Covid-19 Updates – How Tenth Ward is Moving Forward

A little message from your favorite spirits team…

New Offerings

What a strange, strange time. When we were forced to close our doors to the public, we became dedicated to bringing the Tenth Ward Cocktail Lab experience to YOUR home. We wanted you to still be able to get your hands on our delicious spirits and mixers to safely enjoy while you practiced your social distancing. First, we implemented curbside pickup – which worked out amazingly! Soon after that, we implemented online ordering which was even quicker and easier. And after that, we launched local delivery!

And lucky for us (and you), the local government eased their regulations and allowed us to offer cocktails to go! Each week we’ve been offering our three draft cocktails (Jalapeno Margarita, Old Fashioned and Corpse Reviver) and a weekly speciality cocktail (this week it’s the Not Your Mum’s Corpse Reviver! Check our Instagram for more info). Honestly, we’re hoping cocktails to go is still a think post-COVID-19… But, anyway, we’ve also put together some simple Cocktail Kits! They’re easy to assemble and come with one bottle of booze, complimentary bitters, local ginger beer, and a fresh lime. Tenth Ward’s doors may be closed, but that doesn’t have to stop you from stocking up and enjoying your favorite spirits.

– Amanda Boroughs, Marketing Manager

Head Bartender Corey whips up Bloody Mary cocktails to go.

Mule Kits and other Cocktail Kits now available. Click to view all available cocktail kits.

Tenth Ward is now offering delivery!

Production

Things have been absolutely bonkers over at the Church Street stillhouse since we’ve all begun to really feel the stress from the pandemic. The good news – We produced a small amount of hand sanitizer for customers and hospitality workers about a month ago, but now we’ve switched gears and have begun producing surface disinfectant with donated materials to keep the front line of this pandemic stocked with cleaning materials. If you’re interested in purchasing some of our surface cleaner, send us a message here. Also good news – Standard spirit production has continued unabated with our usual production schedule. That means we can keep everyone tippling in class at home! Also MORE good news – We’re putting more of our eagerly-awaited (award-winning) whiskies down on oak. So… stay tuned for that. Stay safe, happy and healthy out there!

– Mark A. Vierthaler, Head Distiller

Tenth Ward is producing surface cleaner for local essential businesses.

Pathfinder Farm donated over 1000 pounds of grain for Tenth Ward to produce ethanol for surface cleaner.

Loew Vineyards donated 250 gallons of wine to Tenth Ward to distill out and produce ethanol for essential businesses.

Cocktail Lab

I recently relocated to Frederick and took the position of Head Bartender at Tenth Ward Distilling Company. I moved here from Gettysburg, where I was working at an Irish pub and managing the cocktail program there. Taking on this position during these uncertain times has been an interesting experience. I have mainly been working with Monica (aka Boss Lady), and handling the day-to-day operations at the Cocktail Lab, which has now been transformed into our location for curbside pickup for our spirits and draft cocktails. I’ve also been working on weekly flash cocktail recipes, which has been fun! We’ve been lucky to utilize what we have on hand to create fun, interesting and delicious cocktails for people to enjoy in the comfort and safety of their own homes. The entire Tenth Ward team has been extremely welcoming and and friendly and I look forward to working alongside them and growing stronger bonds when things start to get back to normal. What I look forward to most is getting to be behind the bar and meet all of our wonderful customers while making drinks for them and enjoying conversation. I also look forward to getting to get out and explore downtown Frederick and get involved in the community! Can’t wait to meet all of you!

– Corey Adamo, Head Bartender

Corey demonstrates how to make a Springtime Mule on our Instagram.

Zoom digital happy hours with the Head Bartender!

Wholesale

As many of our beloved restaurant accounts have had to temporarily close shop due to the pandemic, my role as wholesale manager has had to slightly change. While I’m still safely checking on our open accounts, I have also transitioned to helping out with our surface disinfectant. (Thanks to our Boss Lady for giving me some supplemental work!) You can now also find me bottling, labeling and handling all the disinfectant requests from essential businesses. Looking forward to getting back out to visit all of our accounts when this is all over, I miss all your faces!

– Christene Thomas, Sales Manager

Christene performs quality control checks on our Bottle Club member only Conservation Cordial before labeling and packing.

Christene serves up draft cocktails to go, one of our many new offerings.

Christene is keeping Maryland and DC liquor stores stocked with Tenth Ward during quarantine.

Business Management

We’ve certainly been hit hard this time, but running a small business has taught us how to be flexible and how to quickly respond when things aren’t going as planned. We started by determining what course of action would be best and safest for our staff. Fortunately, many of our part-time staff have other sources of income and full time jobs. So, while they stayed home and distanced, we’ve been able to keep our workforce and expenses minimal. As we make changes to our business model in response to weekly updates coming from our governor, we’ve made sure to prioritize staff communication so that the Tenth Ward team is prepared and up to date for the week. Especially as everything else out there can be uncertain and a bit scary.

Now, while the Tenth Ward team has worked wonderfully together as the well-oiled COVID response machine, I’ve been in the background furiously applying for financial relief. I was so relieved to get the announcement from Frederick City that we were selected to be a recipient of the Small Business Resiliency Micro-Grant. Seriously. When I say every bit helps, I mean it! This grant helped cover payroll for my essential staff so we could keep our doors open and continue to support the community through our surface disinfectant production efforts. Moving forward from that, we do have some additional relief in the pipeline. I can’t recommend to small business owners enough to use the resources people are offering. Economic Development, the Small Business Council, Downtown Frederick Partnership and so many more people are providing webinars, email updates, contact info for advice. There are even CPA and financial firms out there offering free consultation for people and businesses that are dealing with financial struggles due to COVID-19. AND – Don’t be afraid of debt! Many of these resources out there are in the form of a grant or a loan that is at an incredibly low interest rate and may even have a mechanism for it to be forgiven. Thanks to these opportunities, I am confident that Tenth Ward will receive the relief needed to keep going until we can operate again under normal circumstances.

– Monica Pearce, Owner & Founder