Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | April 17, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 11 "We found out that there were no dis- tilleries in the area, and it'd be a great way to highlight some of the things that Cen- tral Mass. has to offer," Devarenne said. Devarenne bought a still and started working on making various spirits. He and his wife Errica would share their cre- ations with neighbors and tweak recipes. ey started searching in Sturbridge to open their project and found an old mill they could renovate, which took about a year to complete. ey applied for per- mits and licenses and found a welcoming community interested in bringing their business to life. Deep Roots Distillery USA had its ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 31. In Franklin, Pat and Beth Downing began visiting and touring more than 75 distilleries across the U.S. as they began planning to open their own. e cou- ple met in pharmacy school at Purdue University in Indiana and moved to Lee, Massachusetts, to run Pat's family drug store, McClelland Drug Store, which was the oldest continuously-operated pharma- cy in the state. Aer 14 years, the couple sold the drug store and started to look for the next phase of their lives. At the same time, Pat became inter- ested in whiskey. ey moved on to new careers, with Pat working for a pharmacy services company and Beth joining an in-home infusion pharmacy. eir love of spirits stuck around, and they began to plot a project outside of the pharmacy world. When a mill building built in 1883 became available in Franklin, where the couple lives, they purchased it and their next phase took off. Pat attended Moonshine University in Louisville, Ken- tucky, and began to hire a team to open a distillery and a tasting room with a fine food program. "What we envisioned was this idea ... we could create a destination, a place where people wanted to come for many reasons. Some might come to taste alcohol, some might come to do a tour of a distillery or see a distillery opera- tion, some might come for what we call polished casual dining experience, some might come just to see an old mill build- ing that's been restored," Pat Downing said. "We always loved Franklin and felt that it could pull not only people from the town, but pull from the region and because of its proximity to 495." GlenPharmer Distillery opened in May 2020, and while it was hard opening early in the COVID pandemic, people seemed to enjoy stopping in. ey were excited about the new opportunity. "ere wasn't anything near it, in terms of other distilleries," Pat Down- ing said. "Obviously, there are a lot of breweries around, but there really aren't any distilleries nearby. We thought that could be very interesting. Obviously there's a risk; but thankfully people have been interested, and our spirits have been received well." As time has gone on and as the pan- demic has eased, the distillery has made strides. It found a local footing with its food and cocktail program. e team at GlenPharmer started making and aging whiskey and importing agave from Mex- ico. Now it distributes locally on its own and is in negotiations to join a distribu- tor in the future. All of this fits in with the next steps for cra spirits. It took years for cra breweries to gain traction and a foothold in the industry. It took time for them to gain reach and distribution, as well as brand recognition on the shelf. But cra beer discovered a market and began to open in towns across the country and Mass. It will take time, but the distillers now open are leading the way for the next generation of local businesses. Nashoba Valley Winery (above and right) started its distillery as a way to use all of the extra fruit it harvested each year. It got its license in 2003 and is the precursor to the new wave of distilleries opening in the area like Spicy Water, GlenPharmer, and Deep Roots Distillery. 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 Number of distilleries in U.S. 2006 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15 '16 '17 '18 '19 '20 '21 '22 The rise of U.S. distilleries The number of distilleries in the nation has more than tripled since 2015 and increased 30-fold since 2006. Source: American Disitlling Institute W PHOTOS | COURTESY OF NASHOBA VALLEY SPIRITS

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