SaltSpringShine Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 Hi, I just opened Salt Spring Shine and we use honey for all our spirits. Was wondering if anyone has tried barrel aging to make a bourbon/whiskey and how'd it turn out? Also any idea's on what you would call it? Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhdunbar Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 You would call it a distilled spirits specialty item [27 CFR 5.35]. The label could not make any mention of whiskey because, as you describe it, it contains no whiskey [5.22(b)]. You cannot make an age claim on specialty items [5.40(d)]; nor may you make "general inconspicuous age, maturity or similar representations. [5.40(e)(2)]." TTB requires that the labels on bottles of specialty items must contain, among other things, a brand name, fanciful name and a truthful and adequate statement of composition. An an example, "Salt Spring Shine, Bee Dew, Honey Spirits Finished in Used Sherry Barrels." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaltSpringShine Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 4 minutes ago, dhdunbar said: You would call it a distilled spirits specialty item [27 CFR 5.35]. The label could not make any mention of whiskey because, as you describe it, it contains no whiskey [5.22(b)]. You cannot make an age claim on specialty items [5.40(d)]; nor may you make "general inconspicuous age, maturity or similar representations. [5.40(e)(2)]." TTB requires that the labels on bottles of specialty items must contain, among other things, a brand name, fanciful name and a truthful and adequate statement of composition. An an example, "Salt Spring Shine, Bee Dew, Honey Spirits Finished in Used Sherry Barrels." Thanks for that. I make a Vodka and Gin both made from honey and am now going to try to barrel age some to see how it turns out. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernhighlander Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 I would call it dam good if it's made from honey. Some of the best spirits I ever tasted were made from honey. I had a guy that I sold equipment to who would send me some of the awfullest tasting booze. His whiskey and moonshine really sucked. It always had too much backins (tails) in it. Then one day I received some honey spirits from him and it was really really good. My dad and grandfather had bees so I've had some pure honey spirits before and it was always really good. My grandfather would always add a quart of honey to his malted corn mash. He ran a 400 gallon all copper still with the traditional Turnip Head. It was fired by propane when I was a kid but he used wood for years. The turnup head had 1/4 of the volume of the still. His only instruments were smell, taste and a tamping jar. He always ran grain in mashes. That's right, the men of his day could set their single wall stills up with indirect heat and distill without an agitator with no scorching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaltSpringShine Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 Yes honey does make a dam fine spirit. Seems like a lot of the old tricks of the trade are being lost. Hopefully we can relearn them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluestar Posted June 10, 2017 Author Share Posted June 10, 2017 On 6/8/2017 at 10:22 AM, SaltSpringShine said: Yes honey does make a dam fine spirit. Seems like a lot of the old tricks of the trade are being lost. Hopefully we can relearn them. We still sell Prairie Sunshine™ wildflower honey spirit unaged, but we also offer a "Barrel Reserve", which is made like a light rum: blend barrel-aged spirit with spirit briefly rested in barrels. Aging has ranged from 8 to 18 months, and rests from 1 to 4 weeks. We have been using small bourbon barrels (5 to 15 gallon). The Barrel Reserve just went into distribution recently, prior to that only offered retail at the distillery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_Holler Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 On 6/8/2017 at 10:07 AM, Southernhighlander said: I would call it dam good if it's made from honey. Some of the best spirits I ever tasted were made from honey. I had a guy that I sold equipment to who would send me some of the awfullest tasting booze. His whiskey and moonshine really sucked. It always had too much backins (tails) in it. Then one day I received some honey spirits from him and it was really really good. My dad and grandfather had bees so I've had some pure honey spirits before and it was always really good. My grandfather would always add a quart of honey to his malted corn mash. He ran a 400 gallon all copper still with the traditional Turnip Head. It was fired by propane when I was a kid but he used wood for years. The turnup head had 1/4 of the volume of the still. His only instruments were smell, taste and a tamping jar. He always ran grain in mashes. That's right, the men of his day could set their single wall stills up with indirect heat and distill without an agitator with no scorching. Your description of your customer that had the taily whiskey but the honey spirit came out nice, its got me wondering if you can go deeper in the tails with a honey ferment with good results? If they like tails in their whiskey I doubt they adjusted their distilling protocol for cleaner cuts on the honey compared to their whiskey. I'm getting ready to run some mead from a neighboring winery that got a little dry for their taste. Not having run it before, I was just planning on following my usual whiskey cuts but any advice is much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_Sor Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 On 10/10/2011 at 5:18 PM, bluestar said: Who else out there is making a honey-based spirit? Not honey flavored, but distilled from fermented honey? I am aware of Rumble from Balcones as an aged rum-like product, and Bee Vodka from Marsh and Comb Vodka from Still-the-One in the neutral spirits category. Others? We hope to launch our own products in this category at the end of the year. In Ukraine (I live here) there is an ancient city - Lutsk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutsk They prepare alcoholic beverages with honey, it's very tasty In general, you need to decide what you want to do. The fact is that there are many ancient recipes for "mead". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead But if you want to use honey for fermentation and then isolate alcohol, then you only need to use vacuum distillation, so as not to increase the heating temperature above 40 Celsius, otherwise all the smells of honey will be lost. I can help with vacuum distillation, I develop processes and equipment. I have several recipes for honey drinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluestar Posted September 4, 2021 Author Share Posted September 4, 2021 We continue to make honey spirit, but since my last posting, we now also do an absinthe blanche that uses the honey spirit as the base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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