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kkbodine

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Everything posted by kkbodine

  1. You have made some great suggestions. I would also add, can you tell what the product/distillery is from a distance, say across a bar or room? Simple design seems to stand out better.
  2. From some early video coverage of Tito's it seemed very clear that they used GNS. I have not been inside their facility to see for myself.
  3. In my state of Maine it is estimated that the hospitals and healthcare facilities need 400-500 gallons of sanitizer per day. They are expecting the local distillers to supply that amount for free; for how long who knows. Obviously not a sustainable model.
  4. I appreciate the response. I have had three visits from the ATF/TTB in 28 years at various wineries/distilleries. First visit was to show the new guys what a winery looks like just in case they ever got sent to one. Second visit was trying to iron out some licensing issues during the application process. Third was an inspection, and I was able to supply all of the backup records requested. I was kind of surprised about what was looked at and what was not, though it was only a 2-3 hour look In my opinion, the regulations and forms don't capture how a modern distillery (or winery) operates and make it harder for the TTB to do its job. I doubt anyone is going to re-write the whole thing from the start anytime soon.
  5. I missed line 17 and may or may not be doing all of this on another form currently. Certainly no one from TTB has complained or maybe no one ever looks. On another note, it seems like having three forms is overkill. Wine production makes do with one just fine though it can get complicated too.
  6. So the re-distillation would be reported on the Processing report line 20, used for redistillation?
  7. In person yes, but only the huge ones at Jameson in Midleton Ireland. I'm intrigued by your current offerings and vacuum setups, impressive.
  8. Dude in the video is in Texas as far as I can tell, and they are actively using his videos for promotion. There are so many of us trying our best to follow all of the often bizarre layers of regulations, while there are plenty of others doing whatever they want. I get at least one admitted home distiller a week in my distillery tasting room. I'm actually somewhat neutral on home distilling and I'm plenty relaxed, thanks.
  9. Cool still but you seem to be promoting illegal home distilling...
  10. I actually got so tired of endless pressing at one distillery that I did exactly this. We stopped pressing apple mash and just fermented as is. As fermentation ended, we drained as much liquid as possible to be distilled and composted the remains. Apples at the time were about $0.05 per pound. We saved 100's of man hours and quality was at least as good a when we pressed.
  11. Good question; used in my case. Sometimes used American oak ex-bourbon barrels, and sometimes used red wine barrels (French oak) from our winery.
  12. In my location with my single malt whiskey, I see five years as the minimum but we are bottling it at seven. But I greatly prefer longer aging times (taste wise) and have only tasted one small barrel aged product that I personally enjoyed (out of maybe 75).
  13. You can't correctly measure final gravity with a refractometer; the alcohol distorts the reading. Assuming you mean the reading after fermentation.
  14. DE (Diatomaceous Earth) has potential health consequences.
  15. Interesting discussion and very relevant to a label I'm working on and about to submit. One point @dhdunbar "My take on this (and it is mine, not TTB's) is that a whiskey distilled from 51% or more of malt at 160 proof or less, stored in used oak containers at 125 proof or less, and bottled at not less than 80 proof, is, under the standards of 5.22(b)(2) "Whiskey Distilled From Malt Mash." The class is whiskey, the type is whiskey distilled from malt mash." Looking at CFR 5.22 I don't see where it says "stored in used oak containers at 125 proof or less". It certainly says that for other types but not specially in the section defining whisky from X mash. "(2) “Whisky distilled from bourbon (rye, wheat, malt, or rye malt) mash” is whisky produced in the United States at not exceeding 160° proof from a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent corn, rye, wheat, malted barley, or malted rye grain, respectively, and stored in used oak containers; and also includes mixtures of such whiskies of the same type. Whisky conforming to the standard of identity for corn whisky must be designated corn whisky." Is there another relevant section?
  16. Yesterday I was working on the bottling line and wondering aloud about aging on a boat and Jefferson's in particular. It seems to be a clear violation of the regulation cited... I'm not sure if I'm over it or not. Edited to add: Anyone out there have a copy of one of Jefferson's ocean aged COLA's? My searching produced nothing but maybe I'm just lousy at searching today. Another edit: I found one of their COLA's and it shed no light on the topic other than being "bottled by"
  17. They will take samples and send them to their lab.
  18. If you are bottling into actual bottles you should be using the bottled column. So yes it should all go together under "bottled". It is all about proof gallons; case/bottles should be added up appropriately and translated into PG.
  19. You have made this way more complicated than it is. The proof gallons bottled should have gone on line 9 and line 28 co. b the first month. This report is all about proof gallons, case/bottles don't matter really. In succeeding months, the bottled inventory carries forward on the part II side of the form. As new products are bottled their proof gallons get added to part II from part I and usually you will have nothing left on line 26. As products are removed from bond, line 33 col. b most likely, their proof gallons are subtracted. In my opinion, you should re-submit the first report correctly as an amended report, top right of form. Then onwards from there. Message me if you want.
  20. Note the "2" on "Whisky" According to that note at the end of the chart: "²Sufficient as class and type designation ONLY for whiskies made by: --Blending two or more specific types of whiskies, e.g., a blend of rye whisky and corn whisky should be designated “Whisky” OR --Treating with harmless coloring, flavoring or blending materials* a specific type of whisky not customarily so treated, e.g., bourbon whisky treated with caramel should be designated “Whisky”" So if we assume the TTB is following this as a labeling guideline (and a distiller is following this rule), using the word "Whisky" as the class/type of product is limited in a way but also opens up some potentially interesting whisky varieties and treatments (for those so inclined). Coming back to age, the BAM is very clear. The actual underlying regulations I can find aren't clear though I would assume that the TTB would follow the BAM guidelines because they have created them as a guide for labeling. Anyone know where in the CFR it says anything about whisky aging 4 years? I'm guessing it is carefully hidden.
  21. That answer from the TTB makes no sense and seems like a very loose interpretation of the word "aging".
  22. Looking to get hit with an age discrimination lawsuit?
  23. The wine industry has stressed local and terroir, or at least called out product origin, for a long time; with limited ways to obfuscate. Beer has been getting a pass on using local. The beer industry is a way behind in sourcing local ingredients and most "craft" brewers use nothing local; it simply has not been an issue. The resurgence in local hops seems more driven by market opportunity for farmers than any real call by beer consumers. Owning both a winery and a distillery I see a vast range of consumers. People who know anything about the business or understand the information on a label are few and far between so it is a constant educational process. Most days it comes down to taste and price; local is a nice to have for some people, most don't care. A frustrating reality to those that do care. The local food movement is very strong in my area and a few other areas of the US so some of that is spilling interest over. I actively encourage people to read and understand labels; though servers in tasting rooms can get away with all kinds of lies without repercussions. Of course one can also walk into any place that sells alcohol and find labels that the TTB should never have approved.
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