Mt-Defiance

Here is another summary of what you get at each level.  They have also takien some small items of functionality, like being able to include custom text on case labels (we use this to include batch names) and made them a “Pro” feature. Annoying. 

Whiskey Systems Full Feature Comparison (2).pdf

Our Whiskey Systems CORE subscription is still $199 a month. We are happy with it at that price. 

Other than the man way at the bottom, what kind of fittings/access does the tank have?  Thanks. 

Just got an email from Whiskey Systems that they have been bought out by the same company that purchased DistillX5. They say that nothing is changing, but I don’t think that this is going to be good in the long run. 

Whiskey Systems provides training and 10 hrs of free support when you sign up.  That’s all I think I’ll ever need.

We just switched from DistillX5 to Whiskey Systems a month ago since DistillX5 raised their prices significantly.  I was perfectly happy with DistillX5, but so far so good with Whiskey Systems.  A few observations:

DistillX5 is designed to model the activities in the distillery as you do them (charge the still, fire the still, collect distillate . . .) whereas Whiskey Systems is more of a recording tool after the fact. 
 

Whiskey Systems expresses things primarily in proof gallons (I.e., barrels  contents  are shown as proof gallons and starting proof, volume is not shown. Sure, it’s easy to figure out the volume, but when I’m wondering whether a barrel is full, I’d just as soon like to see the volume and not have to get out a calculator)

DistillX5 is a bit more intuitive and has prettier graphics (which does help me have a sense of what is going on at any particular time).  Whiskey Systems is more flexible (no training wheels).

Given the big price difference, I’ll take whiskey systems in a heartbeat, but it helped to have years of experience with DistillX5 first.  This has allowed us to switch over with no extra training,.  That’s another difference...you have to pay for support with Whiskey Systems, so if you don’t know what you are doing you might rack up a bill.

I also work at a very recently opened micro-DSP in VA. We have fed and state lisences to distill, but like you, we want to operate a Distillery ABC store, and have yet to begin that process. What were the major hurdles with the VA ABC?

You can also try webstaurantstore.com. They sell 5 gal. pails and have a Pennsylvania warehouse, so shipping won't be too bad to MD.

Through a personal connection with the owner, I recently began working at a micro micro- distillery. I have a number of years of experience with brewing beer, but I am new to distilling. I plan to focus first on Rum and Absinthe. I would like to share my experiences as I begin recipe formulation, and it look forward to any and all feedback. I'm quite aware that it sounds somewhere between audacious and naive to think I can just jump into this with no experience and hope to produce a good product, but I'm hoping that with enough research, perseverance, and help from the artisan distilling community, that this will be the case.