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Grand Teton Distillery is an American-owned and operated craft distillery, now in its 9th year making award winning vodka, bourbon and whiskey. We believe that today’s snow is tomorrow’s spirits, so we source our water directly from the Grand Teton mountain range.

We believe that USA-made and owned spirits are as good, if not better than the more well-known, familiar foreign brands that dominate the market today. It is our mission to create high quality hand crafted spirits that exemplify the grandeur of our surrounding environment, while encouraging distributors to handle and promote USA craft products as well as they do foreign brands.

Historically, the spirits industry has been dominated by multi-billion dollar foreign-owned brands and access to the industry has been controlled by multi-billion dollar distributors. The market for spirit companies that are American-made, produced and owned is infinitesimal compared to the mega-foreign companies. As recent as 2004, there were fewer than 100 distilleries within the US. Most well-known vodka brands and even many Kentucky bourbon brands are now owned offshore. 

It is hard for small American craft brands to compete and gain market share, but little by little the American craft spirit industry is growing much like craft beer in the 80s and 90s.

The Grand Teton Distillery began operations in mid-2012 and prides itself on using local and regional ingredients, natural fruit, sustainable energy practices, and water sourced directly from the Grand Teton mountains. 

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We currently produce many award-winning spirits, including our Grand Teton Potato Vodka, Grand Teton Huckleberry Vodka, Grand Teton Cherry Vodka “Vishnovka”, and  Born and Bred Vodka, made for actor/owner Channing Tatum. In addition, we also produce Colter’s Run Whiskey Small Batch Bourbon (Double Gold medal-winning), Catamount Whiskey Single Barrel Bourbon, Gamekeeper Whiskey Wheat Mash, and Grand Teton Malt Whiskey an American Single Malt. 

Spirits are considered by investment advisors to be “recession resistant” investments, as sales continue to grow exponentially. The craft market in 2019 was $3.7 billion and the US craft spirits market is expected to reach $20 billion by 2023 with a CAGR of 32% (Source).

According to Data Bridge Market research, craft spirits are expected to grow by 30.22% between 2020 and 2027 (Source). As of February 2020, vodka, which makes up 31% of the spirits market in the US, is up 2.9% to $6.6 billion while the American whiskey market is up 10.8% to $4 billion. (Source).

During our eight years of operations, Grand Teton Distillery has done over $8 million in sales. Our spirits are consistently ranked among the highest awards at national competitions. 

Our 2012-2020 achievements include: 

• First production of Grand Teton Potato Vodka (July 2012)
• GTV - Gold Medal 94 points - Beverage Testing Institute (November 2012)
• GTV – Double Gold Medal – The Fifty Best (2013)
• GTV - Double Gold Medal - San Francisco World Spirits Competition (March 2013)
• GTV - 92 Points - Wine Enthusiast (2013) – One of 11 Top Ranked Vodkas
• GTV - Gold Medal 94 points - Beverage Testing Institute (2013)
• GTV - Double Gold Medal - San Francisco World Spirits Competition (2014)
  - Only vodka ever to win Double Gold Medals in two consecutive years
• GTV - 92 Points - Ultimate Spirits Challenge (2014)
• GTV - Third Gold Medal - Beverage Testing Institute (2014)
• Colter’s Run Whiskey - Double Gold Medal - WSWA (2015)
• GTV - Fourth Gold Medal - Beverage Testing Institute (2015)
• GTV - Fifth Gold Medal - Beverage Testing Institute (2016)
• Born and Bred Vodka - Gold Medal from WSWA  (April 2016)
• GTV - Sixth Gold Medal - Beverage Testing Institute (2017)
• Born and Bred Vodka - Gold Medal - LA Spirits Competition (2017)
• Born and Bred Vodka – Gold Medal - The Fifty Best (2017)
• Catamount Whiskey – 92 Points – Wine Enthusiast (2018)
• Born and Bred Vodka – Gold Medal – SIP Awards (2018)

The Company has won the top awards, multiple Double Gold Medals, for both its vodka and its whiskey. Grand Teton Potato Vodka consistently ranked in the top five vodkas in the world, reaching #2 in the world one year based on aggregate reviews and awards, during its first 5 years while actively entering competition. Colter’s Run Bourbon won a Double Gold from the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers Competition in Orlando and Catamount Bourbon got 92 points from Wine Enthusiast Magazine. 

Grand Teton Distillery products have been sold in 23 states, plus Canada and the UK. In 2014, actor Channing Tatum made a major investment in our distillery and formed a partnership with us to design a vodka called Born and Bred. Our vodka has been featured in two of his latest movies, “Kingsman - Golden Circle” and “Logan Lucky”. 

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At Grand Teton Distillery, we source all our raw materials locally and regionally. The huckleberries for our Huckleberry Vodka, for example, grow wild and are sourced from the surrounding mountains. Our location in Teton Valley, Idaho, is adjacent to thousands of acres of potatoes, barley, and rye production and there is a potato processing plant 50 miles down the road, which supplies our potatoes for all of our vodkas. A local farmer in Teton Valley grows and malts barley for our single malt whiskey, which is our first “grain to glass” product.

For cooling water, we have a buried tank holding one thousand gallons of water and we recirculate our cooling water, saving thousands of gallons each year. We have two deep wells on our property, one for production and proofing and one as an injection well where cooling water goes to recharge/recool after use. Our well, charged by the snow melt from the Tetons, provides pristine glacial mountain water for proofing our spirits. The water is filtered, but does not require chemical treatment.

We began as a small start-up, after the 2008 recession, with a plan to keep costs low, avoid debt, and allow time to grow our brand. We set up multiple revenue sources with a gift shop/tasting room, tours, and a license from our state to sell our products on site. Because we were able to get off the ground in just 10 months (compared to the 18 to 36 month MBA start-up model), we ran a “Distillery College” charging tuition to teach other potential craft start-ups how to negotiate the pitfalls, and thereby increasing our cash flow for working capital.

Because we sourced our equipment directly from the manufacturer rather than through middle-man vendors, we are able to sell distillery equipment to other distillers, as another source of revenue. In our liquor production, we keep costs low by ordering our raw materials, bottles, and closures in truck load quantities and negotiate potato and grain prices by contract on an annual basis.

Much like the craft brewery industry, there has been rapid growth in craft distilleries over the last 16 years, from just 69 to over 2000 distilleries across the US. However, as with any rapid growth industry, we are beginning to see a shake out, as smaller, under-capitalized distilleries close. While the failure rate of small businesses is highest in the first three years, we are currently in our 9th year, working out of a large un-mortgaged 3.5 acre site, with great profitability.

We have won the highest awards in the industry for our quality on virtually every product we produce. We have reached a point where we are past the initial start-up hurdles, with multiple sources of revenue and two celebrity shareholders to help promote our products. Grand Teton Distillery has recognized regionally distributed products and a loyal customer base, and is poised and well positioned to move to the next level.

We have been approved for an additional 10,000 sq ft expansion, which will be able to accommodate the production of over 100,000 cases. The first phase of building will begin in the spring of 2021 and we have the preliminary approval for a $1.4 million SBA loan, to only be used for equipment, buildings and land. Our expanded facility will include a destination-level tasting room and gift shop and expanded parking for guests and buses.

We have a marketing plan in place, which we expect will grow our sales to 12,000 cases per annum and make us attractive as a partner, merger, or acquisition to larger entities with distribution power to push our brands and company to the next level. Our strategic partnership with celebrities like Channing Tatum, if promoted well, will also highlight the company and give it a national stature rather than a regional one.

Our founders, Lea and Bill, started out with just a vacant 3.5 acre piece of land on a state highway and transformed it into a fully functioning distillery with a stellar product, in just 10 months. Our head distiller, John, had the skill and palate to produce an award winning vodka on the first try and has continued to produce award winning spirits with each new product. Andrew joined a bit later to take over day-to-day operations, strategic planning, and direct sales, while Karyn took over office operations.

Drusilla Lawton is among our newest board members, with a degree from Yale, an MBA from NYU, and world finance and securities experience in London and New York, with JP Morgan and BNY Mellon. John Bell has joined our board, as well, and contributes his extensive business growth experience, owning a $100 million company with business across all 50 states

Spirits are a fun business and our shareholders get great discounts. With the US craft spirits market expected to reach $20 billion by 2023, there is tremendous growth potential in American-owned craft distilleries. With celebrity partnerships, strategic marketing and numerous awards under our belt, Grand Teton Distillery is poised to be a major player in that growth!