Distilling Research

~Max hangs out in the shade at "Stinger and Goob's"

While "Stinger" is at the office and the girls are checking out Dallas's newest and purportedly largest Belk, Max and I decided to conduct a little front porch research into the world of distilling fine spirits. I certainly don't want Klietus to think we have less than full confidence in his abilities (we didn't appoint him "Master Distiller" just because he happened to be standing there when we decided we needed one), but there's more than a good chance he's out fishing right now and not at the library reading up on why copper makes the absolute best still or why American White Oak makes for some of the finest oak aging cask on planet earth (something we're not short of in County Barry). I also wouldn't expect anyone on a fine day like today (81* and sunny in Dallas) to be spending their spare time studying up on why barely needs to be steeped in water for two days before then getting kilned over a perforated metal floor, or, like they did in the old days, spread out over a cement floor to a depth of about 2 feet while getting turned over regularly with wooden shovels to prevent the roots from matting. Although these are things any serious Master Distiller would certainly need to know, you can't expect a man to become an expert at anything over night-certainly not. My guess is, it's going to take Klietus at least a couple weeks of some pretty serious research before he's ready to fire up the new still for our first Micro-Batch of award winning "My-Crow Missouri Bourbon". Yes indeed, I believe the key to distilling award winning bourbon, is in the expectations: expectations that are much, much lower than everyone else's!

~Relaxing in the Dallas shade

~Reading "Whiskey World" by Charles MacLean