Microdistillery

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A microdistillery is a small, often 'boutique', distillery, most commonly in the United States.

Throughout much of the world, small distilleries operate throughout communities of various sizes and do not generally garner specific terminology denoting their size. Due to the extended period of Prohibition in the United States, however, most small distilleries were forced out of business, leaving only the corporate dominated megadistilleries to resume operation at Prohibition's repeal. The microdistilling trend grew out of the microbrewing trend which originated in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and quickly spread throughout the United States in the following decades. Whilst still in its infancy, the popularity of microdistilling and microdistilled spirits is expanding consistently, with many microbreweries and small wineries establishing distilleries within the scope of their brewing or winemaking operations. Other microdistilleries are farm-based.^[1] Anchor Brewing Company and Dogfish Head are two examples of American craft breweries that have begun expanding into microdistillation. Some of the newer microdistilleries are focused solely on spirits. Vodka and seasonally-flavored vodkas are often popular products.^[1] As with the emergence of microbrewing, California and Oregon have experienced the highest number of microdistillery openings. Significant recent growth has also occurred in the Midwest.^[1]

[edit] U.S. Regulation

The U.S. Government regulates distilleries to a high degree and currently does not distinguish its treatment of distilleries in terms of size, except to charge less for the Federal licensing requirements for small producers. This elevated degree of regulation has prevented microdistilling from developing as rapidly as microbrewing which enjoys relatively more relaxed government control. A number of states, such as Iowa, Kansas, Indiana, Minnesota and California, have passed legislation reducing the stringent regulations for small distilleries that were a holdover from prohibition.^[1] The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) are responsible for enforcing Federal statutes as they apply to all manufacturers of beverage alcohol.