{"id":9402,"date":"2013-10-02T11:26:25","date_gmt":"2013-10-02T16:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=9402"},"modified":"2015-03-13T16:42:48","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:42:48","slug":"what-the-church-can-learn-about-millennials-from-small-batch-distilleries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2013\/10\/02\/what-the-church-can-learn-about-millennials-from-small-batch-distilleries\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Church Can Learn about Millennials from Small Batch Distilleries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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I\u2019ll admit that sometimes I feel that I\u2019ve walked out of a Portlandia sketch. I\u2019m a bit clich\u00e9d, that way. I bake bread every week, tend a huge organic garden, pickle many things, and I\u2019m a sucker for small-batch, handcrafted whiskeys and cocktails. Above, for instance, is a neat pour of the hard-to-find Balcones<\/a> Whiskey, which I make a point of drinking when I\u2019m in Texas.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a huge surge in interest in these kinds of whiskeys \u2014 and other spirits \u2014 which is why you can\u2019t find Balcones even in its hometown of Waco. Prices for whiskey are rising, especially among those that are casked for 8 or 10 or 12 years \u2014 a decade ago, no one saw this heightened interest coming.<\/p>\n

And this is being driven in large part by millennials. In RHE\u2019s super-viral CNN pos<\/a>t about why millennials are leaving the church, she wrote,<\/p>\n

Many of us, myself included, are finding ourselves\u00a0increasingly drawn to high church traditions<\/a>\u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Episcopal Church, etc.\u00a0\u2013<\/strong>precisely because the ancient forms of liturgy seem so unpretentious, so unconcerned with being \u201ccool,\u201d and we find that refreshingly authentic.<\/p>\n

What millennials really want from the church is not a change in style but a change in substance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shedding light on a similar phenomenon in the world of spirits, Jimmy Flores and Maddie Marston write about why the craft spirits boom is happening among millennials<\/a>. Anyone interested in engaging this generation in the life of the church can learn a lot by reading it:<\/p>\n

Despite the sluggish economy, the spirits industry poured on growth in 2012, and it\u2019s no coincidence that the number of distilleries across the U.S. is continuing to rise. Instrumental in driving growth were small-batch bourbons, whiskeys and single malt Scotches, plus innovations in flavor (think Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey and dessert-inspired Pinnacle Whipped Vodka). Last year alone, 81 craft distillers launched in the U.S., bringing the total to 315, and some forecasters predict there will be as many as 1,000 small distillers nationwide by 2021.<\/p>\n

Millennials are increasingly consuming craft spirits at the expense of big distributors. But why? We think four key attitudes are driving their interest:<\/p>\n