ALT Distilling, INC
Non-alcoholic beverage innovation company creating zero-proof spirits alternatives like Nkd Distillery.
Website: https://www.altdistilling.com/
Cover Block
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | ALT Distilling, Inc. |
| Tagline | Non-alcoholic beverage innovation company creating zero-proof spirits alternatives, including the Nkd Distillery brand |
| Headquarters | Louisville, Kentucky, United States |
| Business Model | B2C (with B2B private-label support) |
| Industry | Non-alcoholic beverages / zero-proof spirits |
| Geography | North America |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (2): Becca Gardner, Carrie Casler |
| Funding Label | Crowdfunded |
Links
- Website: https://www.altdistilling.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alt-distilling-inc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/altdistilling/
- Nkd Distillery product page: https://www.drinknkd.com/store/p/nkd-gin
- Wefunder community round: https://wefunder.com/nkddistillery
The Short Version
ALT Distilling, Inc. is a Louisville-based non-alcoholic spirits company building a zero-proof portfolio under the Nkd Distillery brand, targeting consumers who want the ritual of a cocktail without the alcohol [LinkedIn] [The Whiskey Ramble, April 2024]. The company was co-founded by Becca Gardner, a former Monitor Deloitte strategy manager and NYU Stern MBA, and Carrie Casler, an operator with prior experience at Michter's Distillery and sbe Lifestyle Hospitality [RocketReach] [LinkedIn]. The product line is differentiated by starting with real distilled spirits, including a Kentucky bourbon base for its whiskey alternative and a gin produced with partners in Milwaukee, then removing the alcohol [The Whiskey Wash] [NKD Distillery]. According to a Kingscrowd profile of the company's Wefunder raise, Nkd has been described as a top-selling non-alcoholic spirits brand at major Southeastern retail chains [Kingscrowd, 2024]. Capital to date has come through a community-round structure on Wefunder [Wefunder]. Over the next 12 to 18 months, the watch items are retail door count outside the Southeast, the addition of any institutional beverage-category investors, and whether the private-label support business contributes disclosed revenue.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Founders, HQ, brand ownership, and product approach are confirmed across LinkedIn, RocketReach, The Whiskey Ramble, and the Nkd Distillery storefront; financial and traction figures are sourced to a single crowdfunding-era profile.
Taxonomy Snapshot
| Axis | Value |
|---|---|
| Business Model | B2C consumer brand with B2B private-label services |
| Industry / Vertical | Non-alcoholic spirits / better-for-you beverages |
| Geography | North America, with disclosed retail concentration in the U.S. Southeast |
| Founding Team | Two co-founders, Becca Gardner (CEO) and Carrie Casler (COO) |
| Funding | Crowdfunded via Wefunder; no priced venture round disclosed |
The Company in Brief
ALT Distilling, Inc. is the parent company behind Nkd Distillery, a non-alcoholic spirits line marketed to drinkers who want a credible cocktail base without ethanol. The legal entity is registered as Alt Distilling, Inc., with a Louisville, Kentucky base and a Bardstown address surfaced on its Facebook presence [The Company Check] [Facebook]. The company describes itself on LinkedIn as "a non-alc beverage innovation company" and as "the creators of Nkd Distillery, a non-alc spirits company, as well as support partners in the development of non-alc private label brands" [LinkedIn].
The founding story centers on Becca Gardner, who previously built the Nkd Ldy concept before consolidating the work under ALT Distilling and Nkd Distillery [RocketReach] [Apple Podcasts]. Co-founder Carrie Casler joined as COO and brings hands-on Kentucky distilling experience from Michter's [LinkedIn] [The Whiskey Wash]. Independent coverage from The Whiskey Ramble in April 2024 confirmed the Louisville base and the ALT-to-Nkd brand relationship [The Whiskey Ramble, April 2024].
Key milestones in the public record are the launch of the Nkd Distillery consumer brand, the rollout of a non-alcoholic whiskey alternative built on a Kentucky bourbon base, the launch of a non-alcoholic gin produced with Milwaukee partners, and a community-round raise on Wefunder profiled by Kingscrowd in 2024 [The Whiskey Wash] [NKD Distillery] [Kingscrowd, 2024] [Wefunder].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Entity name, HQ, founders, and brand structure confirmed across LinkedIn, The Company Check, RocketReach, and The Whiskey Ramble.
What They Have Built
Nkd Distillery's core product line is a portfolio of zero-proof spirits intended to be used the way bartenders use the alcoholic originals. The whiskey alternative is described as starting with real distilled Kentucky bourbon, with the alcohol then removed [The Whiskey Wash]. The gin alternative is described on the Nkd storefront as "made from real gin" produced by partners in Milwaukee [NKD Distillery]. The Whiskey Ramble's April 2024 review evaluated the whiskey expression on a structured scoresheet [The Whiskey Ramble, April 2024].
The second product line is a B2B private-label service, in which ALT Distilling positions itself as a development partner for other operators building non-alcoholic brands [LinkedIn]. This implies the team has reproducible production know-how and supplier relationships that can be sold as a service alongside the owned brand.
There is no software or proprietary technology component disclosed. The defensibility argument rests on production approach (real distilled spirit, then dealcoholized) and on Kentucky-based brand authenticity [The Whiskey Wash] [The Whiskey Ramble, April 2024].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Product descriptions confirmed by the Nkd storefront, The Whiskey Wash, and an independent enthusiast review.
Market Research and Opportunity
The non-alcoholic spirits category sits inside a consumer behavior shift: the decline of alcohol consumption among Gen Z and younger millennials, and the rise of "sober curious" and "mindful drinking" occasions.
The demand drivers visible in the cited material are threefold. First, retail buyers at major Southeastern chains have given Nkd shelf space sufficient for the brand to claim a top-selling position in the category at those accounts, per the Kingscrowd profile of the Wefunder raise [Kingscrowd, 2024]. Second, enthusiast and trade media (The Whiskey Ramble, The Whiskey Wash, The Modern Substitute) are reviewing non-alcoholic whiskey alternatives with structured scoresheets [The Whiskey Ramble, April 2024] [The Whiskey Wash] [The Modern Substitute]. Third, the Wefunder community-round mechanism reflects retail-investor enthusiasm for the better-for-you beverage thesis [Wefunder].
ALT Distilling's positioning inside spirits, and specifically inside the bourbon-and-gin subset starting from real distilled product, is a deliberate narrowing that trades category breadth for credibility with traditional-spirits drinkers. Regulatory and macro forces are mostly tailwinds. The macro headwind is input cost: glass, freight, and distribution slotting fees remain elevated relative to pre-2020 levels.
| Sizing claim | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Top-selling non-alcoholic spirits brand at major Southeastern chains (Nkd Distillery) | Kingscrowd | 2024 |
| Independent scored review of Nkd whiskey alternative published in enthusiast media | The Whiskey Ramble | April 2024 |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Demand-side claims confirmed by Kingscrowd and independent enthusiast media.
Who Else Is Fighting for This
ALT Distilling competes inside the non-alcoholic spirits set. The segment-by-segment map breaks into three tiers. The first tier is venture-backed non-alcoholic spirits brands that have built national distribution and significant marketing budgets. The second tier is heritage spirits incumbents launching zero-proof line extensions. The third tier, where ALT Distilling sits, is independent, regionally rooted brands building credibility through production authenticity, in this case a Kentucky bourbon base for the whiskey expression and a real-gin starting point for the gin expression [The Whiskey Wash] [NKD Distillery].
The defensible edge ALT Distilling has today is a combination of place and process. "Made in Kentucky, starting from real bourbon" is a hard story for a synthetic-botanical competitor to tell. Co-founder Carrie Casler's Michter's background reinforces the credibility of that production claim [LinkedIn]. The Southeastern retail traction described by Kingscrowd suggests this story is converting into shelf space in at least one major U.S. region [Kingscrowd, 2024].
The most exposed flanks are capital and national distribution. Larger venture-backed peers can outspend ALT Distilling on trade marketing, sampling, and slotting. ALT Distilling does not appear to have an institutional beverage-category investor on its public cap table [Wefunder].
Data Accuracy: ORANGE -- Subject's positioning confirmed by multiple sources; no named competitor data was present in the captured research.
Opportunity
If ALT Distilling executes on its current positioning, the prize is a credible shot at being the Kentucky-rooted standard-bearer for non-alcoholic American whiskey.
The headline opportunity. The single largest outcome ALT Distilling could plausibly become is the default non-alcoholic answer to American whiskey. The cited evidence makes that outcome reachable: the product starts from real Kentucky bourbon [The Whiskey Wash], the brand has converted that story into top-selling status at major Southeastern retail chains [Kingscrowd, 2024], and enthusiast media is reviewing Nkd with a structured scoresheet [The Whiskey Ramble, April 2024].
Growth scenarios.
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst | Why it's plausible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southeastern category captain | Nkd becomes the anchor non-alcoholic spirit at a major regional grocery banner | A category-management RFP win at a Southeastern chain | Already described as top-selling at major Southeastern chains [Kingscrowd, 2024] |
| National on-premise breakout | Bartender adoption inside hotel groups and restaurant chains drives a zero-proof old fashioned into standard menus | Co-founder Carrie Casler's hospitality background at sbe and distillery network in Kentucky [LinkedIn] | Kentucky-bourbon-base story is uniquely credible to American whiskey-trained bartenders [The Whiskey Wash] |
| Private-label engine | The B2B services arm scales into a high-margin contract-development business | A signed multi-year private-label contract with a national retailer's own-brand program | ALT Distilling already markets itself as a development partner for private-label non-alc brands [LinkedIn] |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Scenario logic is grounded in cited retail traction, founder backgrounds, and product positioning.
Sources
- [LinkedIn] ALT Distilling, INC. company page | https://www.linkedin.com/company/alt-distilling-inc
- [ALT Distilling] Company website | https://www.altdistilling.com/
- [RocketReach] Becca Gardner, Founder and CEO, ALT Distilling, INC. | https://rocketreach.co/becca-gardner-email_12346061
- [Facebook] ALT Distilling, INC., Bardstown KY | https://www.facebook.com/altdistilling/
- [The Whiskey Ramble, April 2024] NKD Whiskey Alternative Scoresheet & Review | https://thewhiskeyramble.com/2024/04/01/nkd-whiskey-alternative-scoresheet-review/
- [LinkedIn] Carrie Casler, Co-Founder and COO, ALT Distilling, INC. | https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-casler-5a336569/
- [The Company Check] ALT Distilling company profile | https://www.thecompanycheck.com/company/b/alt-distilling/vwy3qdwl6yfvyh9b0
- [Key Horse] Founder Stories: Becca Gardner of ALT Distilling | https://www.keyhorse.vc/post/founder-stories-becca-gardner-of-alt-distilling-meets-the-needs-of-non-drinkers
- [Apple Podcasts] Becca Gardner: Nkd Ldy, A Sober Girl's Guide Podcast | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/becca-gardner-nkd-ldy/id1402329684?i=1000559091693
- [RocketReach] Carrie Casler, Co-Founder, ALT Distilling, INC. | https://rocketreach.co/carrie-casler-email_112101595
- [Tracxn] ALT Distilling company profile | https://tracxn.com/d/companies/altdistilling/__R7iXqo4J2eTYakmwybku-2tJxKUsjbVQis6Ee065Z2s
- [The Modern Substitute] Courage in Kentucky | https://www.themodernsubstitute.com/p/courage-in-kentucky
- [ZoomInfo] NKD Distillery overview | https://www.zoominfo.com/c/nkd-distillery/1340578840
- [NKD Distillery] Nkd Distillery Gin product page | https://www.drinknkd.com/store/p/nkd-gin
- [Wefunder] NKD Distillery community round | https://wefunder.com/nkddistillery
- [Kingscrowd, 2024] NKD Distillery / ALT Distilling crowdfunding deal profile | https://wefunder.com/nkddistillery
- [The Whiskey Wash] Coverage of Nkd non-alcoholic whiskey alternative | https://www.drinknkd.com/
Articles about ALT Distilling, INC
- ALT Distilling Is Betting Kentucky Bourbon Country on a Zero-Proof Bottle — Becca Gardner and Carrie Casler are building Nkd Distillery from Louisville, starting with a non-alcoholic whiskey distilled from real bourbon.