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Tate To Unveil Distillery Plans This Week

January 3, 2015 – Renowned craft distiller Chip Tate is expected to reveal more details about plans for his new distillery on Tuesday. As Tate told WhiskyCast last month following a buyout agreement that severed his ties to Balcones Distilling, he plans to build a new distillery in the Waco area that will produce brandy and other spirits while he serves out a non-compete clause that will prevent him from making whisky until March 5, 2016.

Tate has been dropping hints on his Twitter feed about the new distillery, which will be called “Tate & Company” to — as he put it during his December 5 interview, “avoid any confusion in the future about who’s going to be working there for a long time.”

Chip Tate's Twitter post on December 28, 2014. Image from Twitter.

The Waco Tribune reported this weekend that Tate has signed a contract to build his new distillery in an 11,000 square foot building near Waco Regional Airport northwest of the city, and has secured construction financing from a local bank. Tate plans to use the proceeds of his buyout from Balcones to finance the distillery’s operations, and told the paper he will never again allow himself to give up majority ownership of his business. He also has hired two distillers away from Balcones under terms of the buyout agreement that exempted them from his general ban on soliciting other Balcones employees to join the new distillery.

This story will be updated as more details become available.

Links: Tate Distillery