Last night's update was, frankly, a little boring so here's something entertaining:
Spicy foods really appeal to me. My favorite foods in the world include japanese curry, french fries dipped in ketchup (mixed with tabasco), thai dishes with basil and ginger slices, burritos with tapatio, and well more stomach cramping things along those lines. And recently it's come into my head that the world needs a fiery ginger vodka. Or maybe a fiery ginger rum. Whatever, just some sort of strong spirit that has a heavy ginger aftertaste to take your mind off the industrial fumes.
And it occurred to me, that perhaps I could open a small distillery located in a garage or some other low rent shop and bottle cases of the stuff for sale to distributors like the Washington State Liquor Board, Trader Joes, and SamsWines.com.
Distilling liquor is like alchemy. Amazing alchemy. I could see this idea becoming a profitable little small business, we could even branch out into mildly spicy versions, or super-painful wasabi vodka.
The barrier to me actually following through this crazy idea isn't getting the equipment to distill my own booze, or coming up with secret formulas -- it's the permits and red tape. From some quick research into the Washington State Liquor Board, I've discovered .pdf forms I can print out to get a license to produce beer or wine, but there was no mention of distilled liquor.
What if a permit costs $10,000 and requires an inspection from the ATF? (Alcohol, tobacco, and firearms.)
I'd really like to figure out how much it would cost to get a small shop going, but I'm stuck at the pre-planning stage. Do small businessmen usually contact a lawyer before anything else? Are lawyers the guys that figure out what permits you need and help you with the red tape?
Spicy foods really appeal to me. My favorite foods in the world include japanese curry, french fries dipped in ketchup (mixed with tabasco), thai dishes with basil and ginger slices, burritos with tapatio, and well more stomach cramping things along those lines. And recently it's come into my head that the world needs a fiery ginger vodka. Or maybe a fiery ginger rum. Whatever, just some sort of strong spirit that has a heavy ginger aftertaste to take your mind off the industrial fumes.
And it occurred to me, that perhaps I could open a small distillery located in a garage or some other low rent shop and bottle cases of the stuff for sale to distributors like the Washington State Liquor Board, Trader Joes, and SamsWines.com.
Distilling liquor is like alchemy. Amazing alchemy. I could see this idea becoming a profitable little small business, we could even branch out into mildly spicy versions, or super-painful wasabi vodka.
The barrier to me actually following through this crazy idea isn't getting the equipment to distill my own booze, or coming up with secret formulas -- it's the permits and red tape. From some quick research into the Washington State Liquor Board, I've discovered .pdf forms I can print out to get a license to produce beer or wine, but there was no mention of distilled liquor.
What if a permit costs $10,000 and requires an inspection from the ATF? (Alcohol, tobacco, and firearms.)
I'd really like to figure out how much it would cost to get a small shop going, but I'm stuck at the pre-planning stage. Do small businessmen usually contact a lawyer before anything else? Are lawyers the guys that figure out what permits you need and help you with the red tape?
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
The other night everyone headed inside less than an hour after I arrived. I looked up at the stars and remembered how crowded it seemed inside and decided to head off to greenlake and look at the water and the sky.