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Portland distillery launches grant for women-owned businesses

Cory Carman, Freeland Spirits founder Jill Kuehler and Freeland Spirits distiller Molly Troupe chat over a drink.(Photographer Johnny Metcalf)

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — In honor of Women’s History Month, one Portland-based, woman-owned distillery is kicking off a grant competition that will benefit one female-identifying or nonbinary business owner on the West Coast.

Freeland Spirits, founded by Dallas native and Portland resident Jill Kuehler, has partnered with national nonprofit Regarding Her to launch the Freeland Spirits Business Development Grant. The $10,000 cash grant will go towards one woman in Oregon, Washington or California that is starting their own food or beverage business.

The push to support women in the food and drink industry is near and dear to founder Kuehler, who has fond memories working in her ‘meemaw’s’ garden back in Texas.

After working with the Peace Corps for a school garden project in Guatemala and running Zenger Farms in East Portland, Kuehler spoke with a drinking buddy about how great it’d be to have a whiskey that celebrated Oregon’s vast agriculture. That’s when Freeland Spirits was born in 2015.

Kuehler says that breaking into the distilling industry can be challenging for anyone, but access to capital can cause an even bigger hurdle for women.

The Accion Opportunity Fund reports, “While women employ over 9 million Americans and own about 42% of all firms in the US, they only receive about 4% of all conventional small business loan dollars — and only about 2% of venture capital.”

Statistics like these are why Freeland Spirits and Regarding Her’s grant competition are so necessary for female business owners.

According to Kuehler, this is the first-ever Freeland Spirits Business Development Grant, and she hopes it’s just the beginning.

“I would love to just eliminate some of those barriers for women and make that kind of cost of entry lower,” she said. “We all benefit from diversity and we need more companies owned by women, more companies owned by people of color, and to diversify the face of who our entrepreneurs are across the industry.”

In addition to Freeland Spirits being woman-owned-and-operated, Kuehler says many of the brand’s investors are women as well. She and those investors have contributed to the $10,000 grant that will be awarded to one business owner on Friday March 31.

The grant application opened on Wednesday, March 1, and closes on Friday, March 10. Once it closes, Regarding Her will look through all of the applicants before collaborating with the Freeland Spirits team to choose the big winner.

Freeland Spirits is also planning some fun events and specialty cocktails in honor of Women’s History Month. Keep up with the distillery on Instagram.

The tasting room is located at 2671 NW Vaughn Street.