A Lewiston distillery finds success satisfying the drinking public’s palate.
LEWISTON – As you raise your glass to toast the New Year tonight, you might want to take a look at the bottle from which your cheer appeared.
Chances are it was made and bottled here at White Rock Distilleries.
The company has been making liquor locally since the end of Prohibition; since 1970 the company has been owned and operated by the Coulombe family. More than 1,300 different kinds of spirits are manufactured and bottled at the Saratoga Street facility.
This year, the company has seen terrific growth, according to Scott Coulombe, third-generation family member and plant manager. Sales were up 16 percent over last year and volume increased from 1.9 million cases in 2002 to 2.2 million cases this year.
“We have a lot of specialty items right now,” said Coulombe, who ticked off several of the new products: the Cosmo martini, already mixed and bottled; Destinee, a cognac, vodka and fruit-blend liquor; expansion of the Cabana Boy flavored rums; and a new line of premier vodka called Three Olives.
“Some interesting items like that have contributed to our success,” he said.
Coulombe’s desk is dominated by a frosted, three-liter bottle of Three Olives vodka. The vodka is distilled four times, then filter pressed three more times to ensure its purity.
A national media campaign is touting Three Olives in slick, full-page ads in USA Today and Golf magazine, as well as in Sports Illustrated and Fortune. It’s going after the premier vodka market, competing against Stolichnaya and Absolut.
“You just need a couple of items like a Captain Morgan (rum) to be your benchmark item,” said Coulombe. “That’s how we see Three Olives. It’s second to none.”
Tracking trends
Nationally, a renewed interest in specialty drinks and classic cocktails is reviving the spirits industry. The Distilled Spirits Council, a trade association of national distilleries, reported a record-breaking $14 billion in sales in 2003.
That change in the nation’s taste for specialty alcoholic beverages accounts for the diversification among White Rock’s labels. Ten years ago, it produced half as many varieties as it does today. A drink’s popularity might last only as long as it takes for the next trendy drink to catch on, so distilleries have to stay ahead of the popularity waves, said Coulombe.
White Rock employs 25 to 30 salespeople, who monitor liquor trends throughout the U.S. and report back to Lewiston on what’s hot. There are a dozen new products already in production, said Coulombe, including a version of Long Island iced tea that is all the rage in Washington state.
The 100,000-square-foot facility is ready to respond. Holding tanks that range in size from 6,500 gallons to 30,000 gallons contain raw alcohol shipped in from overseas and the Midwest.
The liquor is refined, filtered and then blended with any number of additives, including fructose or sucrose, fruit flavors and creams. Depending on the formula, the mix is filtered again and undergoes further processing before being checked for quality.
Once it passes muster, it’s bottled, packed, then stacked on pallets awaiting distribution. Coulombe stood beside one 2,400-gallon tank of specialty rum. It took four hours of production to turn out 1,300 cases of the spirit.
“We have 60,000 cases in our warehouse right now,” said Coulombe of the distillery’s inventory. “It’ll all be shipped in a week or so.”
Just in time for all the playoff parties.
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