tl5612

You'll struggle to beat Green Engineering https://www.facebook.com/greenengineering/

I am based in Europe... So unfortunately for the US, no.

The fungus has not affected commercial juniper producers on the continent (northern Mediterranean). While it is a problem for UK juniper. British juniper is not (apart from a handful here and there) used commercially. So the Times (and other papers) linking the fungus to gin is tenuous... it's more sensationalist journalism rather than anything else. It has had no impact on the crops that are likely to end up in gin.

Yes, there is often significant variation from region to region (e.g Croatia v Italy v Macedonia v Bulgaria v Albania v Kosovo...) and year to year. Large distilleries will blend juniper berries from numerous regions and harvests to replicate their house style - and maintain consistency. Holding around 2 year's worth of berries in stock. A specialist gin botanical broker will provide a summary of the harvest by region each year - on quality & yield... leading to updated pricing. And provide samples.

Croatian juniper is wild. Pesticides are unlikely to be an issue. Is the answer not in the question? Increase in juniper mass led to increase in bitterness/astringency. If that is not the case. It would be trial and error until you end up with something you're happy with. I would probably run the still much slower. But there are lots of variables that could be adjusted.

lol.

Diageo are trying to get involved http://www.distillventures.com/

One-shot gin: an entirely finished gin is produced in a single distillation (once reduced/cut with water). As opposed to a multiple-shot gin, where a spirit is designed and created to be padded out with additional neutral spirit after distillation to increase batch size (and cutting time/energy costs etc.) Including London Dry Gins (made from neutral).... Tails: discarded due to aroma/taste. Heads: are usually discarded too, due to aroma/taste. These are often recycled into things you don't drink. Like nail polish remover. Screenwash. etc. Try running your still slowly, with a steadily declining flow rate until the tails cut. Good luck

Ultimately because they don't sell enough booze - for many of the reasons mentioned above. Many probably can't make enough booze to turn a 'real' profit either, even if they had demand... The economies of scale in distilling are massive. Beneath a certain of threshold of production capacity it's pretty impossible to make any money... But of course, the majority of small/medium businesses across the board - in all industries - fail within 5 years (over 50%). Distilling isn't any different.

SFWSC and IWSC are the best.

I would recommend going to work for a distributor for a couple of years first. Setting up what is effectively a wholesale/transport business is tough. Margins are small, so you will need to shift a lot of volume. You will sell on credit. And will have a %age of bad debtors. You could adjust you model, and be a sales agent for a few distilleries (never buying/holding the stock) but taking a commission on volume etc. building a portfolio as such. But you will probably earn more in a salaried role in a larger company - and of course enjoy employee benefits. As for approaching distilleries, that's easy. Most of them would love to sell more booze.

Yep, we do 55%abv - overnight, 15 hours or so. I know many macerate at 60%abv. We macerate at room temperature. Which can vary A LOT, given we have no heating / poor insulation - in summer v winter. This is a real headache and adjustments have to be made to compensate

no crushing or anything like that here. same as copperworks. we macerate as they are (although some botanicals come from our supplier ground/kibbled - like orris root / bitter almond / angelica root). do whatever floats your boat.

Branding Photography Graphic Design: sell sheets, POS etc. Website Depending on your number of SKUs $5k to $500k (if you're Diageo) With this aspect of marketing being the most important part of your business. Also, operating capital looks limited. Bottles, labels, corrugated boxes, grain, botanicals?... you'll want to hold at least one quarter's worth of stock (but will be tempted to buy 1 year's worth!! given the economies of scale in everything). And remember you sell on credit. And you don't get any credit. Wages aside. I would want a larger cash buffer, unless your overheads are non-existent. Playing devil's advocate... Perhaps you're quite late to the party of craft distilling... I imagine in Denver it's a zero-sum game with most wholesalers, retailers and the on-trade. Selling might be tough. With this in mind, would a Distillery Pub might be the best business model? Sell at a higher GP and build a cult brand following - loyal customers. Open the bar. And build your wholesale operation as a secondary aspect of the business. At that price per square foot you're paying retail rent, not industrial rent... So a bar might make sense. Just some ideas.

I've read the other forum posts. But just looking for a bit of advice on a closed loop cooling system for our condenser. Original solution was a cooling tower. But this cannot work now, as we do not have the outside space. Second solution is a small tank and very powerful electric chiller. But this is very, very expensive. Third solution, is two large tanks (flowing one into the other - alternating) with a chiller element cooling the full tank overnight. Our still is only 500 litres in charge capacity. Rectifying to make gin from 55% abv NGS charge. With a run expected to last 8 hours. How much cooling water are we likely to require? The estimate I've received from the still manufacturer seems very high - at around 27,000 litres per run? Does anyone use that much cooling water for a similar set up? Thanks in advance