Plans for first tribally owned distillery in Arizona

The Heritage Distilling Company has teamed up with Tonto Apache Tribe to create a distillery and tasting room next to the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino in Arizona, US.

The Tonto Apache Tribe is the second Native Indian group to join the Tribal Beverage Network (TBN), a ‘first-of-its-kind’ partnership designed to develop Heritage-branded distilleries, brands and tasting rooms to serve patrons of tribal casinos and entertainment venues.

The new distillery will produce and serve Heritage’s portfolio of spirits, as well as exclusive Tonto Apache-created brands.

Justin and Jennifer Stiefel co-founded the Heritage Distilling Company in 2011.

Justin Calvin Johnson, tribal chairman, said: “We have spent considerable time with the team from Heritage and we have toured their facilities in the Pacific Northwest.

“After seeing them help to change the federal law to make this legal activity for Tribes across the US, we are excited to open a tribally owned distillery in partnership with them harnessing their experience, expertise and top-level reputation in the craft spirits space.

“We will be the first Heritage Distilling location in the southwest and we are excited to offer this new amenity to our current patrons and the net generation of patrons we know are coming to the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino, and to our Apache Corners development.”

Heritage operates two distilleries and five tasting rooms in Washington and Oregon, and also has a brand location in partnership with the Chehalis Indian Tribe in Rochester, Washington, at its Talking Cedar facility.

The Tonto Apache-owned facility will include a tasting room. Production will include making Cocoa Bomb Chocolate Whiskey, Heritage Canned Cocktails, Florescence Vodka (in partnership with celebrity chef Danielle Kartes and Rustic Joyful Food), Stiefel’s Select Single Barrel and Small Batch whiskeys, and Special Forces Whiskey, to name a few.

Justin Stiefel, Heritage co-founder, said: “Spirits production and sales is the next major source of financial growth for tribes. With more than 524 tribal casinos in operation, along with their hotels, golf courses, arenas, resorts, and retail spaces that sell adult beverages, distilling and spirits production is the next logical extension of their development.

“For 184 years, tribes were shut out of the spirits industry by antiquated Andrew Jackson-era legislation. Now they will be primed to join the industry as it enters a growth cycle.

“When fuel and cigarette taxes decline from those industries becoming less viable in the coming years, and the need to attract new patrons to casinos as consumers shift their habits away from beer and wine into spirits, the Tribal Beverage Network’s goal is to help tribes grow their local economies and allow them to offset those shifts.”

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