Spirit Hub Makes Brickway Distillery Spirits Available Beyond State Lines
Online craft spirits retailer Spirit Hub ( www.spirithub.com) has partnered with Omaha’s Brickway Brewery & Distillery (www.drinkbrickway.com ) to make Brickway spirits available for delivery throughout Nebraska, Illinois, and North Dakota—and expanding. Based in Illinois, Spirit Hub is America’s only legally compliant, online craft-spirits retailer authorized to deliver independent distillers’ products direct-to-consumers. They select first-class independent distillers like Brickway and help them expand, in this case making Omaha-distilled American single-malt whisky, vodka, gin, etc. more accessible to customers outside of Nebraska for the first time ever. What’s more, Nebraska consumers now have access to direct delivery from Brickway and the 1,200 small-batch craft spirits from the more than 220 distilleries that Spirit Hub represents to date.
“Just being small, in general, makes it tough to compete with large producers,” said Brickway Brewery & Distillery President and Head Distiller Zac Triemert. “This gives us another platform with a great internet presence, so we can grow right along with Spirit Hub. They’ve been growing quite a bit, so we’re excited about the opportunity to expand into other markets.”
Spirit Hub’s role in the partnership is not without risks, either. They have the expertise to slog through the legal quagmire involved in selling over state lines and they maintain a three-tier regulatory compliance program for the partnership. Spirit Hub purchases craft spirits from Brickway at wholesale, then produces extensive online content for the brand—product descriptions, virtual happy hours, blogs, social media—all as part of a go-to-market strategy based specifically on Brickway’s product and values.
“The benefit to our business is to be able to ship directly and reach a lot more consumers,” Zac said. “If we tried to do it ourselves, we would have to find distribution partners in every territory and be beholden to them. Now, we have the ability to reach more states and increase our volume and footprint. It’s just a great opportunity for us.”
Spirit Hub Founder Michael Weiss said Spirit Hub “prides itself on creating a diverse market offering that gives consumers what they want and helps independent businesses grow in scale, especially amidst the economic challenges running rampant in 2020. We saw that independent distilleries had a huge challenge when it came to expanding their business outside of their local market. It takes a lot of resources that many small companies don’t have because they’re putting their resources back into the local market.”
Brickway Brewery & Distillery underwent a rigorous vetting process before Spirit Hub tendered the partnership. Spirit Hub verified that the Brickway brand is genuine with their trade and that it is legitimate. They taste-tested, checked out the Brickway website, and learned about the founders, what they stand for, and why they exist.
“Delivering the consumer an authentic product is key to our delivery model,” Michael said. “We go through a process of about eight to twelve weeks of research, discussion, and interviews to ensure that we are delivering an authentic craft spirit from an independent distiller. Brickway is a perfect match for us. We’re really excited to be in Nebraska. It’s a small market but has people who are loyal to their own, and we feel that it’s very good for our business to be in smaller, local markets and be able to know that people who live there will be able to enjoy things they have never had before.”
Brickway Brewery & Distillery is located at 1116 Jackson St. Learn about the tasting room and private events by going to www.drinkbrickway.com or calling (402) 933-2613. To order craft spirits online through Spirit Hub, visit www.spirithub.com.