# Q1 Detailed Update/State of the Biz | Skeptic Distillery

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/feed/143962
- Entity ID: wefunder:feed_item:143962
- Published at: 2021-04-18 00:03:05 UTC
- Updated at: 2025-07-09 03:20:03 UTC

## Author
Karl C Loepke

## Subject
Skeptic Distillery

## Content
Before I get into all the exciting things that are happening, I first have to bid adieu and good luck to our former Sales Manager/Rocketeer, James Semrick.  James helped Skeptic out tremendously to get us into several new markets but he decided to move on to other opportunities and we wish him well.  Now, you might think that losing your sales manager would be a devastating blow to a young, growing company like ours, but as luck would have it, I happened to meet an amazing guy just 2 days later who I think you'll agree will be pivotal to kicking us up into orbit.  I'm proud to announce the addition of a savvy industry vet, Bruce Jacobson, to the Skeptic crew!  Bruce spent the past 20 years with Heaven Hill Brand (Deep Eddy Vodka, Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Larceny Bourbon, Admiral Nelson's Spiced Rum, and many more; www.heavenhill.com/brands) and 18 years prior to that with Seagram's, where he oversaw launches of products like Seagram's wine coolers in the '80s (if you recall those commercials like I do!) and Hypnotiq, to name just a few. Bruce is a True Believer in Skeptic too, and his industry connections run super deep. I'm proud to be working with him, and he just happens to be about the nicest person I've ever known. Now for the good stuff!In January, we launched our e-commerce retail site through 3rd party provider Cask and Barrel Club based in Florida. Now our spirits are available for shipment direct to our customers' doors throughout the USA except for a handful of states (AL, LA, MA, MI, MS and OH). Please check it out at www.shop-skeptic.com , and there are various promotional codes currently in place as well: CINCODEMAYO (20% OFF GinQuila), SKEPTIC15 (15% OFF all products), and always Free Shipping on any order of 4+ bottles.  I vetted a few digital marketing agencies to run FB and Pinterest ads to drive traffic, but after starting with one that was unsuccessful I pulled the plug and am back to running these on my own.  I started some targeted FB ads in some of our local markets, let me know if you see any of these and what you think.  It's definitely an area I could use help with.NEW MARKETSIn hiring Bruce, he has brought us into some opportunities we otherwise wouldn't even know existed.  Our focus is shifted to a broker model in our different markets, with individuals Bruce has known and trusts.  Under this model, we now have sales coverage in the Kansas/Arkansas/Missouri area, Georgia, and we are opening up the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut Tri-State area very soon as well!  In addition, we are heading to the west coast, starting in Oregon.  It also looks good for us to start working with a broker to bring our products into Alberta, Canada within the next month. We will be presenting next month to Alabama ABC (Alcohol Beverage Commission) and are in a trial period in New Hampshire for GinQuila, and all 3 products have launched in Maine.  Georgia is launching already, our products are available in Stockham, GA stores and expanding outwards from there.  In Florida, we are trying to find a better partner for distribution, but we are available in a handful of places down there. Our biggest out of state news is our launch in Texas!  We were approved for gin and GinQuila in 9 Total Wine stores there and should be showing up in stores very, very soon.Other states where we expect to come online soon include Minnesota and Wisconsin.  In Local News, we have some really exciting news that will really bring us some attention and sales.  Our distributor in Illinois, Cream Wine, has agreed to make one of their top sales reps a pseudo brand ambassador for Skeptic within the sales ranks.  This gives us consistent attention to growth and the ability to make some very flexible deals to get into accounts and on store shelves.  We're already seeing some great results...  We replaced a vodka in the well at a hugely popular restaurant in downtown Chicago called the Purple Pig, who do a ton of interviews and media spots.  Likewise, our gin will be replacing an imported gin in the well at The Kitchen Restaurant in Chicago.  Bruce has deep connections at Gibson's Steakhouse as well and a meeting is coming up there in a week or two... crossing my fingers!  These are honestly just a few of many, many opportunities coming up.WHISKEYI know everyone is most interested in this.  I believe I can put together a smaller than originally planned version of this still with materials I mostly have available to me.  I will repurpose parts of the pilot whiskey still into it, and I found some other tubing and pieces in a bin I had forgotten I had, that basically gets me about 90% of the materials I need to put it together.  Stay tuned on this as I don't have a ton of time to be fabricating things, but it's on the burner.  NEW PRODUCTSWe have a couple of new products on deck that should be coming out in the next several months, unrelated to the whiskey.  TASTING ROOMWork proceeds slowly on this, time and money permitting.  My goal will be to open it by mid to late Summer.  See pics for progress. The high ceiling is the tasting room, but it's just part of the overall picture of what needs to be done.  Hopefully you can see the progress here.  It used to look like this:EQUITY RAISEAs I'm sure most of you have seen, the rules changed around the crowdfunding space allowing for the ability to raise even more than previously allowed, up to 5 Million.  I am strongly looking into doing another crowdfunding, but this time for Equity.  We were able to clean up some things in our books and such that it makes sense to now to explore it.  I know many of you asked about this before, so I'm curious to know how you would feel about actually owning a piece of Skeptic.  I can't go into any details about that here, but please email me directly at kloepke@skepticdistillery.com if you have some questions or want to learn more about it.  If I do this, it will happen very soon.  The goal this time around will be to raise more than enough money to finance all the marketing activities we need to make Skeptic a household name (distributor incentive programs, point of sale, displays, online advertising, digital billboards in key markets, etc.) as well as raw material purchases in higher numbers to take advantage of volume price breaks and lower our COGs, and to complete the renovation of the tasting room and open it sooner, as well as potentially outsource the fabrication of that whiskey still. Well I think that's enough to chew on for the moment. Feel free to comment, ask questions, ask me to elaborate on something or what have you.  Look forward to hearing from you!Cheers,Karl Loepke, Founder/Distillaristo