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bluestar

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Posts posted by bluestar

  1. Well a good "test" of how this would be done would be a canned cocktail that is just beer and whiskey. In other words, a Boilermaker. I presume a brewery could NOT can this, since it requires transfer spirit in bond into the brewery. But the reverse, how would that be done? Since this is not beer being brought it as a raw material for distillation, but as alcohol for blending.

  2. Our cost of production, including labor, rent, raw materials, barrels, bottles, labels, utilities, shipping, etc., has increased by 50% or more in the past decade. Our prices for bottles of our spirits have remained the same. This is mostly due to pricing pressure from the large producers, whose prices have remained fairly level or actually went down in the past decade, for the mainstream brands. But this may be a red herring, since most major producers have added upper tier and pseudo-craft brands that sell at significant premiums from their lower tier brands, and this may be allowing them to effectively raise the average price and net revenue? Have others observed something similar?

  3. We compared India Nordics to USA before they shut down USA production, and at that time it was clear the product from India gave inconsistent fills with level filling because of shape variations, and also problems applying some labels. We have used some Arizonas and Nordics from India since the USA shut down, and they were a little better than we previously, but still inferior to the USA production. We have considered going to Stockholm (Anchor), the quality looks acceptable, but the glass has a bluish cast that is less desirable.

  4. On 11/27/2021 at 12:44 PM, bluestar said:

    We have quite a few 10 gallon "Honeycomb" barrels made by Black Swan, that were used to age a "baby" bourbon for 4-5 months. We also have some of these that had seen second or third use. These barrels have become quite expensive, new Black Swan now charges $317 each (plus shipping)! We sell them for less than half the new price, depending on how many are purchased. E-mail sales@quincystreetdistillery.com for more information or to arrange a purchase. Single barrels can be sent UPS, best option for on-pallet in midwest is Speedee Delivery.

    We have emptied a few more 10g in the past few weeks...

  5. We have quite a few 10 gallon "Honeycomb" barrels made by Black Swan, that were used to age a "baby" bourbon for 4-5 months. We also have some of these that had seen second or third use. These barrels have become quite expensive, new Black Swan now charges $317 each (plus shipping)! We sell them for less than half the new price, depending on how many are purchased. E-mail sales@quincystreetdistillery.com for more information or to arrange a purchase. Single barrels can be sent UPS, best option for on-pallet in midwest is Speedee Delivery.

  6. With more case shipping for drop-ship distribution, self distribution, and retail sales shipments for spirits, the need has grown for FedEx/UPS approved shipping cartons as well. While many solutions exist, including molded pulp shipping cartons, for wine bottles, the dimensions are not quite suitable for many spirit bottles, including the very popular Nordic (aka Oslo, Stockholm) 750ml and 375ml. I am in discussions lithesome molded pulp packaging manufacturers about production of a suitable size for Nordic bottles. To make this happen would require a significant commitment likely from many distilleries or distributors that use the Nordic bottles, since it is not common with large producers. For example, for a molded pulp package to hold 12 bottles, an annual commitment of 50K units, with 15K units produced during a single run would be typical. I am interested in gauging the interest in such packaging.

  7. What should have been done years ago was to create an open source project on a GitHub for the small craft distillers. We are still rolling our own combination of spreadsheets and databases, because every time we check out a commercial solution, they are more expensive, and can't support our current workflow.

    spices

    On 5/11/2015 at 7:58 PM, Salishseaorganicliqueurs said:

    Dsking416,

    We are using Mountain Rose Herbs for our allspice liqueur that will hopefully be coming out for christmas. If Mountain Rose doesn't work for you I would check out Starwest Botanicals or The San Francisco Herb Company. All three provide really high quality ingredients.

    https://www.mountainroseherbs.com

    http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/

    http://sfherb.com

    We are trying our hand at an allspice dram now. Any suggestions for its preparation would be helpful.

  8. We have been using the packaging from spiritedshippers as well, but it is NOT really a great choice if you are using the Nordic spirit bottles (750ml or 375ml). The 750ml are just a little too wide to properly fit, and the shoulder inserts don't match well. The 375ml will fit, but it wastes much space, half the box is empty. It is unfortunate no one appears to make a shipper designed for the Nordic, considering how common it is, as well as similarly sized/shaped bottles. Everything is sized for wine bottles.

  9. On 12/9/2020 at 4:27 PM, NoGoodOutlaw1 said:

    Do you have any suggestions for bulk bottle purchases? 

    Looking for an easy consistent supplier. 

    Thank you in advance.

    Depends on your quantity, unless very large quantity, you want to find a distributor, probably local, that works with multiple manufacturers.

  10. 4 hours ago, Pour Decisions said:

    I was focused on Distilled Gin where a formula is not required but obviously the distillate would be clear. I do not believe you can add colorant or flavoring to Distilled Gin, correct me if I'm wrong. Totally forgot that Compound Gin can have colorant or flavors added post distillation, but as was mentioned butterfly Pea Flower is not yet GRAS so it's out for now. I wish they'd make a ruling on that as its been submitted since 2018.

    Yes, the vagaries of different methods of Gin production. I make both a Distilled Gin (no formula required) and a Redistilled Gin (formula required), so I understand what you mean precisely. But I think you just have to submit the formula, although as you say, if it is not currently being treated as GRAS, it might not get approved. For those that are interested, here is the last published update on that status: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2018-11-13/pdf/2018-24662.pdf And it may not get approved, because it is known to cause uterine issues for pregnant women, so that might be a non-starter. By the way, if the consideration was maybe using it and avoiding prohibition by virtue of not requiring approval of a formula (as for Distilled Gin), of course we are bound to submit formulas by law if we intend to use anything that is not currently GRAS or otherwise limited use in production of spirits (like wormwood).

  11. 16 hours ago, Pour Decisions said:

    Stumbled on this old thread while tinkering with my gin. I'm playing with the butterfly pea flower as a concept to be used in a tasting room cocktail. I realize the cocktail doesn't have the same strict guidelines as the spirit production does, but how are you getting away with adding a colorant to gin as in producing and bottling a blue gin? I thought that was disallowed by TTB?

    Why do you think a colorant would not be allowed in gin? It would have to be in your formula, but gin can have any range of botanicals, and butterfly pea flower is just another botanical. There are no color requirements for gin.

  12. 7 hours ago, Bier Distillery said:

    So let's say theoretically a company with product on retail shelves goes out of business.  When/If they deregister, would everyone carrying their product no longer be able to sell them?  It seems to me there is a reason to still keep the products active, but the facility inactive/deregistered.

    I have answered my question, you can delist after, and I did so. I have edited my original posting. Meanwhile, you can still sell product after de-registering and delisting, when you delist, you indicate the end of market date, which should match or be earlier than the expiration date of the last batch manufactured.

  13. 21 minutes ago, Bier Distillery said:

    I think making and selling are two different things, but in either case deregister.

    Yes, we deregistered, and therefore have stopped production. But we still have some product on hand. Most we sell into our own shop, but I assume, like for spirits, we can transfer from manufacture to retail shop by means of invoice, and that the product can still be sold? The ACSA gives instructions now for delisting product, but if you have already deregistered, but it works after you deregister as well. Also note when you delist, you must indicate when marketing will end, which means the product you have already manufactured can be sold thereafter, until this deadline, according to information forwarded by the ACSA from HHS/FDA.

  14. Well, in any case, we and a few other of our neighbor distilleries have de-registered effective 12/31/20, and obviously will stop making sanitizer, if we haven't already done so, until this is sorted out. I presume we can re-register if they decide to provide an exception for distilleries in the future.

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