The Story of James Bay Distillers Ltd

We started in 2014 - in Virginia!    After searching for a location in Canada in Alberta & British Columbia, we're excited to be at Paine Field, in Everett, WA since 2018.  We're at an ideal spot for production and sales, export ventures and close to a community that understands and favors organic, authentic, honestly crafted fine spirits. 

In 2014, we soon found that many distilleries from New York to Georgia had a vision of bourbon and moonshine.  Well, we like those spirits but we wanted a less crowded market with more growth potential.   We looked for a location suitable for international, export-quality spirits.  We found that ideal spot, in the Pacific Northwest, in the region bounded by British Columbia and Washington State.

In 2015 we looked at Alberta, Canada due to the relatively open market in the province.  By 2016 we had focused on British Columbia due to their preferential tax advantages. 
In 2017, we received Canadian work permits, and moved to BC to get this project going!   At that time we also filed our initial Reg D 506(b) paperwork with the SEC and took in our first investors.

In early 2018 we found Paine Field in Everett, WA to be the ideal spot for us.  Our hard work searching paid off!   We leased our site, and started the typical 21 months of Federal and state permitting! 

We sold our first whisky in September 2019 in conjunction with "Tanktoberfest," with our neighbors at the museum driving and firing real tanks along the runway!

Also in 2018, we took steps to comply with IRS Code Section 1202 - which means all of investors' capital gains are tax free at exit or acquisition.   Let's read that again:  free of capital gains taxes.  "Some restrictions apply," of course, as is often the case, but we are well-advised by CPAs.

While working on US Federal permits, we also obtained UK permits to import bulk scotch and create our own blends of scotch whisky - from the more sweet and floral to the heavily peated and phenol.   As far as we know, we're the only craft distillery on the west coast with that permit from "Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs Office." 

Since September 2019 when we released 88-proof Galloping Goose Canadian Whisky, our bourbon recipe single-grain whisky, the "Goose" has earned four gold medals.  Our Cadboro organic chocolate infused whisky has a gold- and a silver-medal, and both our Lochside Summer Gin No. 5 and Gintrigue Barrel-aged gins have medals also!  In fact Lochside Summer Gin No. 5 is rated more highly than some notable regional and national gins (and UK gins too!).  

Here's our spirits family photo:

Here's some of the awards we've won in the past 9 months:

Sales are based on superior quality spirits which are fun and easy to use, full of taste.  From the start, we made a commitment to produce only top-shelf, super-premium spirits, given that we can compete on quality, but smaller companies lack the scale of economy to compete on price. That means we don't make any well products, and no discount spirits. Our goal is that each spirit carries its weight as a sipping whisky or gin. All are great served neat or over ice. Mixers are not required, but with superior spirits, our cocktails are also very tasty. Here's two fun recipes:  

In February 2020, we took the same COVID hit which many producers have, but since then we have seen sales continue to grow.

We now sell 3 products at Total Wine (all 12 stores in Washington State), 2 products through the Virginia ABC Store system and through local Everett area liquor stores.  Our spirits are carried by SpiritHub and are listed on Drizly.  We are actively soliciting new accounts in the Puget Sound region.   Of course, we sell online direct-to-consumer  with the Spirits360 platform, and ship to Washington State, Alaska, Nevada, North Dakota and the District of Columbia.  (You can order a bottle today!)  We are currently also in talks with a distributor in Texas, and discussing export contracts in Asia.   Naturally, we sell at the distillery, offer tastings and cocktails - we have never closed during COVID, and still followed all the rules.   We have space for several groups up to 6-persons each, and can host tastings by appointment after our normal hours of 12-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday.

We are now at that mid-point in a startup's growth, where we have significant third-party validation, a dozen or more awards, established distribution and true proof of concept.   It is time to keep expanding distribution in the US and through exports.  We have initiated export outreach in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and China using resources of our local Department of Agriculture.  Our Lochside Summer Gin No. 5 is now in Toronto, London and South Africa for export promotion with the USDA and the Distilled Spirits Council of the US.   We are discussing terms with two Canadian importers.

Potential for market growth with the right quality:

We think there is excellent capacity for growth in this market based on the quality of our spirits and third-party analysis of the craft spirits markets through the end of this decade-- 8% to 35% CAGR, depending on the region.  Each of our spirits is authentic, produced in small batches and contains organic ingredients whenever available.   For example, the cacao used in our Cadboro whisky is not only organic, but also sustainable, renewable and traceable.  We could visit the farm in Ecuador where it came from if we wished!  

Using quality materials produces better spirits:

Premium quality spirits also calls for using exceptional equipment, made in the U.S.A.   Our stills, shown below, are produced in Missouri with American labor and inputs.   We used a "closed system" where the spirits exit the still directly in a closed pipe to the collection tank.  This allows us to hold 240 gallons of spirits in a "zone" instead of the 60-gallon limit in an "open" system where the new make whisky or gin falls through the air into a container.   We have four federally-approved zones in which we can store and work on our spirits.  We can distill in one zone and also proof, bottle and label in a second area, while our spirits can age and rest in still another area.  We reserve one zone for our Scotch whisky projects.

Our next steps also include additional products.  For example, we will soon have a barrel-aged Galloping Goose whisky, held for a year in 500-liter Amontillado sherry butts, each of which is 40 years old!   We have huge and wonderful flavors in that upcoming release, now pending labels. 

And we have more gins, whiskies and some specialty products planned in addition to our Scotch whiskies.   We release products when they are ready, and each must meet our same standard:  top-shelf, super-premium quality.  

We're all business, but we do have fun!   Here's our "model employee" and mannequin ready to welcome guests at the front door!  

Now we're ready for you to join with us as we expand sales in the US and move into export markets!

We expect 2021 will be a banner year as we move ahead towards our production goals and expansion of markets.  

PS:  In case you wondered how close we are to the flightline!