The Gorge Business News
March 14, 2019
From Son (Scott) to Dad (Skunk), to Grandpa (Archie) the moonshiner; Skunk Brothers Spirits is where blood (I mean booze) flows deep in the family veins.
Skunk Brothers Spirits Inc.
Get Skunk'd!
Stevenson , WA
Food & Beverage
Award Winning Artisanal Spirits made right in the Columbia Gorge! Old School meets with innovation Peated Bourbons, 100% Pure Corn Whiskey Moonshine, Sweet Apple Pie, and seasonal fruit cordials.
$1,069,692
raised
2,429
Investors
$4.5M
Valuation
$1.00
Price per Share
$250.00
Min. Investment
Common
Shares Offered
Equity
Offering Type
$1.07M
Offering Max
0
Days Left
This offering ended on July 02, 2020 and is no longer accepting investments.
Reasons to Invest
The market is a looming giant: There is every reason to believe that craft liquor will mirror or exceed the growth of craft beer in the next few years.
Skunk Brothers Spirits have the perfect authentic appeal for the craft spirits market, as a family of veterans, moonshiners and true artisans.
The family-run distillery has organically accumulated an army of dedicated fans who continue to make the journey back to our tasting room as much for the experience as for the spirits.
“Craft distillers with moonshine roots using local ingredients.”
Skunk Brothers Spirits is run by a family of disabled veterans focused on locally sourced, artisanal spirits. The Washington-based team is building on their grandfather’s prohibition-era craft to bring award winning spirits to customers old and new.
Most liquor is mass-produced and lacks an authentic identity
This is the era of the artisan, locally-crafted food and beverage. Craft beer, local wines and a host of other higher price point food trends like the faux meat craze, it’s clear that consumers in this space are looking for quality goods backed by noble values. People are becoming more educated on the food and drink they choose, and place a higher value on locally produced products. While craft beer sales have dropped off the consumers' interest in liquor has skyrocketed with no sign of slowing. People are branching out and trying new brands and the innovations the industry hasn't seen since prohibition have them excited!
Despite this, the liquor market remains dominated by the likes of Jack Daniels and Jim Beam — both of which fail to deliver on any of these new tenants of the market in 2019. Even some of the so-called craft spirits brands are just repackaging the same mass-produced liquor.
-https://www.lek.com/insights/ei/top-10-trends-affecting-spirits-industry
Skunk Brothers Liquor is using Washington’s natural ingredients to produce honest spirits
From our Smokey Bourbon Whiskeys to our award winning Fruit Cordials, all of our spirits are hand-made right here in Washington. We believe we already have all the best ingredients in our community, so we work with local farmers and suppliers to produce the highest quality spirits from scratch.
We’re bringing all the elements that consumers have been sorely missing from the spirits industry — transparent sourcing, long-tested recipes and ever-evolving flavors.
Craft spirits are gaining ground in an already flourishing market
The spirits market has shown excellent growth in recent years, maintaining a decade long streak of expansion. As the overall market grows considerably, the craft spirits niche has been steadily eating away at the gains of their mass-produced competitors. From 2017 to 2018, U.S. craft spirits distilleries grew to 760+ in 2016, from only 60 in 2003, approximately 2,000 permits issued. (source: American Distilling Institute, Market Watch, Jan. 2016)
Craft is 1.7% of total spirits market by case sales, and projected to hit 8% by 2020. (source: BNP Paribas, Market Watch Jan. 2016)
Due to the nature of their upmarket positioning, craft spirits are also out punching its weight in value. The total market share for spirits hit a record 35.4% in 2015 of a $24.1 Billion industry. (source: Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Feb 2, 2016.)
Even during the slowdown caused by the COVID Pandemic, the Spirits sales did just that, slowed down...but still continued to grow.
We’ve perfected our distilling process and have built a loyal following
We have doubled our production capacity, are now able to produce more than a barrel per day in our 320 gallon main still with room to grow and our 100 gallon finishing still keeps the new products coming!
Thanks to our superb location in Columbia River Gorge, a tourist hotspot full of natural beauty tucked away on the border between Washington and Oregon, we’ve built relationships with many of our customers who come back year after year to enjoy a visit to our tasting room.
Grain to glass craft spirits
We take the finest ingredients from all around Columbia River Gorge and distill spirits that make taste-testers swoon. We distill all of our products in-house at our distillery in Washington — never repackaging other manufacturer’s spirits.
Each season we take the freshest fruit from our community and use them in our seasonal cordials; these liqueurs are a big hit and we struggle to keep up with demand.
Our “sweet” liquors can be sold fresh, at the same time we’ve been steadily producing whiskey to age, stowed away in barrels to naturally enhance the flavor.
Sales come almost entirely from our distillery tasting room
We have been selling almost exclusively from our tasting room, with supplementary revenue coming from online ordering and limited local distribution. With just these three sales channels and no outside marketing, we have more than double our sales from each prior year. This allowed us to survive the lockdowns of bars and restaurants during the pandemic, but now it's time to grow again! With the proceeds from this raise, we plan to turn on additional marketing channels of advertising, online marketing, and regional sales personnel we will successfully reach our production and sales goals.
We capture the taste of the Pacific Northwest in every batch
We are one of only a few craft distilleries in the region, and have ingrained our company as a staple of the community. Our customers love coming in to our tasting room and sitting down with the family owners and operators of the business. We love hearing people walking in through the door asking "Where's Skunk?" and leaving saying "Man that was fun!"
Our local ingredients and hands on approach to every bottle assures that our product reflects the seasons and tastes of the northwest. That’s an intangible aspect that mass-produced spirits will never be able to emulate.
We will become the powerhouse of northwest craft spirits
In the past five years, we have focused on our community, building relationships with farmers and growers in the area, and cementing our brand as a trustworthy source of superb spirits. Now, we’re ready for the next steps and getting serious about funding a sales and marketing department to bring our unique flavors to wider distribution.
Our Spirits are winning awards. In the 2020 Pr%f Awards Competition we took Gold with our Smoke Jumper Bourbon, our Sweet Apple Pie, and our we are proud to say our Blueberry Cinnamon Cordial received a perfect 100 score and won the Pr%f Awards Century Award!
On top of all of those successes our labels won Silver and Bronze medals as well.
Now that we have removed many of our bottlenecks in both the fermentation and distillation process and have ramped up production to meet our now exploding demand all we need to do is get it out there to the consumers. We will continue to expand our product lines, like incorporating our Straight Bourbon and Age-Accelerated Whiskey into our repertoire with terrific results!
Your investments will allow our brand to grow well beyond the Columbia River Gorge market and buck the seasonality of the tourism market that has grown us up strong. Like Beacon Rock, monument that looks out over the Columbia River we weather the storms and keep on keepin' on.
Moonshine is in our blood
We’re the Donoho family. We’re a family of veterans — from the Vietnam War to Operation Iraqi Freedom — we're just folks. We work hard, play hard we all have a story or two to tell. We appreciate the hard working folks all around us and ecstatic to be able to give something back. To our fellow veterans, to first responders, teachers, loggers, fisherman, truck drivers and anyone else out there who has a story to tell, we thank you.
Because of you we are giving back where we can, and currently we are donating to Patriot Paws https://patriotpaws.org/ who's mission is to train and provide service dogs of the highest quality at no cost to disabled American veterans and Others with mobile disabilities in order to help restore their physical and emotional independence
We grew up hearing stories about Grandpa Donoho, who hustled his way through prohibition and the Great Depression by slinging moonshine to locals to feed his family. Disabled himself, he worked hard and did what was needed to take care of his family and community.
Today we carry on his tradition and hope to do him proud one bottle of whiskey at a time.
The craft spirits market is thriving and you have a chance to get a piece of it
Skunk Brothers Spirits has already proved we can sell our products with the best of ‘em. Without any sophisticated marketing or sales-team we’ve been able to attract fans from all over — simply thanks to our superior liquor.
So far, we have had to play defense, with demand peaking our facilities were unable to catch up. Now the tables have turned, we have the tools, we have the talent and we are ready!
With operations capital to keep the ball rolling, our sales personnel can continue generation of our own sales leads through comprehensive marketing strategy, there’s no telling how fast we can grow.
We’re confident, not just because the numbers are in our favor, but because there’s something magical that happens when someone tastes our craft spirits. So, join us, and help Skunk Brothers Spirits get our craft distilled labor of love out into the world.
In the Press
Gorge Distilleries (pages 18 - 21)
Look for Skunk Brothers Spirits distillery and tasting room along the docks in Stevenson, Wash., fashioned after an old-time speakeasy, replete with sliding bookcase facade that reveals the tasting room. Inspired by a bootlegging grandfather, Skunk Brothers stills up a selection of liquor.
Offering Summary
Company | : | Skunk Brothers Spirits Inc. |
Corporate Address | : | 40 SW Cascade Ave. Ste 45 (P.O. BOX 1505), Stevenson , WA 98648 |
Offering Minimum | : | $10,000.00 |
Offering Maximum | : | $1,070,000.00 |
Minimum Investment Amount(per investor) | : | $250.00 |
Terms
Offering Type | : | Equity |
Security Name | : | Common Stock |
Minimum Number of Shares Offered | : | 10,000 |
Maximum Number of Shares Offered | : | 1,070,000 |
Price per Share | : | $1.00 |
Pre-Money Valuation | : | $4,500,000.00 |
*Maximum Number of Shares Offered subject to adjustment for bonus shares. See Bonus info below
Time-Based Perks
Invest within the first 48 hours and receive 15% bonus shares
Invest within the first two weeks and receive 10% bonus shares
Perks
$250+ — If you invest $250+, you will receive a Skunk Bros. Hat, Challenge Coin, Coasters and Swag Bag. *
$2,500+ — If you invest $2,500+, you will receive a set of Skunk Bros. Rocks Glasses, a Skunk Bros. Hat, Challenge Coin and Swag Bag. *
$5,000+ — If you invest $5,000+, you will receive a set of Skunk Bros. Shot Glasses, a Skunk Bros. Hat, Challenge Coin, and Swag Bag. *
$10,000+ — If you invest $10,000+ you will receive a Skunk Bros. Hoodie or Sweatershirt, Hat, Challenge Coin, and Swag Bag and Swag Bag. *
$25,000+ — If you invest $25,000+, you will receive a Skunk Brothers Garage style work shirt, Skunk Brothers hat, Challenge Coin, and Swag Bag. *
$50,000+ — If you invest $50,000+, you will receive a 1 Liter Barrel Aging Kit, Skunk Bros. Hat, Challenge Coin, Skunk Bros. and Swag Bag. *
The 10% Bonus for StartEngine Shareholders
Skunk Brothers Spirits Inc. will offer 10% additional bonus shares for all investments that are committed by investors that are eligible for the StartEngine Crowdfunding Inc. OWNer's bonus.
This means eligible StartEngine shareholders will receive a 10% bonus for any shares they purchase in this offering. For example, if you buy 300 shares of Common Stock at $2 / share, you will receive 30 bonus shares, meaning you'll own 660 shares for $600. Fractional shares will not be distributed and share bonuses will be determined by rounding down to the nearest whole share.
This 10% Bonus is only valid during the investors eligibility period. Investors eligible for this bonus will also have priority if they are on a waitlist to invest and the company surpasses its maximum funding goal. They will have the first opportunity to invest should room in the offering become available if prior investments are cancelled or fail.
Investors will only receive a single bonus, which will be the highest bonus rate they are eligible for.
*All perks occur after the offering is completed.
**Unfortunately we will only be able to provide samples in certain circumstances. State laws and shipping regulations make it very difficult, and shipping fees will apply.
Irregular Use of Proceeds
The Company might incur Irregular Use of Proceeds that may include but are not limited to the following over $10,000: Vendor payments. Salary payments made to one’s self, a friend or relative. Inter company debt or back payments. Any expense labeled “Administrative Expenses” not strictly for administrative purposes.
Show More
Most recent fiscal year-end:
Prior fiscal year-end:
Total Assets
$170,328.12
USD
$12,466.33
USD
Cash And Cash Equivalents
$54,628.78
USD
$9,646.00
USD
Accounts Receivable
$379.00
USD
$0.00
USD
Short Term Debt
$129,881.00
USD
$209,305.65
USD
Long Term Debt
$487,831.03
USD
$416,619.40
USD
Revenues And Sales
$217,884.08
USD
$114,810.94
USD
Costs Of Goods Sold
$121,167.57
USD
$44,448.53
USD
Taxes Paid
$48,455.50
USD
$23,188.56
USD
Net Income
-$691,063.78
USD
-$218,181.39
USD
Risks
A crowdfunding investment involves risk. You should not invest any funds in this offering unless you can afford to lose your entire investment. In making an investment decision, investors must rely on their own examination of the issuer and the terms of the offering, including the merits and risks involved. These securities have not been recommended or approved by any federal or state securities commission or regulatory authority. Furthermore, these authorities have not passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this document. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not pass upon the merits of any securities offered or the terms of the offering, nor does it pass upon the accuracy or completeness of any offering document or literature. These securities are offered under an exemption from registration; however, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not made an independent determination that these securities are exempt from registration.
Updates
Perk items are shipping!
6 months agoDear investors and friends,
You heard it right, the perk items are shipping! In my previous update I mentioned that I wouldn't give any more explanations of why your items haven't shipped and that the next time you hear from me is when they are in the mail...so attached is a picture of the items boxed up for shipping. I want to thank everyone for your patience during this wait, it has been a huge learning experience for us. I will be sending another newsletter update with our progress so far and other details about how we have been putting your investments to work.
Once again thank you all for your patience,
Scott Donoho
Skunk Brothers Spirits
Perk Items
9 months agoHey there folks,
We know you all have been patiently waiting for your perk items and we have great news. StartEngine gave us the investor list and addresses just a few days ago, and we are about ready to start shipping your items!
There are a lot of you so we will be working like crazy to get them all shipped. September is going to be a busy month! Some of the larger items take some time to have built and ship so those may arrive at a different time than the smaller stuff.
We have had a lot of sample shipments come back to us so please ensure that the address you have in your profile is the address you want us to ship to. If your shipping address is different just hit us up at mail@skunkbrothersspirits.com and we will try to make sure they go out correctly.
Finally, for those of you that aren't aware, you can access and download your certificates under "My Investments".
We know it's been a long wait. Some of you have been waiting since the launch! We thank you for your patience with us and StartEngine and we appreciate your support.
-Skunk Brothers Spirits Crew
Perks and Progress
10 months agoHey there everyone, Scott here with an update for you investors!
Many of you are asking about when the perks and certificates will ship. For those of you who weren't aware of this, you can access your certificates right here on your StartEngine account. Just head on up the the menu in the upper right and click on the down arrow next to your name. Click on my investments and you can see your portfolio right there. You can download and print your certificates right there!
Now the Perks take a bit longer, so I have to ask you to be patient. We had more than 2500 investors! StartEngine is still verifying and compiling all investments and will send us an updated list shortly, the process can take several weeks. In the meantime we have many of the perk items in (over 2500 hats!) and they look great. We will be sending you challenge coins as well and those do take longer to make up. As soon as they are complete we will begin sending items through our fulfillment service and it shouldn't be long now. Our lounge and storage areas are full of swag! Finally, for the larger items for the folks who have invested in the higher tiers, they are being put together now but they will take a bit longer to ship. Considering what we have seen from the samples being returned, I'm fairly certain the folks at Fedex use our packages for hockey practice! That reminds me, samples are still being shipped out and we hope to get them out to everyone on the list in the next couple weeks as well. In fact there is a pile of about 100 samples ready to go out on Monday. Folks, remember that you must have someone 21 or older to receive the samples when they arrive or they will be returned. Also, we have to make sure that shipping to your area is legal so they don't get returned and we don't get into trouble. We will announce when we think we have all samples shipped, if you still haven't received yours following that announcement then by all means contact us and we can make sure it didn't get returned or missed.
Finally, we have been working like crazy to put your investments to work. We have been adding equipment, hiring people and increasing our sales like crazy! We thank you for investing with us and ask you for your patience with all of these things, we are splitting our time between increasing sales and production and completion of this campaign and all that comes with it. If we miss your emails or FB messages and comments we apologize! We will try to get to everyone as soon as we can!
Thank you again,
Scott
P.S. Yes we will be offering discounts for investors in both the tasting room and webstore. I will update you all this week on how that will work.
S
Last Chance! A message for our supporters.
11 months agoHey folks, Scott here,
We are literally in the last days of our campaign, in fact it ends tomorrow! I wanted to say a Big Thank You to all of you! Our supporters, investors and fans that have stepped up and had our backs! It been quite the challenge for us running this campaign as we were learning right along with all of you how this crowdfunding thing works. We have been super busy trying to answer all the emails, messages, comments, and questions along the way and we apologize again to those folks we may have missed. COVID, riots, and a sudden surge in sales and production have kept us jumping! Now it’s time to get busy getting those perk packages together and most importantly getting that liquor made! I would like to encourage everyone who still might be interested to get your names on the waiting list. Inevitably a few people will change their minds about investing and shares become available! So, if you are still looking to get in on the campaign get your names on the list and as shares come available you will be notified.
Thanks guys!
-Scott
Notice of Funds Disbursement
11 months ago[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].
Hello!
As you might know, Skunk Brothers Spirits Inc. has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Skunk Brothers Spirits Inc. be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.
This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.
Thanks for funding the future.
-StartEngine
Perks being printed now!
11 months agoHey folks, we thank you all for believing in us! We are in the process of having all the perks made up so we can get them out to you as soon as possible! Here is a photo of the hats in progress!
-
Scott
Sales Update
12 months agoSkunk Brothers Spirits is pleased to announce that online stores Cask Cartel and Reservebar will soon be carrying our products. These are two of the top online spirits companies in the country, and we are very excited to be working with them. They have an onboarding marketing program for new products that will jump-start sales. The process will roll out into a few select states first, and as we establish additional distribution channels, they can ship intra-state.
At the same time, Skunk Brothers nationwide roll-out program is also being implemented, and we are working with major retailers such as Total Wine & More who will be stocking our Smoke Jumper Bourbon and other products in Washington by summer. Total Wine is an excellent partner in the craft distilling industry, and we look forward to partnering with them with each new state moving forward.
As we launch in individual states we will make sure you, our partners know where you can pick up Skunk Brothers spirits locally.
Thank you again for your support! We look forward to a very successful 2020.
Scott
Please share our link below with friends and family. https://www.startengine.com/skunk-brothers
Notice of Funds Disbursement
12 months ago[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].
Hello!
As you might know, Skunk Brothers Spirits Inc. has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Skunk Brothers Spirits Inc. be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.
This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.
Thanks for funding the future.
-StartEngine
New milestone over $665,000 raised!
12 months agoWe have reached another milestone and are well on our way to the next. Over $655k, 1504 investors, and growing!
I want to take the time to share our appreciation for our investors, who are now part of the Skunk family. More than ever, I realize how lucky we are to have such a fantastic community who believes in what we are doing. We are so thankful for all your emails and messages encouraging us! We know sometimes it takes a day or two to respond, but we are doing our best.
These are challenging times, and each of us is doing our best to navigate them. Our hand sanitizer is selling as fast as we can make it, and we always set aside and donate whenever we can to first responders and medical personnel.
Now is a great time to invest! We are working on new products, like Gin and Malt Whiskey, and we are pursuing partnerships with big retailers like Total Wine and more!
We have a bright future and would love for you to be a part of it.
Please share our link below with friends and family. https://www.startengine.com/skunk-brothers
Scott & The Sunk Brothers Team!
Notice of Funds Disbursement
about 1 year ago[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].
Hello!
As you might know, Skunk Brothers Spirits Inc. has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Skunk Brothers Spirits Inc. be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.
This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.
Thanks for funding the future.
-StartEngine
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