Make Room at the Bar - Distiller Business - Entrepreneur.com

Todd Leopold making Absinthe

Founded in Michigan as a brewpub and now exclusively a distillery, Leopold Bros. is part of a growing micro-distillery movement in the U.S. The number of small-batch distilleries has more than doubled in just a few years, from fewer than 80 in 2006 to 165 in 2009, says Bill Owens, founder of the American Distilling Institute. Boutique, artisan, craft, small-batch, micro--whatever the moniker--these independent, entrepreneurial distillers are fueling a "renaissance in American spirit-making," Owens says.