Our Story
Three years ago my wife Amy and I followed our dreams and moved our family to Sonoma to start handcrafting specialty spirits. We fell in love with the place and creative people who were producing exceptional quality lifestyle products. From wine to bacon to bread Sonoma was the place. We ditched our previous careers and started HelloCello in 2009 as a boutique specialty spirits producer. We currently produce fine liqueurs like award winning Limoncello di Sonoma, FigCello, OrangeCello and Hooker’s House Bourbon, Rye and General’s Reserve. Sugar Daddy Rum will be released in late 2012.
Enhancing our capabilities and experience by acquiring The Federal and State permits to operate a still and manufacture brandy was the next logical step for our small start-up company. After almost a year of legalities we are now the first licensed Distillery and Still in Sonoma Valley since Prohibition began! With such a great history of distilling we decided we wanted to resurrect craft distilling in Sonoma and enhance the wine country experience.
Our current handmade still is not adequate for production and we need your help to build a new, state of the art, handmade custom brandy still to meet our growing needs. The fabrication of these works of art is costly and time consuming due to materials (copper and stainless steel) costs and precision manufacturing.
We have identified the still design and fabricator to make this custom still for us. Now we need your help to creatively finance the cost.
Funds raised from this Kickstarter campaign will go directly to the fabrication and installation of the still at our Sonoma distillery.
Why this is important
We are a strong believer in farm to table to glass and eat\drink local philosophy to help preserve this amazing environment. We realized there is a lot of wine, wine pumice and surplus fruit that currently goes to waste in close proximity to us in Sonoma. By distilling these products into specialty spirits we can reclaim and recycle something that would have been lost and create something truly special and tasty. Our goal is to work with local wineries, orchards and farmers to reuse and recycle agricultural byproducts into something great.
Everybody loves something shiny!
Distilling has deep historical roots in wine country that must be revisited, resurrected, preserved and maintained. The distilling of fruit into brandy has a long and successful history in Sonoma and Napa dating back to the mid 1800’s but for the most part has been a lost art since prohibition. Great distillers like Remy Martin, Christian Brothers, and Chauvet produced amazing brandies in the area. Our Kickstarter project will pay respect to these pioneers in distilling by resurrecting the craft in Sonoma. Craft distilling of specialty spirits takes us back to a time when drinks were local and had personality and not dominated by big global brands. Drink Local!
Why we will succeed with your help
We are not starting from scratch on this “Start the Still” Kickstarter project. We have spent three years gathering knowledge, resources and expertise in spirits production. We have already committed time and finical resources to successfully start a spirits business. We have a facility and most equipment for production. Licenses, permits, bonds are in place. We have a great network of customers (buyers) for our finished products.
Please help if you can. We have fun and unique rewards for all levels of contribution. If you cannot help financially please pass this story on and spread the word on our “Start the Still” Kickstarter project. We cannot due this alone.
The Money for this campaign will go directly to the fabrication, construction and installation of our new Still.
Risks and challenges
With any project that requires precision manufacturing of a costume design there is the possibility of delays. We understand this and have added additional time as a buffer. We have done the best to maker sure things that are in our control are in place. We already have State and Federal licenses to operate the still and a licensed and bonded facility. The hard part is done.
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Funding period
- (31 days)