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■ Business Trends: FOOD & BEVERAGE


Lifting spirits Virginia’s distillery industry is booming, but it faces barriers to growth


Belmont Farm Distillery


originally made moonshine, but it has expanded to other products in response to increased competition from distilleries.


by Veronica Garabelli D Miller


uring its first decade of operation, Belmont Farm Distillery in Culpeper had


to fight the stigma associated with moonshine, unaged corn whiskey. “They thought it could make


you go blind, it’s not good for you, all that kind of stuff,” says Chuck Miller, co-owner of Bel- mont, whi ch opened in 1988. In recent years,


however, he has seen consumer


demand — and competition from other producers — soar in Virginia. “First off, people didn’t accept the products,” he says with a laugh.


32 DECEMBER 2017


“Now, the products are accepted, but there [are] a lot of people that are doing it.” In Virginia the production


of spirits, including moonshine, is growing dramatically. According to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), the commonwealth now has 57 licensed distilleries, up from just a dozen five years ago. Virginia distillery owners,


however, say they face a number of hurdles — some of them regulatory — that impede their growth. More than 20 distilleries have joined the Virginia Distillers Association (VDA), an organization formed last year to advocate for and pro-


mote the state’s spirits industry. One of the association’s chief


responsibilities is working with Vir- ginia ABC. The Old Dominion is one of only 17 “control” states in the U.S., in which a government agency manages the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages. Virginia ABC stores are the only retail outlets that can sell liquor in the commonwealth. “Having good relationships


and figuring out how to navigate the system and really make Virginia local products a big focus of the Virginia ABC is really important,” says Gareth Moore, president of the VDA and the CEO of the Lovingston-based Virginia Distill- ery Co., a whiskey producer.


Photos courtesy Belmont Farm Distillery


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