Looking In On Vendome Copper & Brassworks

By Richard Thomas

The bourbon boom was well underway when Deputy Editor Kurt Maitland and I paid a visit to Vendome Copper & Brassworks in mid-2014, but it continued to accelerate year on year in the almost eight years since then. Blanton’s was still reliably on store shelves and the so-called bourbon shortage was on everyone’s lips (the Bizarro World version of how things are today, when you think about it), and the number of craft whiskey-makers was less than half what it is today. All of the major distillers had either just completed, were in the midst of or were planning major expansions to their production capacity, and the mid-sized whiskey producers were years away from coming onto the scene.

Much of the growth I just described was possible thanks to the handiwork of Vendome, America’s premiere still-maker. Atop that growth came the Trump Trade War, the supply chain issues it started, and then the pandemic. Winter 2022 seemed like a good time to check in with Mike Sherman, Vice President at Vendome, and see what had changed over those several storied years.

RT: Has Vendome expanded their facilities/production capacity?

MS: We are pretty land-locked here at our one location in Louisville, KY. We have expanded our capacity by buying CNC machines, automated welders, and other more sophisticated equipment so we can always be more efficient and productive. We occasionally put on a small 2nd and/or 3rd shift to keep certain projects moving forward.

RT: If memory serves, you had an approximately 1 1/2 year wait time on fulfilling new orders back then. Or call it a backlog if you prefer. Did that wait time climb to a higher peak during the last several years, and what is the wait time now?

MS: We are currently 14-16 months on large projects – new distilleries or large expansions. We had been 10-12 months for a long time, but with some major projects coming in over the past couple of months and more on the horizon, we have had to move our delivery times out a bit.

RT: Has the balance of work between your traditional, major customers (the big distilleries of KY and TN) and the new medium-sized and craft producers changed over that time?

MS: While the larger distilleries in KY and TN play a large role in our work load, the number of new craft distilleries and the number of craft distilleries that are already expanding is increasing quite a bit. Quantity wise we do more craft distilleries than traditional distilleries, but the traditional distillery projects tend to be much larger in size.

RT: What happened at Vendome during lockdown and in the aftermath of lockdown?

MS: With a lot of distilleries making hand sanitizer during the pandemic, we were able to keep our doors open as we were deemed a critical manufacturer since we service all of those distilleries. We were probably around 65-70% full workforce during that time as we did have some employees who needed to be home for one reason or another. A lot of our office personnel worked remotely from home. Most of our projects were able to stay on schedule, but some slipped as some customers asked to be pushed back in the schedule or just because our manpower wasn’t 100% during that time. But all of our customers were very understanding and realized the situation that we were all in.

RT: Copper prices are currently at a high not seen since 2011. Does that impact on your business at all?

MS: Copper prices are much higher than they have been in recent years. Raw material has more than doubled since May 2020. Not only is the copper raw material prices increasing, the mill’s fabrication price to make the copper sheets/plates is also increasing, certain products by 25%. We also do a lot of work in stainless steel (cookers, fermenters, alcohol tanks) and stainless steel prices have almost tripled over the last 15-18 months. We have been very up front about material prices with our customers when quoting projects. Most of our customers still want to move forward even with the higher material prices as their production outlooks require them to move ahead. We have had a couple new craft distilleries take a “wait and see” approach to see if material prices soften any. Most of our suppliers are not seeing any end to the higher material prices at least until the latter part of 2022.