectionately, calls me the DragonLady, or Mom. And they are my family, in every sense of the word. What is happening to me affects them greatly. So what’s the story?

I never had a dream of owning a distillery.  Nope. But I’ve always had a dream of owning my own business. When Tom, my husband, and I traveled to Italy for the canonization of his Great, Great Aunt Mary MacKillop in 2010, Australia’s first Saint, we fell in love with limoncello.

Upon returning, we started researching and making our own limoncello. I started looking at property in MD, PA, DC, VA and WV. We fell in love with a 12 acre parcel with an old log cabin in the woods on the shores of the Shenandoah River and Blue Ridge Mountains  A vision turned into reality, and I became one of only a handful of female distillers in America.

Tom and I worked hard at the business, converting the old log cabin into a production and tasting room, planting lemon trees and raspberries, applying for our local, state and federal permits, all while working full time jobs. The business opened in September, 2011 and grew and grew. We began to hire people, my ex-husband Rob was the first, his girlfriend the second, ultimately 17, to help with the growing business. There was a farm to take care of, lemons to water, raspberries to pick, and SweetShine to make, tastings to give, and the community to support. It was a wonderful life. We poured our hearts and souls into the small business. But in three years we never became profitable. Why?

Did we need to cut jobs, expenses, marketing? Where were we going wrong? We sought investors, thinking that if only we could go national and get to the next level. But no investor would touch us. The business model was upside down. It wasn’t the employees—who were necessary to host 50,000 visitors and to keep the farm running. No it wasn’t that at all. It was the State’s upside down model of taking 38% of the business before it even hit our tasting room shelves. That was the expense that was strangling us. They were treating us like a liquor store rather than a small farm distillery. A model that won us, in the state of WV, the Rural Innovator of the Year Award. But they were doing more than treating us if we were a liquor store—by marking up our bottles by 28% and forcing us to buy it back at that higher rate. No indeed they also took 10% of our RETAIL sales and distributed that money to three neighboring liquor stores in our area. Every sale we made.

We couldn’t hang on without an investor. We do have commitments though. Our distillery is wildly popular as an ag-tourism business and has helped to bolster the economy by drawing in 50,000 visitors from all over the world. But even when we do projections out to $10 million dollars, we won’t ever make one dollar. Who would invest in that? So we reached out to the West Virginia Alcohol Control Board to help clarify the ambiguities and inconsistencies in the code, where it states that distilleries are exempt from the madness. But the Commissioner has responded that his hands are tied.

So now a small business is closed. Dreams are broken. Jobs have been eliminated. And our fans and the small businesses in the community are crying out to Charleston.

UPDATE: Your voices have been HEARD! The Senate and House passed SB 574 to lessen the tax and fee burden on WV Craft Distillers. We need your help NOW in urging Governor Tomblin to “SweetSign” our Bill into law. Please take three seconds to sign the petition:

http://www.delegateskinner.org/urge_the_governor_to_sweetsign_the_distillery_bill

We hope to be serving you soon!

With warm regards, Linda Losey Co-Owner Bloomery Plantation Distillery Charles Town, WV 25414 304-725-3036

www.bloomerysweetshine.com

We fight. For 17 jobs, for our lemon trees, for all that we’ve built, for all that we stand to lose. For Bloomery. For us. For SweetShine. And most importantly, for all of our fans and customers.

Let ‘em have it.

Well, in a polite, articulate kinda way.

We urge all of our fans and patrons to contact Commissioner Moats, Governor Tomblin and Secretary of Commerce Burdette at the phone numbers/email addresses listed below and tell them what we mean to you and urge them to find in favor of this small business. Together, we can certainly make our voices heard.

Bloomery before. Well, maybe again.

WE NEED YOUR HELP.

March 10, 2015

UPDATE: Your voices have been HEARD! The Senate and House passed SB 574 to lessen the tax and fee burden on WV Craft Distillers. We need your help NOW in urging Governor Tomblin to “SweetSign” our Bill into law. Please take three seconds to sign the petition:

http://www.delegateskinner.org/urge_the_governor_to_sweetsign_the_distillery_bill

We hope to be serving you soon!

February 10, 2015

Effective immediately, Bloomery Plantation Distillery, Charles Town, WV, has closed its doors. We cannot re-open our doors until Prohibition-style laws that are strangling our business are changed. We reached out to the West Virginia Alcohol Control Board to help clarify the ambiguities and inconsistencies in the code. But the Commissioner has responded that his hands are tied. He suggests that we present to the legislature our needs and have the current Prohibition-era laws updated to reflect current market needs.

Our Eastern Panhandle legislators have all been very supportive and certainly understand our plight. The legislators have assured us they are working to resolve this problem quickly. There are procedural steps that are underway. Fingers crossed.

What’s at stake? Ten distilleries in West Virginia are at stake. Economic development, tourism, agriculture, and jobs are at stake. In this specific instance, Bloomery Plantation Distillery is at stake; an agricultural tourism small business that has won 21 state, national, and international awards; employs 17 people; and has brought 50,000 people through West Virginia in three short years, generating hundreds of thousands in tourism dollars which benefit the state and local economy and promoting West Virginia as a destination for both tourism and small business.

After imploring Commissioner Moats since November 24th, 2014 to review the regulations which have misclassified the distilleries in West Virginia as retail liquor licensees (liquor stores), and to realize the subsequent negative consequences on the craft distilling industry in West Virginia, Commissioner Moats has yet to render a decision. As a direct result of this, Bloomery Plantation Distillery is unable to continue its operations in WV.

Why? Over the course of the past three years, the WVABCA has misclassified the distilleries and mini-distilleries in West Virginia as holders of retail liquor licenses which are based on sealed competitive bids submitted to the WVABCA every 10 years (WV Code Chapter 60, article 3a). Neither Bloomery Plantation Distillery nor any other distillery in the state have ever participated in this sealed bid process allowing the sale of all alcohol, such as gin, bourbon, wine, etc., in the way that a liquor store does.

The distilleries in the state actually hold licenses to manufacture liquor and sell that liquor in their tasting rooms as opposed to being holders of retail liquor licenses (WV Code Chapter 60, article 4). This resulting misclassification forces distilleries and mini-distilleries to go through the WVABCA’s bailment system in the same way as liquor stores in the state do per Title 175 of the Legislative Rule of the WVABCA which governs the bailment process.

The problem? Per our conversations with the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) and review with our legal counsel, distilleries are actually exempt from going through the bailment system. WV Code Chapter 60, article 3a-17 requires that retail licensees purchase liquor from the WVABCA. Because distilleries, including Bloomery Plantation Distillery, do not hold retail liquor licenses, rather, they hold a license to manufacture and sell as a distillery, they are not required under this section to purchase liquor from the Commissioner; as such, they are exempt from the bailment requirements of Title 175.

So what is bailment? What this term means is that a distillery or mini-distillery in WV first has to sell its bottles at wholesale to the WVABCA at a set price, which then marks the bottles up at 28% of the price at which it purchased the bottles from the distillery. The distillery then has to buy the bottles back from the WVABCA at that 28% markup. In addition, the distillery then is required to mark those bottles up a further 10% (minimum) to sell at retail in order not to have a competitive advantage over the retail liquor license holders in the area. The distillery is then required to pay a 10% Market Zone Tax, back to the WVABCA on all of its retail sales. Those monies are then distributed to the three or more retail liquor licensees (the local liquor stores) in the surrounding market zone of the distillery.

So what does all of this mean? Bailment has been a major factor in precluding growth of distilleries in West Virginia. For example: Bloomery Plantation Distillery produces a handcrafted, farm-fresh bottle of SweetShine for $10. We sell this bottle to the state at $14. They mark the bottle up, and we buy it back for $19. We sell it at retail for $24, and then pay the state back $2.40 so that they can give that money to the local liquor stores. This is all in addition to the 11% that our customers are charged in the form of alcohol and sales taxes. If WVABCA handling fees – for cases which are never actually handled by anyone but us – are included at $3.10 per 6-bottle case, the WVABCA and the retail liquor stores make more than we do on each bottle we sell. Being misclassified as a retail liquor licensee is killing both a business and an industry in West Virginia.

What “liquor store” is required to give 10% of its retail sales to the other liquor stores in its area? What “liquor store” in West Virginia has the required overhead cost of growing lemons, ginger, raspberries, pumpkins, and other fruits, roots, and nuts? What “liquor store” is recognized as a leader in its niche and attracts fans and tourists from all over the country and, indeed, the world? What “liquor store” hires amazing fun-tenders and talented local musicians to entertain its guests, to provide a lasting memory of a fun and unique visit to the Eastern Panhandle? What “liquor store” refers its patrons to other liquor stores to purchase product, to other local businesses to shop and eat, and to explore all of the activities and experiences that Wild and Wonderful West Virginia has to offer? Not one. It’s time to stop the madness. We urge fans of Bloomery Plantation Distillery and indeed, any distillery in the state, to contact their state legislators and implore them to support the Prohibition Regulation Reform Actions to save the craft distilling industry in West Virginia and this small business. Hopefully it’s not too late.

Bloomery Plantation Distillery has thoroughly enjoyed growing here alongside and among the wonderful small businesses and incredible patrons who have frequented our beloved little cabin on the hill and experienced our history, hooch, and hospitality. Thank you.

By Eric Bell, Bloomery Product Integrator

Isn’t it funny how things work themselves out! I have been trying to decide where to take this one and this morning it “slapped” me in the face…pun intended! One of the things I like is to be given a cocktail name and then have to come up with what it is. It’s a lot of fun to see where my mind takes things. So, when Linda, aka Dragon Lady, assigned me a “Sassy Slap” I went in a thousand directions at once with no real idea where I wanted to take it.

I was in Las Vegas for a conference this past week and making a Sassy Slap was the last thing on my mind. well don’t you know, our personal plans are not always what the world has in store for us.

I stepped onto the elevator and went downstairs to get a cup of coffee. Uneventful right….Well as I went to go back up, the elevator was quite full. We stopped on a floor and an older lady and her even more elderly mother were front and center. The mother starts to run off the elevator as fast as her little old lady legs could take her. Her daughter, probably in her mid sixties, called her back….”Mom this isn’t our floor! ” Then it happened!

The lady gets back on the elevator and explains to her daughter in a boisterous voice with a very thick British accent…

“Ooooh myyyy. I would have went to the room and tried getting in. The people in there would think I was being fresh and sassy, and probably slap me!.”

I almost lost it!

She inspired me as she had in her hand a cup of hot tea that was quite obviously spiked heavily!

Sassy Slap: In a cup of hot tea add 1 tablespoon of honey 1/2 oz Ginger SweetShine 1/4 oz Black Walnut SweetShine

1 oz or so Whiskey, your favorite will do

This is a play on a hot toddie, so you could enjoy anytime, but would be quite beneficial if you have a head cold, sinus issues, or need an excuse when getting off the elevator on the wrong floor of a hotel!

This week I’m headed back to Las Vegas, making a road trip with my mother, in a van for another show. Stay tuned, as quite the adventure awaits I’m sure…