After navigating a pandemic during its freshman year by bottling moonshine and, later, hand sanitizer, Crystal Ridge Distillery is looking to expand its offerings during its sophomore year to include canned alcoholic beverages.
Asher Bradley, general manager and chief marketing officer, said their plans always included canning drinks, but COVID-19 caused a delay to their expansion.
"When we started working on the business development plans for Crystal Ridge, we knew that we wanted to do canned cocktails/vodka sodas," Bradley said.
Bradley explained that their moonshine is sold in glass bottles, which are not allowed on area waterways.
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"With Hot Springs and the immediate surrounding areas, we have four lakes and several rivers. By law you are not allowed to carry glass containers on the waterways, but aluminum cans are allowed," he said.
"We wanted to create a great-tasting canned cocktail made with vodka that can be enjoyed whether you wanted a quick cocktail at home or during your favorite outdoor activities," Bradley said.
Had the pandemic not hit, Bradley said they would have started canning drinks in April of 2020. Concerns over supply shortages forced the distillery to hold off its plans for a year.
Bradley said that "once COVID (19) hit, most of the major brands of beer and soda bought a huge stock of cans because of the concerns of buying aluminum. With the supply chain being completely disrupted, there was no way to buy cans."
Danny Bradley, co-owner of the distillery, said they intend to start canning soon. "We've got a shipment of cans coming in June 14 ... so we hope to have the mixed drinks in a can ... by July 1."
For the launch, there will be three flavors of vodka -- blueberry, raspberry cream and orange.
"We are also in development for cocktails such as mojito, margarita, cosmopolitan, daiquiri and some other specialty cocktails we have crafted on-site," Asher Bradley said.
Explaining the difference in alcohol by volume between the moonshine and the canned drinks, Bradley said, "Our moonshine is 35% alcohol by volume and up and our canned cocktails/vodka sodas will be at 9% alcohol by volume."
Another new thing the company is looking forward to is potentially getting its products in local stores and restaurants.
"The state of Arkansas recently signed a law to allow liquor manufacturers in the state to self-distribute. This will allow us to control our growth and to help with identifying which products are best served as seasonals or year-round. We want to continue bringing our products into restaurants and retail stores, and with this change we can increase the amount of product we can offer around the state," Bradley said.
Right now, the distillery is the only place to purchase Crystal Ridge products. "However, we are working on logistics following this new bill and products will be available in other restaurants and stores soon," Bradley said.
