If you had your own distillery...

[boss302]

I know this type of thread has been done at least once before, but my tastes have changed since then, and Straightbourbon.com has picked up quite a few members since the last time.

The question is:

If you had your own distillery, what would you make?

Feel free to include specifics on equipment, product lineups, bottle styles, etc.

[Slob]

I would love to make Rye.

[Jono]

It would be interesting to experiment with different cereal grains...

millet, sorghum, oats, triticale, buckwheat, fonio, quinoa..even soy etc. for different tasting whiskeys.....different woods...apple, maple, hickory etc.

[Slob]

It would be very interesting, indeed. And a whole lot more fun than working for a living.

My first choice, though, would be to experiment with bitters. I'd love to play around with spices and flavors.

[Jono]

I found this comment online:

"Sorghum whiskey is brewed extensively in Asia, tasty, smooth and will hammer you."

Anyone know of this stuff? Ed?

Also:

"Studies of the properties of wheat, maize, sorghum and millet, showed that they had good potential for grain distilling and ethanol production at comparable nitrogen levels, and had physiological processing characteristics within the range accepted for wheat or maize."

[chilidawg7]

I think I would take the BTEC idea and run with it. Maybe change up the barrel types, time in barrels, etc. There is enough good bourbon out there that we wouldn't have to rely on my distillery to provide supply, so I wouldn't feel bad about the experiments that don't work so well.

[TNbourbon]

I found this comment online:

"Sorghum whiskey is brewed extensively in Asia, tasty, smooth and will hammer you."

Anyone know of this stuff?..

Most Indian 'whisk(e)y' is essentially rum, distilled from pressed sorghum. It IS sold around here, though I've never really been tempted by it.

[Stu]

I'd like to smoke barley malt with hickory instead of peat and store some in traditional oak barrels and some in hickory barrels and see what I had in ten years.

[OldJack]

Stu's plan sounds great to me.

[CorvallisCracker]

I'd like to smoke barley malt with hickory instead of peat and store some in traditional oak barrels and some in hickory barrels and see what I had in ten years.

If it wasn't any good as a whiskey you could always add it to BBQ sauce.

[boss302]

Assuming I have a lot of money to start with, the first thing I would do is fly over to Scotland, and take a tour of defunct Lowland distilleries. The idea is to find some large copper stills in restorable condition (the rest for scrap copper for repairs, etc).

So, yeah, I intend to batch-distill my product. I would use the Scottish Lowland stills as my wash stills (1st distillation).

For my spirit stills (2nd distillation), I would commission a good coppersmith to make me a Welsh still, similar to the ones Penderyn uses to make their Aur Cymru. These stills are unique in that they have a miniature column still built into the neck of the pot still. The neck would contain 5 perforated stainless steel plates.

I am still debating on whether or not I would install a worm tub. Perhaps for the malt whisky only?

My bread-and-butter whiskeys would probably be a range of bourbons, as corn is a rather plentiful crop in this area. I would try to buy excess crops from the Amish and Mennonites, as their crops are still largely organically-grown.

As PA is slightly cooler than Kentucky, I would probably set a minimum age of 6 years for the mainstream lineup.

The bread-and-butter whiskey would be a rye recipe bourbon, aged 6 years, with a lower percentage of corn than most bourbons, with rye and barley recieving more focus. I guess Bulleit has a similar concept.

After that, I would consider doing a Malt Whisky using ex-bourbon casks, then maturing them in Madeira hogsheads.

And after that? I might try a Rye Malt Whisky, similar to Old Potrero.

I think Hickory-smoked malt is an interesting idea, and worth exploring. I would also like to see if it is possible to get a good result from American Red Oak cask maturation...

[ILLfarmboy]

I too, would be interested in a traditional pot still for the stripping run and a hybrid pot still with a small rectification column as the spirit still.

I'd like to aim for a final ABV of 56%

I'd like to make both traditional bourbon and rye but play around with the mash bills, using slightly higher than normal percentages of malted barley.

Also, I would like to make an all rye mash consisting of 20% malted rye and 80% unmalted, something akin to Lott 40.

I'd like to make an all barley malt whiskey, too. I'm really quite fond of Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey. I'd like to taste it, or something similar, with a bit more age.

[dave ziegler]

If I was very Rich I would Buy the Kinsey Distillery and Build a New still, fix all the Explosion Proof Warehouses up and Even try to save a couple of the Wood and Brick ones. Also I would rebuild the bottle house and try to save what is left of the Old Historic Buildigs, And for my Grand final I would take the walls of Jacob Kinsey House down by the river and turn it into a Fine Resturant and Mini Museum! And the Very First Product we would distill would be Old Hickory after we bought back the Label! This will never happen but you can dream and its Fun!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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[boss302]

If I was very Rich I would Buy the Kinsey Distillery and Build a New still, fix all the Explosion Proof Warehouses up and Even try to save a couple of the Wood and Brick ones. Also I would rebuild the bottle house and try to save what is left of the Old Historic Buildigs, And for my Grand final I would take the walls of Jacob Kinsey House down by the river and turn it into a Fine Resturant and Mini Museum! And the Very First Product we would distill would be Old Hickory after we bought back the Label! This will never happen but you can dream and its Fun!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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Hi Dave,

I've always wanted to do the same for the old Michter's distillery, too.