ALCHEMY DISTILLERY TIMELINE
2010– Decided we wanted start our own distillery and focus on high quality grain-to-bottle spirits. Note: Did you know a lot of distilleries buy Grain Neutral Spirits (GNS) in liquid form, run them through their still, and bottle it as their own? Educating our customers about what sets us apart will be part of our marketing campaign.
2011– Travel to Chicago’s first distillery, Koval, for a 3 day training
2012– Research & Development!
June 2013– Drive our 1977 Argosy travel trailer to KY and TN., touring dozens of distilleries and making valuable connections. Amy surprises Steve with a a private tour of Vendome Copper Works in Louisville. We immediately decide to ditch our plans for a German still and go American Made.
July 2013– Start working on our business plan. Decide that although aged Whiskeys will be our focus, we will also bottle unaged spirits. This will help expand our business, keep our equipment running, and help generate income. We also plan to create rather rare products… Absinthe, Bitters, Digestives and Barrel Aged Cocktails. We are fortunate to have the capacity to produce and label others spirits as well. For example a local orchard approached us about making Brandy for them.
August 2013– Decide on the name Alchemy Distillery and the brand name BOLDT. Alchemy is what we do turning grains into spirits and is consistent with the name of our first business, Alchemy Construction. BOLDT is a nod to the industrial, construction component of our lives as well as a tribute to beautiful HumBOLDT County, CA where we live. Humboldt has more artists per capita than any other City in the State of California. Humboldt is also home to Cypress Grove Chevre, Fire & Light Glassware, and Wing Inflatables- three companies with great National success. Humboldt has supported us for decades and we want to honor this community with our brand.
September 2013– Start an LLC and secure a web site. Design a logo and labels. Secure a distributor. Conduct market research including an on line survey and Whiskey tasting with local bar tenders and bar owners.
October 2013– Steve attends a 6 day training at Moonshine University in KY.
December 2013 – Finalize distillery and equipment layout.
February 2014– Receive local building permit. Put deposit down on still. Submit our application for our Federal permit with The TTB (Alcohol and Tabacco Tax and Trade Bureau) as well as our State permit with the ABC.
March 2015– Travel to KY for the American Distillery Institute Annual conference for additional training and networking.
July 2015– Final stages of installation including steam piping for our boiler.
October 2015- Order remaining equipment. Connect with local farmers who are able to provide grains for our spirits! We take care to ensure the local farmers have enough grain for us as well as Beck’s Bakery and the other local baker’s and beer makers.
November 2015– Equipment keeps arriving!
December 2015- We successfully make our first batch of 100% local wheat Whiskey. We are calling it Clear Whiskey and it will be 90 Proof.
January 2016– Enter label approval process for Clear Whiskey.
March 2016– Boldt debuts on St. Patrick’s Day! Our Clear Whiskey is now available in stores, restaurants and bars throughout Humboldt County. See “Where to find Boldt” for a retailer new you.
April 2016– Steve is invited to speak at the American Distilling Institute’s annual convention. His talk is “A Contractor’s Guide to building a distillery.”
December 2016– Our distillery is honored to be the cover story on Artisan Spirit’s winter issue. See PRESS section for the article.
January 2017– We have a full story about Alchemy and our collaboration with Los Bagels in American Distilling Institute’s magazine Distiller. See PRESS section for the article.
March 2017– Make our first batch of Bourbon on Amy’s birthday! It will be released on Amy’s birthday March 12, 20??
May 2017– Announce we will be open the 4th Saturday of every month throughout 2017!
June 2017– Debut the Boldt Drinking Club! More information under STORE
July 2017– Our first collaboration with Pat at Wrangletown Cider. Look for our apple Brandy in the next year or so.
August 2018– Taught a class through Humboldt State University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
January 2018– Amy was asked to write another article for the American Distilling Institute’s quarterly magazine Distiller! This story is about our “Quest for local grains.” See PRESS section to give it a read.
March 2018– Steve presents “A Contractor’s Guide to Building a Distillery” at the American Distilling Institute conference in Portland, OR.
June 2018– Debuted our first aged Whiskey. This was an 100% local Wheat Whiskey which sold out in less than 2 hours.
September 2018– Our first Straight Rye Whiskey was released.
November 2018– Released our first Straight Triticale Whiskey
February 2019– Alchemy Distillery is awarded Green Business of the Year by the Arcata Chamber of Commerce
April 2019– Debut our first Straight Bourbon Whiskey
December 2019– Debut Boldt Absinthe
December 2019– Debut Los Bagels whiskey as a distillery-only release. It sells out in one day.
January 2020– Start prepping our new storefront for a tasting room complete with a commercial kitchen!
March 2020– Debut Boldt Barreled Manhattan.
April 2020– Respond to our community’s shortage of sanitizer by producing and donating hand sanitizer to dozens of essential businesses including local hospitals, Fire Departments, Sheriff, Police, etc.
July 2020– Receive building permit for our future tasting room.
October 2021– We have been taking advantage of the quiet time during the pandemic/our tasting room being closed so production has been in full swing! Construction continues on the tasting room but of course our day job Alchemy Construction is doing the work and we are also swamped with other contracted jobs.
February 2022– Construction continues! Just this month we sealed our radiantly heated concrete floors, poured our indoor/outdoor concrete countertop, installed our window wall that opens to the great outdoors and welded our steel bar into place. We have ordered our custom Hestan appliances that will be worth the wait but won’t arrive until late Summer.
August 2023- Construction on our tasting room is complete! We have passed our Building Department, Fire Department, and Alcohol Beverage Control inspections. We are currently setting up our commercial kitchen and will fire it up soon! Keep following us on social media and keep any eye out for our newsletter for updates!
October 2023– We have received all of our permits and we are starting to schedule events! For the latest updates follow us on social media and send us your email for our newsletter.
