daveflintstone

Anyone know where to get those large display bottles from? I've seen glass and plastic ones in stores. Depending on price, these might be a nice POS to offer.

Did I win?

Everyone's a winner! Congratulations, your certificate will arrive when your check clears.

So the results are in for the Beverage Tasting Institute's vodka competition.

They are quite a bit different than this year's San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

One picks a brand as exceptional, the other awards it a measly bronze. The winner of BTI got just a silver in San Francisco. And so on.

How fascinating.

In other news, my future product has just been awarded the Platinum Medal of Excellence in a pre-release exclusive tasting competition held just moments ago at the inaugural Worldwide Holiday Spirits Competition™. Your results may vary.

Where did you get your load cells, and what brand did you get?

Anyone ever have cork taint in your spirits?

I've just had one bottle of vodka returned for being corked. It is indeed corky, the classic wet cardboard taste. I was using natural cork bartops for this product.

It's the only one I've had in thousands of bottles, so I guess that's not too bad. Of course, there's no way to know how many were corked and not returned, but I'm going to assume none or a very small amount. Any corked product is a bummer because the consumer will assume the product just tastes bad.

Since I'm switching to all synthetic bartops I suppose I've eliminated this problem.

Brewcraft phone number is 503-281-3941 x310

Wow, California folks, there is a world outside your state.

A world where bars are allowed to infuse and sell drinks to their customers. A world where most of them don't because they can't be bothered. A world where some bars do it for a while then abandon it. A world where small producers are sold right along side, without a problem. A world where some producers actually supply the infusion container to the bar, with the brand logo on it.

Welcome to the world.

Not molasses, that is vile.

What do you mean, molasses is vile? You've just dismissed the basis for some of the most excellent rums.

apologies for the thread hijack

I get replacement stuff from brewcraft; I've broken the plastic top of the enolmatic filter repeatedly. Call them and get their pdf catalog emailed to you. Good prices and good service for a bunch of stuff for your distillery.

Winning awards means things for brands. Most consumers don't know what that award really entails, seeing only "gold medal at ________ spirits/rum/etc. competition/awards/festival". The mere fact that there is always more than one gold or silver or bronze awarded is misunderstood by almost everyone outside the industry. Let's face it, to most, a gold medal means the best one. How can there be more than one "best"? Likewise for silver and bronze, these generally mean second and third best, except for spirits competitions where they are awarded in quantity.

That said, one must draw the line somewhere, and I tend to agree with Jonathon that the MicroLiquor Awards may not be up to snuff. Besides, I really don't like the idea of including packaging as a factor in a tasting competition. I package my liquor in rinsed out Aunt Jemima bottles.

Do you think this is worthwhile to enter http://www.microliquorawards.com/ ?

It combines tasting and packaging, so in order to receive the highest award one must please the package design firm.

I wonder how they will handle entries from the packaging they themselves designed? Automatic triple gold?

Much ado about nothing? As most here probably know, some bars have been doing this for many years. An infusion made in a bar is no more than a cocktail that took a long time to make. Complaining that bars and restaurants should need a TTB license to do this is ridiculous. I don't see how your manufacturing rights were stripped away. However, I do agree that distillers should be allowed to do tastings and sales to consumers on their premises. Parity with wine and beer manufacturers is only fair.

Are those $ per proof gallon or wine gallon?

I am trying to compare with our astronomical Australian taxes

I believe state taxes are wine gallon. At least mine are.

I would like to get this, but I need to cap 2800 bottles an hour.

Wow, you better keep on crunching. Starting with the TTB legal requirement for producing vodka from min. 95% ABV. Seems you're putting the cart before the horse.

Among the big boys, Malibu's 21%.

Can you get hydrometers that measure liqueurs with sugars in them?

no

P.S. The Natural Honeydew Green Food Color is made from "edible flowers" and doesn't contain any melon. I think you might have a hard time using it for flavor in a formula.

Best stick with the hyssop.

I actually don't want any flavor added, just color. But from my understanding, I would need to list the specific ingredients, not just "edible flowers" or "vegetable and plant extract". If this is incorrect, please enlighten me.

I use sub micron particulate filters, so hopefully I'll have no problem with floaties, and removing the unwanted flavor with the filter is a bonus.

Nice info here.

I will try the hyssop + other and see what I can come up with.

I have had good luck with 'Nature's Flavors' natural food coloring. They make a green derived from honeydew melons that is very stable. You can add it as a flavoring in your formula submission and never mention it as a colorant, it's a flavoring agent that happens to turn your product green.

Jordan

Jordan, they don't list the specific ingredients for their flavor/colors; how would you submit that as part of a formula?

I am developing a specialty spirit that I want to be green in color. I don't want to color it with certified colors, having to put "certified color added" on the label. I'd like to use a natural ingredient that also happens to color a clear spirit green.

What can I use to obtain a green color, but not affect the flavor? If that's not possible, what can I use to obtain the green color and how will that affect the flavor?

I am not making absinthe.

(910) 494-3633

love to help

If I posted a request for resumes to be emailed and someone posted a phone number as a response, I know who I wouldn't be calling. Thanks for narrowing down the list.

it has to age for 72 hours in wood to be able to call it white whiskey. charred or uncharred.

no

I think it may be a little more nuanced. Can't sell spirits in 500mls....at least not in NYS. Tax volumes may be different for hand blown bottles. I think the TTB requires seals and glass to "protect the revenue!!"

I assumed required sizes were understood by OP. Glass is not required. I'm not sure what you mean by "seal", any functioning closure will do.

The Spirited Shipper folks are out until the 25th, but I need this information now to set up a shopping cart.

What is the weight and dimensions of a one bottle and two bottle Spirited Shipper box?

I don't need the weight off their website, I don't think that's accurate.

thanks if you can help