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l PROFILE NORTH COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL x FALL 2015 x sdnedc.org firmly believe that craft producers working together are much more powerful than working independently. We have begun a cooperative of producers in Southern Cali- fornia and I look at their products as my own. I'm just as motivated to get every craft producer on the shelf as I am to get my own bottle on there. How did you end up doing business in North San Diego County? My wife and I moved here in 2008 and started our family. By the time we were look- ing for a location for the business, we had three kids. My wife told me that if I was going to be spending all my time at the dis- tillery, then it had to be close enough for the kids to stop by on their way home from school. In addition to the location, North County is a very progressive area with lots of things to see and do. There's a large sprawling university, aggressive city expan- sion plans, and the real estate is a bit better priced than just a little south of here. What is the biggest hurdle you face in the craft spirits industry? Distribution lockout. The Tied House laws shifted power from producers to distributors and they've built quite the empire in the U.S. by taking full advantage of that. Distributors today are powerhouses and they don't want anything to change. How do you overcome that hurdle? By changing the game. Large dis- tributors have spent millions of dollars over decades ensuring that the laws are air-tight to pre- vent any new business from sur- viving. There is no way we can compete with that kind of horse- power, so we don't. We give them or- ders. We go out and get large orders and simply smile and hand them to every dis- tributor we can and ask for nothing in re- turn. What is the most valuable lesson you've learned as a business owner? I've learned more in this past year about business and myself than at any other point in history. I know that everything is nego- tiable, there is no such thing as "No." You're never going to buy the right part the first time, but most of all, I've learned that you are all the resource you need. What's been your biggest success so far in business? Getting this far! I guess I could say that every day. It's simply amazing that we have a working rum distillery and accounts. Busi- ness is a series of successes. When that stops, you're done. If I had to pick one thing, I would say having the guts to break out of the rat race and put it all on the line to build something for myself and my family. How would you describe the birth and sudden growth of the craft spirits industry? The birth of craft spirits in America has been one of the hardest and longest ones in history. America was a whiskey nation long before beer. Strong in- terests monopolized the market and are doing everything they can to see that it stays that way. If there has been any sudden growth, I've missed it. "The thing that makes us different is our approach to making rum. We designed it to improve a rum and coke. " – CASEY MILES, The California Spirits Company owner CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE CALIFORNIA SPIRITS COMPANY fi