The Journal
The Grains are Back in Town
If you’ve been around the distillery in the last few months you might have noticed how relaxed and at ease and bored we looked. Or not. We’ve been running around doing farmers markets, holding events, running tours and tastings, bottling, launching new products and coming up with new cocktails to serve our visitors. The one thing we haven’t been doing?
Distilling.
We took a longer-than-expected production hiatus over the winter, but the time has come and we’re about to pull out of it in a big way. We ordered and took receipt of tons of grain. Literally. Over three tons. We’ll be using this corn and wheat and rye to make new batches of Shmidt Spirits bourbon, Inkwell Unaged Corn Whiskey and Wheated Bourbon, as well as brand new Inkwell Maryland Rye.
(We also took three days to deep clean the still, which is currently gleaming like a new car… this state will not last long.)
Previous tours of the distillery over the last half a year or more got to take a look at the still, but didn’t have the chance to see us in action. Anyone coming now will be able to see us in the thick of production—mashing, fermenting, and distilling, not to mention possibly barreling.
With that in mind, if you’ve been putting off a visit, waiting for the right time, or have been itching for a reason to come by again, this is the moment. We’ll be posting on Instagram what you can expect to see, so follow us there and drop by and see us finally being productive for once.
Pivot to Video
We’ve begun to produce short videos of our cocktail recipes.
If you’re reading this, odds are you are aware of our extensive recipe section on our web site as well as the Cocktail of the Week newsletter we send out (almost) every weekend. Clearly, we love creating and sharing new cocktails, and we’ve begun to work on a new way of sharing that passion with you.
In the past we’ve dabbled with YouTube videos of ourselves making cocktails. Then, we did Instagram Live videos now and then. At last, however, we seem to have found a medium that suits us and helps us to reach the widest possible audience: TikTok (and Instagram Reels, but let’s be honest, that’s basically just TikTok two weeks later).
You can follow us on either platform and you’ll see awesome videos of President and CEO Arthur Shmidt creating all the cocktails you love, as well as some curious special finds we come across now and then. So take a look and let us know what you think.
Installation/Distillation III
A note of gratitude following our third annual art show.
What an honor.
That’s all I can think to say every time we get the chance to throw an event at Shmidt Spirits, especially Installation/Distillation. When we began Shmidt Spirits over three years ago (and a lot longer if you include initial planning and buildout) we had so many plans. We wanted to be a community hot spot, a place people could get together to learn about one another, to discover new and interesting people and ideas, and of course come to love our great spirits.
COVID had other ideas.
When it was safe to open our doors wide once more, one of the first things we did was set ourselves to the task of becoming that place we first imagined we could be. I pitched that our first event should be the big, bold idea I had before we even finished the buildout—an art show featuring local artists. That we survived the pandemic at all was a shock; being able to make this event happen that first time was all the more incredible.
So now, every time we manage to pull it off again it feels like a miracle and a celebration all at once. Being able to help our community return to a sense of communal joy and revelry is a tremendous thing. Helping local artists to find new admirers and buyers is a responsibility and a honor its hard to overstate. These guys come to us with all the passion and grit they have, and its up to us to deliver a great time and a large audience so that their energy is rewarded.
This year was maybe the smallest I/D we’ve done thus far (I blame the rain) but it was still an awesome experience. Musician Dave Zelonka played some incredible music all night long; Arthur Shmidt was mixing drinks on pace with our thirsty public; and the artists gave our attendees some incredible work to admire, take home, and make their own. Watching the crowd linger over especially meaningful pieces, dance to the sweet strains of bluegrass, and swap tastes of cocktails to see who ordered the best drink, it was hard not to feel completely overcome. By gratitude, by humility, and by pride.
We make an unbeatable line of spirits here—we’re not modest about that—but I like to think we offer something more, as well. And events like Installation/Distillation let us know that we’re living up to that promise and energize us to keep at it.
If you made it out, thank you! And if you couldn’t be there, well: we can’t wait to see you next time.
-Brian J. Roan
Master Distiller
Click image for full picture
Thank You for Making Installation/Distillation a Massive Success
If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. That was something I heard once from a Jesuit, and it has always stuck with me. It's a good way to put into perspective how little control you have over your life.
When we began to conceptualize what Shmidt Spirits would be back in 2019, we had a lot of grand schemes in mind. Concerts. Parties. Competitions. Art shows. When our doors opened in February of 2020, we had a running document of ideas, and we were beyond excited to get to work.
And then, well, you know what happened.
Anyway, once summer of 2021 hit and vaccination rates climbed and it seemed like some degree of normalcy might come back, we were ready to get the ball rolling and get back to the business of making our little distillery everything we knew it could be. We joined with an old friend from our college days, rolled up our sleeves, and INSTALLATION/DISTILLATION was born. For three months we stressed out over every detail, worked with artists to make sure our space was perfect for them, and generally realized week over week just how much goes into throwing a giant party.
But we did it! And so many of you were there, drinking and talking and appreciating the work the artists did. It was an incredible experience. We got to give a few artists their first show ever, see them get their first sales ever, and were able to introduce ourselves to the community at large.
So we wanted to say thank you to everyone who came out. Artist, patrons, friends and family; everyone! We're looking forward to many more events just like this one. You can check out our events page on what we have in store, and follow us on social media to get all the news that's fit to tweet.
INSTALLATION/DISTILLATION
An art space and marketplace located in the Shmidt Spirits distillery.
Shmidt Spirits Presents
Art Space and Marketplace — October 16, 2021
When Arthur and I first began to build out the empty warehouse space that was to become the Shmidt Spirits Distillery, one of the most daunting aspects of it was its sheer emptiness. It was a blank slate, all concrete floors and white walls. Of course some of it would be filled with the machinery of our industry—the boilers and fermenters, the still and barrels—but there was still just a whole lot of… nothing. Everywhere we turned we saw blank walls, waiting for us to do something with them, to turn them from vast empty barriers into something more.
To the largest wall in the tasting room we added a mural of the distillation process, expertly and improbably hand-chalked by my friend Brittany Herbinko, an artist from Baltimore. In the Lounge I hung up photographs I took of the long process of building out the distillery. Each of these additions didn’t just break up the expansive void of the empty space, they also brought character and meaning to the spaces they adorned.
Brittany Herbinko creating the Distillation Process chalk mural in our Tasting Room.
It didn’t take long for me to pitch the idea to Arthur: We will never fill up all this space on our own, but what if we didn’t do it alone? We could invite local artists to hang their work on our (plentiful) blank walls, to invite their friends to see what they’d done and to show off to people who stopped by to sample our spirits and tour and facilities. It would turn us from just a distillery into something more—an art space, a community hub. We’d longed to throw all kinds of events in our distillery from the outset, so the idea was instantly embraced, and we assumed we would be able to launch this art space in the middle of the following year.
That year was 2020.
At this point I feel like just saying “2020” acts as its own kind of explanation and excuse for all kinds of delays and setbacks. The Year of COVID wasn’t exactly the right time to go around trying to launch a massive in-person event drawing people from (hopefully) all over the DMV. So we put the idea on the backburner, made hand sanitizer, and struggled to stay afloat, as every business and artist did over the past year and a half.
Arthur Shmidt hand-labelling hand sanitizer.
When the vaccine started rolling out and the cabin fever reached its breaking point, Arthur and I sat down at the tasting room table and agreed that now was the time to once again start thinking of events to throw. Having seen friends of mine all over the internet strike up small shops and art projects over the course of the pandemic, I knew instantly what my first pitch would be:
But the next idea out of my mouth was: what about that art gallery thing?
From there, I reached out to my friend Joanna Salerno, who I had known in college and of whose art I had always been a fan. I pitched her the idea, and she immediately took my barebones idea and ran with it. What had originally been conceived as “how about you come and show off some of your art?” was suddenly so much more. Suddenly one artist became a whole slate of them. A single record player turned into live bands. And we’re just getting started.
Tickets to the event are on sale now, at a steep discount to early birds. We’ll be announcing artists and musical acts in mid-to-late August. Follow us on social media to keep up-to-date on all of the new announcements and additions to the lineup as they happen.
We’re excited to be back in action and finally bring our distillery to its full potential as a space for people to come together and celebrate art in all its forms, and we hope you join us!
Distilling in the Age of COVID
A rundown on how Covid-19 has changed things at Shmidt Spirits.
When we published our last journal post in late February, we declared that we were fully operation and ready to receive customers at our now-fully functioning distillery. When we began to get our first walk-in customers looking for tours, tastings, and to buy a bottle of our spirits, we were ecstatic.
What a difference a month makes.
Not long after our biggest weekend of traffic and sales, COVID-19 changed everything. Strange to write that cliche phrase and really mean it. Suddenly people were told to stay in their homes, to cease unnecessary excursions out, and to avoid public gatherings. Suddenly, our slight momentum was ground to a halt.
In spite of that, Arthur and I have continued to work every weekend and a few weekdays at making our craft spirits. Distilleries count as essential businesses (as one might expect) and should everything get back to a state of normalcy by August, we wanted to still be on track to put out our Cobalt rye whiskey as planned. Then, something else happened. Distilleries around the country were told by the government that they had the ability to turn spirits into hand sanitizer as a means of filling the growing need for PPE.
Within four days of getting this news, Shmidt Spirits had begun to bottle sanitizing spray made in our own facilities. Within a week, we had sold almost 2,000 bottles to local businesses and private citizens. Not only that, but we launched a GoFundMe in order to be able to give out hand sanitizer to people in our community.
Today we gave out sanitizer to a drive-through farmers market and food pantry, and even opened up our overhead door to be able to distribute free sanitizer right from our distillery. Our hope is that in the weeks ahead we can continue to build on this foundation of giving and aid to continue to serve our community in the best way that we know how.
We have begun offering online ordering with curbside pickup, and are hoping to begin delivery service soon as well.
And all the while, we keep plugging away, mashing and distilling and aging our rye whiskey, hopeful that when we all come out the other side of this crisis, we can celebrate with our brand new Cobalt rye, and get back to the business of becoming your new favorite craft spirit.
Ready for Our Close-Up
Ever since we first spoke aloud the idea for Shmidt Spirits, one question has been at the forefront of most people’s minds:
When can I visit?
Up to this point, that has been a complicated question. First, we had to find the right place. Then, we had to build it out. Next came permitting, then getting the actual business in order. It has been a long and winding road (and not always a well-paved or level road at that) to get to this point. Now when people as when they can visit, we can tell them!
President and CEO Arthur Shmidt, adding grains to our mash.
Shmidt Spirits is now a functioning with regular hours. Every Saturday and Sunday you’ll find us hard at working making our one-of-a-kind Distinctively Finished craft spirits. That means every weekend you can drop by to say hello, sample our finished gin and white whiskey, and even buy a bottle yourself.
You can even make your visit easier on yourself (and give us a heads up) buy using our Schedule a Visit page in order to set a time for us to expect you.
Given that we are now ready and excited to receive visitors, we’ve been hard at work between distillation batches making sure that our facilities are guest-ready. In addition to our newly decorated lobby, we’re proud to present our process chalk mural, from local artist Brittany Herbinko.
Brittany Herbinko working on our Tasting Room mural.
So make some time this weekend to discover the newest distillery in the DMV, where every bottle is hand-crafted and Distinctively Finished.
Open For Business
After years of filling out forms, researching and purchasing equipment, and building out our space, Shmidt Spirits is now ready to begin production. On September 23, 2019, Shmidt Spirits received the final sign-off that we needed in order to declare, at last, that we are open for business.
What does this mean in the present for those of you who have been waiting to taste our distinctive craft spirits? Sadly, it doesn’t mean that our bottles are now rolling off the assembly line. That moment is still a few months away. What it does mean is that from now on, Arthur and Brian will be able to work to make those spirits in earnest. No more research, no more forms. Now, we move on to the actual production phase.
In the weeks ahead you’ll see more updates about our decorating of the distillery; information about grain purchases and batch preparation; and at some point bear witness to the inaugural run of the still.
It may seem like just another step on the road to your first pour, but to us, it represents a gargantuan step forward in turning our dreams into your next drink. So watch this space even closer than before, because now is when the most exciting stage of our journey begins, and we can’t wait for you to be a part of it.
The Machinery
A look at the work it took to turn an empty space into the home of Shmidt Spirits.
Creating a business is a herculean effort, on that can sometimes feel as though it consists primarily of paperwork and mental lifting. The tracking of the progress of any business toward fruition can feel illusory, but the great thing about creating a distillery is that so much of its progress is encapsulated by the acquisition and installation of machinery.
To turn a vacant industrial space into the birthplace of our craft spirits involved an incredible amount of work. Cracking the foundation to run a trench drain; receiving and installing a boiler and a still; fabricating a whole new room in which to store and age our liquor. Returning to the space day after day and seeing its transformation was the most obvious way of sensing the shift of Shmidt Spirits from dream into reality.
Drawing closer to the grand opening, it is sobering to think back on what we began with, and to see what it has become.
Building Shmidt Spirits
We’ve been hard at work getting our new home looking pretty. Check out our slideshow to see our progress.
Over the past year, we have been in the process of building the space that will house Shmidt Spirits. Much of this work has been done by contractors who have cracked concrete, dug drains, and created a fire-safe room in which to store our barrels. As we come to the end, though, the final touches fall to Arthur and I to complete.
The last month has seen us sweeping up the dust left behind by the work of the contractors, building furniture, and generally getting the non-factory spaces ready for ourselves and the public. It’s been a lot of work, but the results speak for themselves.
Day by day, 10360 Southard Drive changes from an empty space into the home of Shmidt Spirits. The photos below will give you some idea of the work being done, and a glimpse of the future of our business.
