The dog days of summer are among us, and it makes it a hard time to be a distiller.

With temperatures peaking above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, we're really struggling to keep cool as we continue to work at making whisky and gin.  Mind you, this job generates lots of heat, and we have no air conditioning in the distillery (except for the fermentation room), so ours is truly a labor of love.  And our desire to get you guys more spirits as soon as we can!

We are now shipping our spirits into Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, and we're just starting to see some awesome restaurants carrying our products.  Around home, we have the wonderful Magnolias at the Mill in Purcellville, the Greene Turtle and Tuscarora Mill in Leesburg, just to name a few.  And let's not forget Patowmack Farm in Lovettsville, where we are doing cocktails paired with dinner on August 6.  Further afield, the first restaurant in the District to carry our spirits is the well renowned Passenger on 7th Street NW. Look for more and more as we ramp up on our distribution, and don't be shy to ask your retailer or server, "Can you get me some Catoctin Creek?"

Another wonderful milestone occurred just before July came to a close.  We received our first order from northern California!  Now, if you're out in the Lake Tahoe or Sacramento area on vacation, you should be able to find our spirits there as well.  This is a great new market for us, and we're excited that folks are interested in organic spirits across the nation.  We'll need to ramp up our production to meet the growing demands, but this is a good problem to have.

There are lots and lots of cool activities coming up this fall.  Whether you want to learn to be a distiller, or just want to hang out with us for a little while, there's a little something for everyone.  Briefly, they are:

• Interview on the Mike O'Meara radio show, August 6 at 10:30am (http://www.mikeomearashow.com/)
• Dinner at Patowmack Farm Restaurant, Aug. 6, 7pm  (Not too late for reservations, call the restaurant!)
• Next bottling workshop, tentatively planned for August 21, 10am (RSVP now to reserve a free space)
• Whisky Cruise on the Hudson, New York City, August 26
• Loudoun Fall Color Farm Tour, October 16-17 (a free event)
• Autumn distilling workshop, October 23.  Register online
• Whisky Fest in New York City - November 9

You can find out much more about any of these on our website at http://catoctincreekdistilling.com/enjoy/events.  Of course, tours are always free.  Just call ahead to make sure we're there.

As always, there is lots of fun and information on our Facebook and Twitter pages, where you can stay up to date with the daily activities at the distillery.  We haven't had too much traffic in FourSquare yet, so any of you who wish to be the mayor of our distillery, better get crackin!

Remember, "Think Global, Drink LOCAL!"^SM

Cheers!
Scott & Becky