Tincturing?

[Foreshot]

Any of you folks use tincturing to make anything? Any advice for recording it for the TTB? For some components it would be nearly unmeasurably small amounts. I think it's pretty straightforward in my mind but looking to see if anyone has experience. Also if you think it's a better method for making more complex spirits vs maceration of botanicals together?

[Silk City Distillers]

Couple of us have played around with vacuum distilled extracts, especially for more delicate flavors - things that tend to not be so thermostable and just get stewed during distillation.  I absolutely love (very low) vacuum distilled cucumber and jalapeño, you can not replicate these flavors/aromas through atmospheric distillation or maceration.  They are just so clean, bright, and immediately recognizable by aroma.

Really wish the TTB distinguished between commercial 3rd party flavorings, and flavorings made in house like this.  Making a flavor is an art, having to slap on the required (undifferentiated) flavored statement is really a disappointment.  There is a huge opportunity for creativity and innovation in this area.  Sit down for a little while and go through books like Feneroli's Handbook of Flavor Ingredients and your head will spin with possibilities.  Tons of other amazing flavor and aroma science books, all of them far more 'craft' than we give them credit for.

Not sure of all the categories where you can do this without having to disclose every "flavor" added, or have to use the lesser "Flavored X" class/type.  Compound Gin is probably the one that's most flexible here.

Hell, Peanut Butter and Cinnamon Whiskey seems to sell like crazy these days, maybe it ain't an issue at all.

[Foreshot]

So what the rule with "flavored"? If you're making the tinctures/extracts yourself is it not just blending? Example (not a real recipe) - I make a 10g orange extract (from zest) and a 1g vanilla extract (from beans) and blend the two I wouldn't need to put "flavored with" would I? We made a Raspberry Gin and couldn't put raspberry flavored on the label as it was distilled with raspberries, not added afterwards. We couldn't put raspberry anywhere on the label. Kinda killed an awesome product.

I don't actually care about putting flavored on the label, just trying to figure out the proper TTB way to use in house made stuff.

 

[Silk City Distillers]

Don’t understand why they wouldn’t have let you use a fanciful name to further distinguish.