Final sip: Hollow Spirits Distillery closes pour room, opens for special and private events, continues to distill spirits
Hollow Spirits Distillery founder Frank Holloway said the distillery has closed its pouring room. It will host public special events and is available to rent for private events.
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Hollow Spirits Distillery has closed its pour room.
The distillery will continue to create its line of spirits and will hold events that will be open to the public where people can purchase bottles of Hollow Spirits products. The venue also can be rented out for private events including birthdays, anniversaries, work-related functions and other celebrations. People interested in renting out Hollow Spirits for an event can visit .
鈥淭he past like two years, our day-to-day business at Hollow Spirits has been going slowly, (it is) less and less,鈥� said Frank Holloway, CEO and owner of Hollow Spirits. 鈥淚n order to kind of combat that, we鈥檝e been throwing more and more events, and for events, we鈥檙e absolutely killing it. The day to day just kept on getting slower and slower. And then there was just kind of a point where we鈥檙e really losing money in the day to day, literally, just opening, getting a couple people in. We鈥檙e losing money because we can鈥檛 afford the staff and everything. And the only way we can make any money is when we throw events. It just got to a point where it鈥檚 like, well, since we鈥檙e doing amazing with events, and we鈥檙e doing bad with the day to day, why don鈥檛 we just 100% go into events?鈥�
Hollow Spirits opened in 2018 and expanded its space by adding an upstairs patio. It also included a kitchen that was initially run by the distillery and later run by different local chefs who incorporated their own restaurant concepts in the space, including Whet 1324 and most recently Hollow Point Cuisine.
The public can visit the distillery鈥檚 website to locate retailers that sell Hollow Spirits products or wait for public events to make their purchases at the distillery.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to do both private and public events,鈥� Holloway said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have events, like, if you have a wedding, or you have a birthday party or a corporate event, we鈥檙e loving those events, we鈥檒l completely close down for you guys, but we鈥檙e also doing some public events, like the bartending competition coming this month and we鈥檙e gonna have a salsa night, and anytime we have those people could come in and purchase.鈥�
The bartending competition will be held on Sunday, Jan. 19. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. with the event starting at 4 p.m. There will be 16 bartenders competing. The event will be judged by people involved in the local bar industry.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be just like (the Food Network show) 鈥楥hopped鈥� where you basically pull a card right before you compete,鈥� Holloway said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 something like five minutes to think about it, and then you have like seven minutes to make four cocktails ... (Participants) get the same ingredients, as long as you beat the person right next to you then you move on to the next round. (It is) one elimination, so once you鈥檙e out, you鈥檙e out.鈥�
Hollow Spirits will also host a salsa night starting at 7 p.m. on Feb. 1. It will release its new reposado agave spirit that night. There will be no cover and guests can purchase bottles of the newly released agave spirit as well as other Hollow Spirits products.
鈥淚 want to do bottle sale events for people to be able to come in and buy discounted bottles, and we鈥檒l make a couple drinks and just have fun,鈥� Holloway said. 鈥淚鈥檓 kind of at the point where I鈥檓 done owning a bar and restaurant, but I really want to throw parties and get back to having fun in this industry.鈥�
For people unable to make the events, they can call Hollow Spirits during the day, if they are interested in purchasing distilled spirits, at 505-433-2766.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still distilling during the day so if you call us ahead of time, and we鈥檙e here, we鈥檙e more than down to sell a couple bottles,鈥� Holloway said.
