fotoski

Guy, I think that is a great idea. Cheers!

Welcome! A friend of the Privateer is a friend of mine.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I have been told that the best way to ensure accuracy is to proof down using weight. X amount of water always weighs the same regardless of temperature. Y amount of alcohol always weighs the same, regardless of temperature. X weight of water + Y weight of spirit = X+Y weight at any temperature (below boiling). If you convert your calculations to weight, there should be no fluctuations, and you are only dependent on the accuracy of your measurements and your proper use of formulas to convert to weight.

Welcome back, Ralph. You were dearly missed. Glad to have you back in the saddle. Cheers et Santé,

If TTB does this, would it not be reasonable for all the makers of "white dog" to demand that white wine no longer be labeled as such? For certainly white wine is not white, ...

Pardon me of piping in late, we were teaching a distilling class last week and I didn't get as much time with my email as usual. One alternate solution, slightly mentioned by Mike, is to do contract distilling for these wineries. Why pay them when they can pay you? One of the local distilleries makes 80% of their income off of contract distilling. In Napa Valley, there are any number of wineries who are delighted to add grappa to their portfolio. The distillery files a dba for the product so that the label even reads "distilled by XYZ winery" (instead of the distillery name), and charges the cost of the filing the dba and COLA back to the winery (at a modest profit). Income from each batch is guaranteed. It keeps the doors open, the lights on and you don't have the hassle and risk with selling. Cheers, Drew

Welcome Alison, And Congratulations! The Signature Reserve Brandy you made at Jepson just won another Gold Medal - Best of Category in ADI's last judging and the Old Stock received a Silver Medal. Alison has made some of the best brandy in the country. Cheers, Drew

It sounds like you may be getting saponification, perhaps from adding water too fast. Try drastically reducing the speed at which you add water, particularly as you get closer to 40% abv. Perhaps you will get a clearer spirit.

The deadline for submitting spirits to ADI's annual judging of craft American spirits is rapidly approaching. If you are planning to enter your products, register and send them in this week! For those who missed it the first time, here again is the information. Cheers, Drew The American Distilling Institute will Judge of Craft American Spirits prior to the annual conference in Portland Oregon. Brandies and Whiskies will be evaluated in a blind tasting by a panel of select judges. Brandies will be judged in the following categories. Brandy from grapes Grappa Aged brandy from other fruits (apple, cherry, peach, pear, plum, raspberry and other) Un-aged brandy from other fruits (apple, cherry, peach, pear, plum, raspberry and other) Fruit Infusions (fruit infusions into a fruit-based spirit) Whiskies will be judged in the following categories: Malt Whiskey Bourbon Wheat Whiskey Corn Whiskey Rye Whiskey Un-aged Whiskey Other Whiskey ADI will evaluate spirits made in one DSP in separate categories from those from products that include spirits distilled at other facilities. Packaging Award -- ADI will also award innovative packaging. Bottles will be judges on overall originality, creativity, graphic design, integration of bottle design to label style, and aesthetic appeal. The packaging award will be given for both bottle and gift box design. Each spirit submitted for judging will also be considered for the packaging award. Producers who wish to enter spirits for whom there is no category, may enter bottles for only the packaging award. The judging panel will include Hubert Germain-Robin, David Pickerell, Alexandre Gabriel, David Scheurich, Julia Nourney, Flavien Desoblin, Jeanine Koszalka-Racht, Jay Erisman and David Shenaut. The purpose of this judging is to help promote the American craft distillers that are producing the finest quality spirits and to give participating distillers valuable, unbiased, third-party feedback on the quality and process of their spirits. Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded with certificates and bottle-stickers made available for spirits judged worthy of recognition. All entrants will receive tasting notes with comments from the spirits judges. Deadline for sprits registration is March 18, 2011. All spirits must arrive in Portland for judging by March 25, 2011 to be considered - no exceptions. Judging will be held Sunday-Monday April 2-3, 2011 and medals will be announced, Wednesday night, April 6, 2011, at a banquet at the Benson Hotel, in Portland, OR, during ADI's annual conference. For complete information go to http://www.distilling.com/2011Conference/spiritsJudging/submissionGuidlines.php Only ADI member distilleries are eligible for entry. For membership information go to http://www.distilling.com/join2.html For questions that are not answered there, contact ADI’s Judging Director Andrew Faulkner: drew@distilling.com, 415-517-7377.

Welcome, and good luck in the months ahead. If you come to the ADI conference in Portland,April 4-7, you can get a lot of your questions answered. I hope all goes well. Cheers, Drew

The American Distilling Institute is pleased to announce the 2011 Judging of Craft American Spirits prior to the annual conference in Portland Oregon. Brandies and Whiskies will be judged in a blind tasting by a panel of select judges. The purpose of this judging is to help promote the American craft distillers that are producing the finest quality spirits and to give participating distillers valuable, unbiased, third-party feedback on the quality of their spirits. Brandies will be judged in the following categories. Brandy (aged and unaged) from grapes, apple, cherry, peach, pear, plum, raspberry, and other Grappa Fruit Infusions (fruit infusions into a fruit-based spirit) Whiskies will be judged in the following categories: Aged Whiskey (Malt, Bourbon, Wheat, Corn, Rye, and other) Un-aged Whiskey Packaging Award: ADI will also award innovative packaging. Bottles will be judges on overall originality, creativity, graphic design, integration of bottle design to label style, and aesthetic appeal. The packaging award will be given for both bottle and gift box design. Each spirit submitted for judging will also be considered for the packaging award. Producers who wish to enter spirits for which there is no category, may enter bottles for only the packaging award. ADI reserves the right to either add additional categories or combine categories as necessary to facilitate judging, based upon the number and type of entries received. ADI will evaluate spirits made entirely at one DSP in separate categories from those from products that include spirits distilled at other facilities. The judging panel will include Hubert Germain-Robin, David Pickerell, Alexandre Gabriel, Julia Nourney, Flavien Desoblin, Jeanine Koszalka Racht and others. Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded with certificates and bottle-stickers made available for spirits judged worthy of recognition. All entrants will receive tasting notes with comments from the spirits judges. Deadline for sprits registration is March 18, 2011. All spirits must arrive in Portland for judging by March 25, 2011 to be considered - no exceptions. Judging will be held Sunday-Monday April 2-3, 2011 and medals will be announced Wednesday night, April 6, 2011, at a banquet at the Benson Hotel, in Portland, OR. For complete information go to: http://www.distilling.com/2011Conference/spiritsJudging/submissionGuidlines.php For questions that are not answered there, contact ADI’s Judging Director, Andrew Faulkner, drew@distilling.com, 415-517-7377.

Yes, the conference is on. For more information, go to www.distilling.com

Look at Vermont Spirits White Vodka. http://www.vermontspirits.com/site.html#/home Cheers, Drew

This is terrible news. Everybody in this industry, whether they know it or not, has benefited from Ralph's hard work to change laws and to openly share what he knows about the distilling and the business surrounding distilling. The Erenzo's are some of the true nice people in our industry, blessed with positivity and generosity of spirit. We all wish the best for the Erenzo family and a speedy and complete recovery for Ralph.

Welcome! I hope to meet you at our conference in Portland in April, and I hope you will be entering your fruit spirits in our judging of brandies just before the conference. Cheers, Drew

My nephew just forwarded this link to me. It's an interesting article for those wondering what to do with some of their waste products. http://www.mnn.com/food/wine-spirits/blogs/drink-more-whisky-save-the-earth?ref=nf Cheers, Drew

I am really excited about the Oregon conference. I think it will be even bigger than Louisville was this year. If your distillery is excited about Oregon, or hoping to have your spirits listed by the state for distribution, consider participating in the Great American Distillers Festival, October 23, 24, in Portland. The Oregon Distillers Guild is working with the liquor control commission to fast-track the listing process. This could grease the wheels for doing public events around our conference in April and help you establish a brand presence in a new state. For more information, contact Kelly Kerbs, Kelly@drink-think.net. Cheers, Drew

Hi Colin, Welcome. I'm looking forward to GADF and the ADI conference in Portland. I hope to see you at both. cheers, Drew

Dear Alan, Congratulations and good luck. As far as distributors are concerned, they are what they are, but they don't take the money out of your pocket. They buy the product from you. You determine your price at which they buy the spirits. They do the numbers to see what price they will have to sell it for and what retailers will then turn around to sell it for. Then the distributors make a simple decision: if they are better off paying for their Jaguars by selling your spirits or or a Pernod Ricard product. Your main problem in LV will be that the big casinos are bought and paid for by the large corporate producers who are fighting to keep each other out of the establishments they control. I would not want to standing so close when elephants fight. Brokers are another story, because you are paying money for them. But hopefully you have a deal that means if they are making money, you are making more. It hurts to write the check, but it hurts more to not make the sales. I just thought I would toss out a crazy cost-saving production/marketing idea: I have seen pictures of solar powered stills which are a series of mirrors around a glass pot. You are in one of the few cities where charging one of these things could be practical. It probably couldn't handle more than 5% of the production of a profitable distillery, but it provides a great story to tell retailers and a good excuse for people to tour your distillery and buy t-shirts, which aren't taxed as heavily as spirits, and to create a unique top-shelf product. Cheers, Drew

Kristian! Congratulations and good luck on the road ahead. I look forward to toasting with you someday! Cheers, Drew

Certainly Ralph has the right idea. Everybody who is concerned about this should file a complaint with the USPTO. Since someone above stated the claim was filed on April 30, 2010, the trademark claim should still be under review. If enough protests are received the government will be more likely to reject the claim. If no one complains, trademark will most likely be granted.

Welcome aboard! Good luck in getting up and running. See you in Louisville! Cheers, Drew

Hi Everyone, Thanks Guy, you had it exactly right. I had not seen the request for the judges list. This is the roster of Judges as it stands right now: Lincoln Henderson • Bourbon Hall of Fame, Brown Foreman, Suntory Michael Veach • Filson Historical Society, Bourbon Hall of Fame Charles Cowdery • Author, Journalist, Blogger, Bourbon Hall of Fame Alan Dikty • Allied Beverage Tanks, Beverage Testing Institute Brett Pontoni • Binny's Beverage Depot Mark Gruber • Southern Wine and Spirits Jay Erisman • The Party Source Steve Wright • Spiritech Solutions Bernhard Schaefer • Spirit Consulting (Germany) Flavien Desoblin • The Brandy Library Mardee Regan • Ardent Spirits We are a month out, so a name or two may change before the judging. This will be the first time ever that American Craft Whiskies will be judged against each other without products from the big distilleries. So if you haven't sent your bottles in yet, please do. Deadline April 18! Cheers, Drew

Hi Lee, Congratulations! I'm glad to see your are up and running. You are one of the people who does things the right way and I am looking forward to tasting some superior spirits from your distillery. Cheers, Drew