Pandemic Pivot: Supply chain crisis creates unique opportunity for Durham Distillery

In 2013, gin was just a hobby for the couple as they worked jobs unrelated to distilling or the gin industry. But as Melissa Katrincic faced a lay-off, the couple began looking into distilling gin with the help of Lee Katrincic's background as a chemist.

"I don't think anybody says, you know, it's a lifelong dream to own a gin distillery," said Melissa Katrincic. "It really was, I think, a confluence of hobbies and passions to do something together.

As the couple researched the best way to distill gin, Katrincic said quality was top of mind.

"We wanted to make sure that whenever we would launch ... it was the best possible product and we were proud of it and the community would be proud of it," she said.

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The couple approaches distilling by embracing the art of traditional distillation, while looking at how to push the boundaries with modern science. The distillery was the first in the U.S. to use vacuum cold distillation with rotary evaporators.

"It is not just a differentiator that's there just to be trendy. It's really about making a better tasting and more authentic flavor gin," said Melissa Katrincic.

Durham Distiller currently sells three gins:

To come up with the formulas, Melissa Katrincic said the couple tried over 200 gins.

"It took us a good year but then we honed in on what we really wanted to do," she said. "That meticulous approach has been, I think, what has set us apart where the quality of our gin, even when we launched, was world-class.”

Like almost every business in 2020, Katrincic said she didn't have the coronavirus pandemic on her vision board.

At the beginning of the pandemic, when bars and restaurants temporarily shuttered their downs, the Katrincics looked at how they would keep their entire team employed — leading to the launch of curbside pickup and cocktail kits.

"These consumers, our fans locally, made up the difference for us for several months, and we were just flabbergasted. We were just so grateful because we were like, 'OK. We are OK',” she said.

Just as the community showed up during the critical beginning months of the pandemic, Katrincic said the community showed up again in Fall 2020 when Corpse Reviver, the distillery's on-site cocktail and lounge, opened.

"We [launched] with science really leading the way, which is such a part of our ethos anyhow and having the community trust us that we were going to have their health in mind," she said.

Despite a successful launch and community support, Durham Distillery was then faced with another issue — the supply chain crisis.

Last June, Katrincic said she and her husband spent an entire afternoon calling "every glass broker in the country" looking for the bottle they used for the gin. The couple was able to find enough glass to get the distillery through the end of summer.

"Gin season is April through September for the season cocktails, but then it quickly switches into October through November is on average, 40 percent of our revenue ... for a year overall because that's when everybody is buying gifts or hosting parties," said Katrincic.

Katrincic said that's when they "knew they were in a pickle." Luckily, the distillery was able to find enough glass to get through the end of the year with the hope of a restock at the beginning of this year.

"There was nothing our glass broker at that time even could give us in terms of a timeline," said Katrincic.

The opportunity came up for the distillery to pivot and temporarily bottle their gin in a different shaped bottle.

"The only community that would let us do this pivot bottle is [North Carolina] because they know our brand and they know us. They know that we wouldn't do this unless it was absolutely necessary, and the distribution channel ... there is just no way we can change the bottle in other states," said Katrincic.

With a new design ready to go, when the glass arrived, Katrincic said it was all hands-on deck to get the bottles ready to be shipped across North Carolina.

"We were like, 'OK, we're going to go as fast as we can.' Since they got in stock here in mid-February ... we have already filled around 756 cases. That's over 9,000 bottles," said Katrincic.

The distillery's American Dry and Navy Strength gin was bottled into the round bottles with the Conniption log and a sticker saying, "Same delicious gin but round." The bottles can be found exclusively at North Carolina retailers.

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"We knew Conniption was starting to be empty on shelves, and then, of course, the bars and restaurants that have been amazing support of ares are like, 'We need Conniption. It's on the menu,'" said Katrincic. "That's why we decided to have fun, tongue-in-cheek because we just had to acknowledge that things are just still screwed up. We figured everyone would understand us calling it the Pandemic Pivot."

Thankfully, Katrincic says now, the distillery has about three years’ worth of bottles that can be distributed across the country. As the world continues to move forward in the pandemic, Durham Distillery is focused on growing into a national company.

"It's going to be, I think, an exciting time post-COVID for gin," said Katrincic.