Country Heritage Adding Distillery
Article by Jeff Jones | KPC News | April 11, 2023
AUBURN — Country Heritage Winery is adding a distillery to its offerings.
Tuesday, by a 6-1 vote, the DeKalb County Council declared the property at 0185 C.R. 68, LaOtto as an economic revitalization area, which makes it eligible for tax abatement consideration.
Products available at the distillery will include brandy, gin, rum and bourbon, according to owner Jeremy Lutter.
The first stage will be a pot still for smaller batches, with a column still in the future, he said. Corn, rye and wheat will be grown on the property.
The distillery would be located in a new, 12,000-square-foot building separate from the winery operations. An additional storage building could be constructed in the future.
The business has 85 employees with plans to add five more. A best-case scenario would see construction begin this summer.
While the winery and distillery will be located on the same property, he explained there would be separate licenses for each entity.
Responding to a question from council member Rick Collins, Lutter said between approximately 600,000 to 700,000 people visit the winery on an annual basis.
“We’ve been trying to track that,” Lutter said. “We switched POS (point of sale) systems which tracks that. About 56% is actually new people. The rest have visited more than once. We’re somewhere around that 6 to 700,000 people range.
“It’s new to the region,” he said of distilleries. “The distillery side of things is not going to be run like the winery. We’re not going to do per se tastings. It’s going to be more of a planned experience where you get a tour/tasting.
“It’s not going to be the same amount of people, I don’t think,” Lutter said. “A lot of the distilled products is going to be wholesale products going home.”
“I haven’t done a specific economic impact analysis, but I have no doubt it’s going to have a major impact,” said Anton King, president of the DeKalb County Economic Development Partnership said in response to a question about the economic impact from council member Robert Krafft.
“It’s one of the bigger draws we have in DeKalb County,” King said of Country Heritage.
Council president Rick Ring said the economic development committee has recommended an eight-year abatement for real property and four years for personal property.
Council member William VanWye made a motion to declare the property an ERA, seconded by David Yarde.
Collins, Krafft, Ring, Yarde, VanWye and Amy Demske cast votes in favor of the ERA designation. Council member Amy Prosser cast the lone no vote.
“You have an amazing business and we’re very grateful that you’re in our community,” Prosser told Lutter. “I personally don’t think that it qualifies for the ERA.”
The council will consider whether to award the tax abatement at its next meeting Tuesday, May 9.