CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – The third annual Drink Outside the Grape competition took place in Charlottesville, VA, on Aug. 8, resulting in 83 medals for fruit wines, meads, ciders and fruit brandies; 21 golds, 33 silvers and 27 bronze medals in addition to the five “Best of Category” winners. (more…)

NEW YORK – Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced the results of the second annual New York State Craft Beer Competition, which featured 642 New York State-brewed beers. For the second straight year, Brooklyn-based Threes Brewing took home top honors, winning the Governor’s Excelsior Cup. Gold medals were awarded to 23 beers from breweries across the state. (more…)

Hop Disease: Viruses and Viroids

Hops are fruit, and plants are susceptible to four diseases in the United States. Three of these belong to the same family – American hop latent virus, hop latent virus and hop mosaic virus. The fourth and most important is apple mosaic virus. (more…)

When it comes to evaluating your business, are you more of a numbers cruncher or an introspective learner? Can you be both? Should you be both? (more…)

by Rebecca Jackson
When he first met his wife Wendy, Donald Furrow-Scott hated wine, but he was more than happy to help her and her parents, vintners Roger and Judy Furrow, plant Cabernet grapes in 1984 in the family vineyard near Smith Mountain Lake, VA. (more…)

by Hope Holland
With a full year of unusual and persistent rains that followed late spring cold snaps, any farmer in Maryland could not be blamed for feeling a little put upon. Add to that the threat of having the tail end of a large hurricane threatening you with more rain, and being darn well discouraged is almost a given, especially when it comes right in prime harvesting time. (more…)

by Courtney Llewellyn
Mead has been made across the world, from ancient China to ancient Greece, from the savanna of Africa to the tundra of Scandinavia. King Harald Fairhair united Norway back in the ninth century, and today one of his descendants, through many generations, is working toward uniting lovers of drink through his passion for authentic mead. (more…)

by Laura Rodley
The shutters are wide open again at Old Nick Williams Company Farm and Distillery and the aroma is delicious. The distillery was shuttered in 1919 due to prohibition. (more…)

by Enrico Villamaino III
Years of academic study and worldwide travel have led a West Coast couple to an unexpected place and occupation: proprietors of New Orleans’ only cidery. (more…)

by Karen Van Wyk
Nine years ago, Bittercube, a slow crafting bitters production company, was birthed. Two gentlemen, Ira Koplowitz and Nick Kosevich, left well paid bar managing careers to explore an exciting adventure in the creation and distribution of bitters. What kind of unique venture have they developed? (more…)

by Tamara Scully
In many vineyards, the prevalent practice is to have a grass alley with an herbicide strip under the vines. A focus on enhancing vineyard sustainability, through the implementation of practices that promote soil health, decrease nutrient and chemical leaching and minimize erosion, has led to research trials on the use of under vine cover crops. (more…)

Intention is often used to describe what a person is thinking or feeling, but it more readily defines a person’s aim or plan. Customers visit your business with a plan – to visit, tour, check out the surroundings and, hopefully, purchase a product or service. You and your employees are responsible for determining a customer’s intention and helping to fulfill their expectations. (more…)

by Catie Joyce-Bulay
What Nick Gunn of Benchgraft Cider Consulting loves even more than making cider is helping others make it. “I like teaching and I like to consult,” said Gunn, who has over 14 years of cider making and orcharding experience. “I enjoy the startup phase of businesses and I get to help grow the industry.” (more…)

by Chad Storlie, Adjunct Professor of Marketing, Creighton University
What is customer experience? Customer experience has exploded over the past several years as a concept in Google searches as well as business literature. Broadly, Customer experience (CX) is the totality of interactions (good + bad + indifferent) that a customer has with a business’s products, services and supporting functions.  (more…)

by Courtney Llewellyn
CULVER CITY, CA – Adam Guttentag and Bryan Baird met in the 1980s while playing rugby and attending Williams College in Western Massachusetts together. Guttentag traveled to Japan right after college to teach English for a year … which turned into five years. Baird studied in Japan and fully intended on moving there after finishing his graduate studies. (more…)

by Sally Colby
Will and Ashlee Kimberley realize they don’t represent the average upstart vineyard and winery operation. But the young couple had a passion, created a plan and are now operating a successful winery and event center in Inwood, Iowa. (more…)

by Paul Burdziakowski
When Longboat Key, FL, natives Vic Falck and Geordie Rauch went to California in the summer of 2010 their main focus was on completing their service in the Navy following their recent enlistment. When they returned to Florida five years later they did so with a newfound friend who had a talent for brewing beer and the dream of starting their own craft brewery. (more…)

by Tamara Scully
New York State has 10 federally-recognized American Viticulture Areas (AVAs), including the most recent Upper Hudson designation. These designated areas indicate that wineries in the region are crafting a unique product, based on the distinctive characteristics of the geographic region, and are distinguishable from wines created from grapes from other areas. Wines with 85 percent of their grapes sourced from the AVA and fully produced in the region can carry the region’s label. (more…)

by Catie Joyce-Bulay
The Walla Walla Valley’s agriculture is comprised mainly of wheat and wine grapes, both of which grow with great success thanks to the valley’s fertile soils and sunshine. Neighboring Yakima Valley is another thriving wine region. With similar soils and climate, in addition to wine grapes they also grow over 75 percent of the country’s hops. Walla Walla grows zero. But this year two local friends, Nick Morgan and Jeremy Petty, with a background in farming and vineyard management, decided to change that. (more…)

by Karl H. Kazaks
KELSEYVILLE, CA – With the Mendocino Fires complex torching terrain, destroying buildings and forcing evacuations, Lake County California, is once again in the news for being the site of catastrophic fires. (more…)

by Laura Rodley
Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco, TX, currently brews around 60,000 barrels of beer a year. In early 2017, when the Brewers Association ranked the top 50 craft breweries in the U.S. by sales volume, Real Ale Brewing Co. made the list, coming in 49th. (more…)

by Laura Rodley
Real Spirits Distillery Co. celebrated its first anniversary by releasing its first bottles of gin and whiskey to the public in April 2018. They were Texas Hill Country Signature Whiskey, Grain to Glass Gin and Single Barrel Whiskey. (more…)

I recently observed a potential customer approach a direct marketer’s booth and peruse the items for sale. Just when the customer pointed to an item and was about to ask a question the vendor turned her back and began using her cell phone. (more…)

by Tamara Scully
“We learned the hard way that powdery mildew can do very well in Michigan,” Erin Lizotte, of Michigan State University, said after several growers lost their hop crops to the disease last season. “It’s a difficult disease to control, especially on susceptible varieties.” (more…)

by Sally Colby
Brett Kintzer has been the brewmaster at Swashbuckler Brewing Company for just 15 months, but he arrived with plenty of experience. For the first 21 years of his brewing career, he honed his skills and learned what makes a great craft beer. (more…)

by Catie Joyce-Bulay
Wildcraft Cider Works organically grew out of founder Sean Kelly’s woodworking business and passion for restoration and utilizing local natural resources. (more…)

Mid-summer marks a busy season for many direct-marketing businesses, so discussing taking on even more heat may sound illogical – especially if the heat refers to crisis management. (more…)

by Laura Rodley
Dalton Distillery is only four years old, but they’ve already taken hold in Dalton, GA, known as the carpet capital of the world, with their Raymond’s Reserve and their gluten free TazaRay, the only sunflower-based spirit in the world. (more…)

by Catie Joyce-Bulay
Many people that visit Love’s Kombucha’s stand at the Moscow, Idaho farmers market don’t know what kombucha is. “That’s why it’s so much fun,” said Renee Love, who brews and owns the business with her husband, Emmett. “We have a lot of people that will come up and bring their friends and say ‘My friend is making me try it but I know I don’t like kombucha.’ And we say, ‘Well, you haven’t tried ours yet.’” Many come away with a new appreciation for the fermented probiotic tea. (more…)