Lost spirits distillery... very clever.

[pucho812]

Well,  had a night off and went on a distillery tour. There is a distillery in l.a. Who knew? They make a couple of rums ,  brandy  and a scotch. I know your wondering about their scotch and it not being in  Scotland. Well truth be told, they import from the isle at a low age, about a year and mature it here in the u.s. What is interesting is they have a few patents for for booze. They do this special process where they can make a scotch that has the chemical make up of a 20 year old scotch but do it in 6 days. Patent protected and pretty interesting. Couldn't tell you if the rums or scotch tasted 20 years old but they were good. Even more interesting is the experience as the place is described as the Willy wonka booze factory.  Way cool.  Their scotch scored a 95 out of 100 in Jim murry's whisky bible.
Worth the night off.
Check this video with one of the founders
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f3e73UA0vmM

 

[scott2000]

That's too cool....

 

[ruffrecords]

I think there is a place in Roumania that uses a similar process to turn regular wine into quality stuff.

Cheers

Ian

 

[alexc]

There's a seller in Portugal (on eb*y) of large 'stills' - handmade, copper 'alembics' and stuff  ...  incredible crafting .. not cheap and they scale right up to very large commercial 'trad' installation.

Used for making ports and fortified 'wines' and such ....  one does one or two passes thru it ...  as distinct from more modern stills which use the reflux tower to get pure spirit, 'pot stills' retain some of flavour and character of the ferment  ..

I mean who hasn't wanted to get their own still going  ;D  Apricot schnapps for instance ? and all those 'genevers' I used to like when I lived in the European 'lowlands' on Benelux  ;D

 

[JohnRoberts]

There's a seller in Portugal (on eb*y) of large 'stills' - handmade, copper 'alembics' and stuff  ...  incredible crafting .. not cheap and they scale right up to very large commercial 'trad' installation.

Used for making ports and fortified 'wines' and such ....  one does one or two passes thru it ...  as distinct from more modern stills which use the reflux tower to get pure spirit, 'pot stills' retain some of flavour and character of the ferment  ..

I mean who hasn't wanted to get their own still going  ;D  Apricot schnapps for instance ? and all those 'genevers' I used to like when I lived in the European 'lowlands' on Benelux  ;D

Back in the 60s during my brief (incomplete) college matriculation, I had a 3 month coop job as a draftsman working for a still and sterilizer company. Their main business was selling water stills for industrial uses. As I recall we had a few customers who sold distilled spirits ("Old Mr Boston" was one cheap booze company customer I recall). Maybe not so cheap if they used a commercial industrial still, instead of old moonshine rigs with car radiators for condensers.

JR

PS: A cheap trick for fortifying low alcohol brews is freezing it. The alcohol freezes last so remains liquid longer and can be separated. I may have tried this once, if it tasted good I would have tried it more than once.  :

 

[Seeker]

I’ve seen some pretty cool stuff happening in the bourbon world... using cut up barrels and pressurized tanks aging can be sped up dramatically...  haven’t had the chance to taste any myself though.

I mean who hasn't wanted to get their own still going  ;D  Apricot schnapps for instance ? and all those 'genevers' I used to like when I lived in the European 'lowlands' on Benelux  ;D

About a year ago I got myself a small still, and with some help from a friend who works at a small gin distillery I’ve developed a very tasty gin recipe.  It’s a fun hobby and keeps me nicely sauced...    I don’t make my own alcohol though, I start with a neutral spirit and then distill through my botanicals, a little bit different game than whisky. 

Ive tried some “barreling” using oak chips but so far the results haven’t been so great. 

 

[alexc]

One of my fav vids is one looking at distillery in the US .. I think it was TN ..  very old and well known brand , trad techniques but in a modern context for a big market.

Just love the barrel people's work ... it's such an art to make, even with some mod cons  ...  and then there's the rugged beauty of the burning process 

And the storage house, was something else - all oak framing in a massive old style brick building ...  and mucho barrels of aged gold.

 

[JohnRoberts]

One of my fav vids is one looking at distillery in the US .. I think it was TN ..  very old and well known brand , trad techniques but in a modern context for a big market.

Just love the barrel people's work ... it's such an art to make, even with some mod cons  ...  and then there's the rugged beauty of the burning process 

And the storage house, was something else - all oak framing in a massive old style brick building ...  and mucho barrels of aged gold.

2L oak barrels on sale $39.99  https://www.williamsbrewing.com/2-Liter-American-Oak-Barrel-P4597.aspxbut shipping half way around the world might be an issue.

JR