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Testimony — Tom Lix, Cleveland Whiskey, on House Bill 86 (2023-04-18)

Summary

Tom Lix, Founder and CEO of Cleveland Whiskey (the trade name of Vispiri Inc), gave testimony on House Bill 86. The testimony says Cleveland Whiskey employs 17 full-time staff and is in the process of a $20 million expansion in Cleveland. It says that under current law, once production exceeds 100,000 gallons the distillery automatically loses its right to sell bottles at its facility. House Bill 86 would also repeal the 50-cent fee charged for sampling spirits at an Ohio liquor store, which the testimony compares with no fee to sample wine or beer.

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“Testimony — Tom Lix, Cleveland Whiskey, on House Bill 86 (2023-04-18).” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2023-04-18-commerce-labor-testimony-testimony-2453-a9ed6d3bb4/, SHA-256 e79c6f5941fe6695fd46f5f4e079190b6fd8d763939102888ab2be1db5047949.

Full text

                                             VISPIRI
House Bill 86 Testimony

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on House Bill 86. As an introduction, I’m Tom Lix, the
Founder and CEO of Cleveland Whiskey, the trade name for Vispiri Inc, a Delaware Corporation
headquartered in the extraordinary come-back City of Cleveland, Ohio.

Cleveland Whiskey started in a technology incubator under an experimental federal distilling permit in
2009 and we shipped our first bottles in March of 2013. Today we employ 17 full-time staff members
with an average wage of $65,849 plus everyone has a full benefits package including paid health
insurance, paid vacation, unrestricted sick time, and a 401K.

This past year we’ve shipped and sold our whiskies in places as far away as South Korea, India, and
Indonesia as well as to States including California, Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey and
nine (9) more.

Today, we’re in the process of $20 million dollar expansion that includes the complete rehabilitation of
what was once an empty and deserted industrial building on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. The
project will ultimately show us as employing well over 80 full-time staff and creating a destination
experience on par with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here in Cleveland.

Bottom line, we’re invested, we’re growing, we’re hiring, and we do pay our fair share of taxes. The
problem of course is that there’s a cap on our growth., and that, quite frankly doesn’t make a whole lot of
sense.

Under current law, once we exceed production of 100,000 gallons, we automatically lose our rights to sell
bottles at our facility. That would change the financial equation as it pertains to any distillery tours or on-
site events. When people visit our distillery, whether local or more than often out-of-state, they want to
buy our bottles, it’s part of the customer experience.

And for anyone who’s ever been on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, it’s expected. If we can’t do that, we lose
money, we lose customers, and the State of Ohio loses tax revenue. It’s that simple.

It's an artificial cap on how we do business, an artificial cap on how we grow. House Bill 86 would fix
that. Again, it’s that simple.

The second part of HB 86 is repealing the fee that customers have to pay when sampling our spirits at an
Ohio liquor store. If you sample wine, there’s no fee. If you sample beer, there’s no fee. If you sample
one of my whiskies, there is a 50-cent fee.

I can’t even begin to tell you about all the people who walk away when they see the sign. They question
it, sometimes think it’s a joke, and on occasion get a little angry. Look, few people even carry change
anymore so I wind up bringing rolls of quarters just so we can give our customers the coins so they can pay
the fee. That means I’m actually paying for the privilege of giving someone a small sample of our
product. It’s inconvenient at best, it’s unfair and if you ask most people, it’s a little silly since they don’t get
charged for beer or wine.

House Bill 86 is, at least to me, a commonsense piece of legislation that’s both pro-business and pro-
consumer. Thanks for the opportunity to provide this testimony. I’m happy to answer any questions.



Tom Lix tlix@clevelandwhiskey.com                           1768 E 25th Street, Cleveland, OH 44114 216.881.8481

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