An Ellington distillery received unanimous support from the Planning and Zoning Commission Monday to expand the business into two 2,000-square-foot areas in a warehouse on Industrial Drive off of Route 83.
The PZC approved a special permit and site plan modification requested by Richard B. Gummoe of Vernon for his Connecticut Valley Distillery. He told the commission he intends to expand the distillery from its current 1,000-square-foot location at 7 Industrial Drive to include two adjoining 2,000-square-foot areas in a warehouse at 5 Industrial Drive.
According to the special permit request, the two 2,000-square-foot spaces in the warehouse would be used for the fermentation, blending, aging, bottling, filtering, and general processing of sugars into beverage alcohol. Sales and sampling will be available to the public as well with tables and a counter where people can sit and sample the product before purchasing it.
The proposed hours of production will be Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. with proposed public hours of Wednesday through Friday 4 to 10 p.m. and weekends from noon to 10 p.m.
The Connecticut Valley Distillery opened in 2014. Known for its Smuggler’s Rum, the distillery sells its liquor to more than 25 different retailers across the state, according to its website.
Gummoe said today that the plan is to use one of the new areas as a winery while the other would be used to expand the distillery’s production.
“Our winery is exclusively mead or honey-based wine,” he said. “We’ll be using locally based honey as much as possible.”
He said it would also use fruit that will be mixed with wine as well for products like apple wine.
He said his expansion to other libations is due to receiving requests to expand the product line. The distillery would continue producing Smuggler’s Rum and also expand into producing whiskey and brandy.
Gummoe attributes the success of the distillery to an expanding palate by consumers for small brand alcohol.
“We opened small,” he said. “Small brand alcohol is booming because people are expanding a larger taste profile.”
He said he still needs approval from town Building Official Raymond F. Martin III on the design of the expansion, but is hoping to have the new facilities fully operational by August to keep up with the growing market for local alcohol in the state.
“The industry is moving very quickly in Connecticut,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know what mead is. The mead people have seen in the past have not been overly refined. We’ve been able to really refine the product.”
