We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Cross recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

The short answer to the question, “Why did you decide to open a distillery?” is that we turned a hobby into a business. I’m not sure I’d advise that of all hobbies because, as I have learned, when you take this leap, your hobby is no longer your hobby; it becomes a do-or-die investment with no option to set it aside for a while, as we do with our hobbies. My husband and I had the “idea” to distill spirits for quite a while and that idea informed our travels for many years, albeit as a leisure activity. I faced burn out in 2013 as a public educator and announced, unexpectedly, to my husband, that “I needed a new world.” Education is all-encompassing, especially in Utah where, as the saying goes, we “stack ’em deep and teach ’em cheap.” I was just burned out. That reality accelerated our business “idea” that was likely going to be much smaller and a retirement gig. We immediately ramped up our travels to focus primarily on training and education in the spirits industry. We went to schools, conferences, safety classes, distilling courses and of course distillery after distillery. We talked to anyone who would give us a bit of time and learned much from those who had proceeded us in taking a similar step. We studied seriously for about two years before finally breaking ground on a purpose-built facility in March of 2016. To date, New World Distillery is likely the most “green” distillery in the state of Utah. We are proud of our products and our efforts to design a facility and implement processes that are environmentally responsible, sustainable and respectful of our rural valley in which we live. We made the CRAZY decision to open in December of 2016 with only one product on the shelf. That meant that we had to pay all the licensing fees at both the state and federal level to be open for 20 days in December of 2016. But if you are from Utah, you will remember that in 2016 we had EPIC snow! Snow brings tourists and we are located in a pristine valley surrounded by mountains, reservoirs and three ski resorts often referred to as “hidden gems.” We have earned accolades for our tours, commendations for our sustainability practices and awards for our spirits. We were on a gorgeous trajectory and then 2020 hit. I’m pretty sure most of you know what that means for a small business such as ours. We have essentially three years to make up for so that’s where we are today: in Covid recovery as a small business facing continued loss of tourism and a supply chain nightmare that changes daily and not for the better. So, as far as the story goes, 2020 brought us a chapter we could never have anticipated and we know better than to try to predict the next phase. For now, we are just grateful to still be here and we are working hard to remain Northern Utah’s favorite distillery.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In order to open a distillery, we are required to obtain a Federal DSP, or Distilled Spirits Plant permit. This is required whether an organization actually distills spirits or not. If you move high proof spirits on a production floor, you must have a DSP. Having a DSP allows a company to call themselves as a “distillery,” even if they don’t distill a single thing. There is a lot about the spirits industry that is misleading and confusing and unfortunately, there are many who take advantage of this fact to beguile the consumer into believing they are supporting local spirits when in fact they are simply supporting a repackaging entity. At New World Distillery, we pride ourselves on transparency in regard to all our processes, products and plant operations. As a former educator, I prioritize educating our visitors on such nuances as how to read and/or interpret a label, what makes a superior product in terms of processes and how to navigate the rules and regulations in our industry as they apply to each spirit type. Because we live and work in a control state, understanding the alcohol laws in Utah can be a challenge. We spend time educating our customers on the various and frequently-changing laws so that visitors are comfortable imbibing in our state and not misguided into thinking that Utah is a dry state with no local spirits manufacturers. The very design of our facility, which includes a glass wall that divides the retail from the production floor, signals complete transparency in regard to our operations. We are also one of the greenest, if not THE greenest, distillery in the state. We recycle 100% of our chilling water. We were the first commercial business to sign up for the Rocky Mountain Solar Subscriber program and our electric stills are powered in part, by solar. All our lighting is IDA (International Dark Skies Association) compliant and we have the ability to compost any of our solid waste on site. These are discriminators that show our commitment to responsible stewardship of and to the land, the resources and the community in which we live.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

I think that we live constantly in a state of fear that our business will fall victim to “big booze.” Just look at our state-run, DABS liquor stores: floor to ceiling stacks of cheap, big booze and a real hesitancy on the behalf of our state controlling entity to show support for local manufacturers in the spirits industry. We compete not only with the “big guys” who are able to mass produce spirits at a lower cost, but we also compete with the growing notion that “craft is crap.” When small organizations put something in a bottle that falls short of superior, the whole notion of “craft” gets a bad name. The challenge to always, 100% of the time, bottle something that is better than big booze is a challenge that when met, benefits everyone who is a small producer. We face internal scrutiny as a craft spirits maker and we face scrutiny from the public who quite often opt for a less expensive, more well known brand rather than “risk” going home with a locally made product. One of the scariest “near death” moments we have faced was when our local water company switched the source of our water without notifying us. That changed the make up of the water, in particular the pH, and we lost nearly 12,000 liters of fermentations over the course of about 5 months. That set us back financially and put us in a real world of hurt in terms of being able to fulfill orders. Something so significant and life altering could have been prevented by a single phone call. This is what it is like to run a distillery. We always joke, at times like these, by saying, “Open a distillery, they said. It’ll be fun!” Sometimes it’s not.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

The Wasatch Blossom Utah Tart Cherry Liqueur started as an “experiment” of sorts. We had this idea, during our hard core KETO days, to try and make a liqueur with less refined sugar, more in keeping with a European style liqueur if you will. The more we kept backing off of the refined sugar, the better it kept getting. We also ditched the brandy, which is typically the base spirit for most liqueurs, for a portion of our site-distilled agave spirits. The end result is an amazingly beautiful, sip-able liqueur bottled at 64-proof and sweetened only with organic agave nectar. It has been featured in Forbes Magazine and even took a Silver Medal at the Sunset International Spirits Competition where European made cordials typically claim the top spots. It is one of our farm-to-bottle, Utah’s Own products that is a product of direct collaboration with local farmers. The cherries are Montmorency Tart Cherries sourced from the last remaining tart cherry farm in Northern Utah. The Wasatch Blossom is one of Utah’s top-selling liqueurs and is now on the shelves of most DABS state stores.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.newworlddistillery.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newworlddistillery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newworlddistillery
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/new-world-distillery-eden?osq=new+world+distillery

Image Credits
Mike Parkinson, Wild Utah Photography