West End Blog

We have a philosophy at Dancing Tree Distillery that we should use what we have. To dispose of and replace instead of re-purposing or re-using, seems wasteful. My father just calls me “cheap”, but there is more to it.

As we began planning our distillery, an obvious first question was where ... Read More

Our story begins with a sex-craved hungry little critter looking for dinner. Its full name is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but all its friends call it yeast. Yeast is a better fit because its full name is a misnomer. Saccharomyces implies that yeast is a sugar-mold (sacchar=sugar, myces= mold). But no…the hero ... Read More

Deanna Schwartz is the Owner/Founder of this new Athens “winery”, as cider is technically a wine by Ohio law. Deanna has developed a taste for high-end beers, ciders, and liquors since she began hanging with producers in the mid to late ’90s. Her goal is to focus on the production ... Read More

Dancing Tree Distillery is changing its name to Fifth Element Spirits in the next couple of weeks. This is after managing Dancing Tree, LLC as an egg/meat bird farm, orchard, sorghum plantation, hunting grounds, silage producer and a property rental company, since Feb 2005 and as a distillery since Feb ... Read More

So, we hear the term “control state” all the time. Well, I do. What in the world does that mean? How do the laws differ for breweries, wineries, and distilleries? Don’t all states place controls, through laws, on the spirits industry? How long can the Blue Jackets suck?

Well here goes. ... Read More

Ohio is on the cusp of a Distillation Revolution! There are presently 12 licenses issued to “Manufacture Distilled Spirits” in Ohio. Beyond these 12, there are an additional 9 “pending” licenses, meaning that if/when these permits are issued, Ohio may have 21 distilleries!

Now, this is not to say we have ... Read More