The bill enables cocktails to be served at distilleries, therefore also making it possible for distillers to operate a bar in addition to the distillery. This announcement comes on the heels of the passage of Senate Bill 290 this past week, marking a historic milestone for distilleries in North Carolina. “If I think about what it all means to me,” Melissa said, “I think it's the recognition that we're bringing a quality of gin to the US consumer that they are embracing and not feeling intimidated by.Co-Owners of Durham Distillery – Melissa and Lee KatrincicĬo-Owners Melissa and Lee Katrincic have announced plans for Durham Distillery’s craft cocktail bar “Corpse Reviver” in early 2020. In addition to her distillery, the Corpse Reviver Cocktail Bar and Lounge located inside and her best-selling gin, Melissa’s also the first-and, as of right now, the only-female distiller in the U.S. “And then we had, like I said, a couple of initial investors in the group that believed in us.” “I was really lucky that we were able to self-fund a lot,” Melissa said. What are we doing now?’”Īside from the legal hurdles that we, in the end, successfully jumped over, Melissa’s financing process wasn’t easy, either, with many banks and investors hesitant to provide capital to an alcohol business. “I'm amazed how often I got back up after I got an email from you. “The whole thing about entrepreneurship is you have to be ready to get knocked down every day and get back up,” Melissa said. With so many marks filed in the office, it’s easy to run into the same issue Melissa had, and she didn’t let it phase her. Patent and Trademark Office looks at alcohol sellers in one of three ways: as a restaurant, as a brewery or as a distillery. “I don't think we had any understanding of how trademarks were being held by the big conglomerates until we really went through this with you,” Melissa said. I’ve had the privilege of working with Melissa, president, and CEO of Durham Distillery, at Hutchison for many years on her company’s trademarks, and she had the worst luck of anyone I have worked with on her applications.Ī hamburger stand in Texas was concerned that their business might be interfered with by her gin business in Durham. Her boss became one of her company’s first investors. And with her husband’s experience as a pharmaceutical chemist, they began distilling a drink that would stand out and become the best-selling craft gin in the state: Conniption. “Why don’t we make gin?” she asked her husband. Riding home from a trip to Savannah, GA and facing an impending layoff after 20 years in marketing, she saw a passion project in her future. “Whenever my husband, Lee, and I would travel, we would try new gins and gin cocktails, or we would go and buy gin at the retailer just to see what was on shelf,” Katrincic said. Melissa Katrincic loves gin, and she sought out new brands of the spirit everywhere she went.

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