Distillery equipment has copper-coated insides.
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | By January, Gwinnett may have a distinctive new business venture up and running—-its first distillery.
Hope Springs Distillery in Lilburn is the concept of a Norcross couple who decided to “hire ourselves” when they were looking for something “legal to do” as they left full-time employment.
It hasn’t been an overnight move….the entire process from writing a business plan and getting the technical understanding in classes for the distillery, plus going through the many federal and state permits, then getting the equipment set up—has taken over two years already. And they don’t anticipate producing their first batch of vodka—their first product—until perhaps January.
The couple are Paul Allen and Betsey Dahlberg, married now for 20 years. He has been an engineer, schooled in New York (Alfred University and Rochester Institute of Technology), who traveled the world for years. She’s a Stone Mountain native, University of Tennessee and UGA (law) graduate, and retired attorney in New Jersey. When she divorced, Betsey took her maiden name. (Former Southern Company President Bill Dahlberg is her brother.)
Allen
Allen says: “We’ve made wine and mead at home for 20 years, and with craft breweries all the rage now, we decided to open a craft distillery.”
The distillery name comes from the Dahlberg farm in Stone Mountain, between Redan and Rockbridge Roads. Allen says: “I fell in love the same day with her (Betsey), her mother and their stone house on the farm where they lived.”
Since a spirits facility must be in areas where liquor sales are permitted, that means it cannot be in dry unincorporated Gwinnett County, but must be in a “wet” city. The couple first sought interest in Norcross, but met a roadblock, then settled on Lilburn. They operate out of a 4,200 square foot facility on Railroad Avenue in Lilburn. “Lilburn’s been great for us,” Allen says.
Allen had some “background” in the field. “My late previous father-in-law was a moonshiner,” he remembers. “I’ve had some experience observing.” But, he adds, “You must show the Tobacco and Tax Bureau you have competence, so we took courses in distilling.”
Dahlberg
During the first year of planning, the second year of renovating the building, installing equipment, and obtaining permits, they have taken no salaries. They also have formed a relationship with a distributor, Savannah Distribution of Atlanta. “They’re fantastic, have 80 sales people, and will concentrate our marketing toward Gwinnett and North Georgia, not in the competitive world of Atlanta,” Dahlberg says.
It’ll take only four hours for the initial distilling, then a week to move a batch of spirits through the process to bottling. They estimate that they can make about 30 cases a day. “That’ll be $10,000 a month in federal alcohol taxes alone,” Allen points out.
In this learning process, the couple found out that their distillery will be sought out by other companies to run private label bottling.
With Allen’s engineering background, he figures the bottling is essentially a scientific process. “You twist knobs to figure out the optimum way to do it. Yes, it’ll take practice. Vodka can be made with grain, or starch. It has no taste or color. You cook the starch, cook it with enzymes or malt and convert it to sugar, then add yeast, convert it to alcohol, then heat it in the still to take the water out of it.”
Their vodka will be named Top Hat. They have a name and label for their bourbon, for the founder of their bottling city, “Lilburn Trig Myers,” who has on a tall hat in his official portrait at City Hall.
So, come 2017, look for Gwinnett’s newest product, a bottle of spirits, made in Lilburn.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Follow Us