Foley Family Wines and Minden Mill seek authority to bottling and store third-party spirits at state estate distillery
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Summary
Foley Family Wines and Minden Mill told the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee that allowing estate distilleries to store and bottle third-party bulk spirits—segregated from estate products—would provide revenue and better use of existing facilities; counsel proposed amendments to preserve estate-product integrity.
Carson City — Foley Family Wines and Spirits and Minden Mill Distilling told the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee they seek statutory permission to store and bottle third-party bulk spirits at their Minden estate distillery, provided those products remain segregated from estate-distilled spirits.
Mary Tran, deputy general counsel for Foley Family Wines and Spirits, told the committee the company operates Minden Mill Distilling in the historic mill buildings in Minden and that its grain-to-glass process is vertically integrated: “Our grains are grown 3 miles away and the water we use is from an aquifer fed by Sierra Nevada snow melt,” Tran said. She told the committee the facility has the capacity and systems to segregate and trace non-estate products.
Joseph O'Sullivan, master distiller at Minden Mill, described membership in the University of Kentucky's Estate Whiskey Alliance and said the distillery maintains separate labeling and rickhouse segregation for non-estate barrels. “The wall between estate and non estate products will be upheld,” O'Sullivan told the committee.
Attorney Leif Reid summarized the bill's two core changes: allow estate distillery tasting rooms the same retail privileges as wineries (when county retail licenses are obtained and product is purchased through wholesalers), and allow estate distilleries to receive neutral spirits in bulk for storage and bottling only if they are strictly segregated from estate products. The transcript indicates a section of the bill was deleted in full and that sponsors offered a proposed amendment to clarify operations.
John Sandy of Frey Ranch Distillery testified neutral, saying his business did not intend to use the model but suggesting that if the Legislature authorizes the practice it should apply equally to all distilleries, not only estate distilleries.
Committee members asked how third-party barrels and bottling would work operationally; O'Sullivan said third-party barrels could be brought in, blended or bottled as specified by the third party, and stored in segregated rickhouse space with separate labeling to preserve traceability.
No vote was taken at the hearing; sponsors said they would provide further clarifications and county retail licensing would still be required for tasting-room sales of non-estate product.
