The first wave of small-batch Louisiana distilleries began in 2013. Now a second wave is hitting, and a pair of Baton Rouge brands are getting in on the action, 225 reports in a feature from the current issue.
Sixteen Louisiana-based distilleries have applied for federal permits to distill alcohol. One of them is Baton Rouge Distilling, which began selling its first line, a small batch of fruit brandies, earlier this spring. Its founders, husband and wife duo Ricci Hull and Natacha Krzesaj, say they decided to get into the distilling business after they were entranced by artisan spirits they sampled while traveling.
The two began visiting craft distillers across the country. “Everyone we talked to was really open and wanted to talk about what it took to be successful,” says Hull, an electrical engineer.
He and Krzesaj, a marketing professional, are the sole investors and employees of the grassroots operation located in an industrial park off Airline Highway near Highland Road.
“It takes a lot of nights and weekends,” Hull says. “It’s a tough juggle, but the idea is to get it up to a point and transition away from our day jobs.”
With the growing craft cocktail culture and the farm-to-table movement reaching Louisiana, Walter Tharp, founder of Cane Land Distilling Co. also decided to dive in, confident he could offer a standout “mill-to-still” product.
Cane Land will produce rum using molasses made at his family’s Alma Plantation, which grows sugarcane, making it a single-estate producer. A distilling facility on St. Phillip Street in downtown Baton Rouge is nearly finished, and production of spirits should begin in the fall.
Once the facility is fully open and operating, Cane Land Distilling Company also will feature a retail shop that will include rum-centric culinary items as well as spirits.
