ADI Whiskey and Moonshine Conference in May

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Re: ADI Whiskey and Moonshine Conference in May

Unread postby bourbonv » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:22 pm

I am always willing to try anything new, just expect an honest opinion of it. If I don't like it I will say so and tell you why. Of course, The same is true if I do like it.
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Re: ADI Whiskey and Moonshine Conference in May

Unread postby delaware_phoenix » Fri Apr 23, 2010 5:58 pm

That's what I'm hoping for. It's not really any kind of product or like that (I'd never shill my spirits here), but just trying to get a feel for what rye whiskey is supposed to taste like before it's gone in the barrel.

I'm getting really excited about this conference. :bounce:
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Re: ADI Whiskey and Moonshine Conference in May

Unread postby bourbonv » Thu May 06, 2010 9:20 am

For the record here, Cheryl's rye white dog was some of the best artisan whiskey I drank all week.
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Re: ADI Whiskey and Moonshine Conference in May

Unread postby bourbonv » Thu May 06, 2010 11:21 am

I have to say I enjoyed the conference. I met up with a lot of people I have not seen for a while... Steve and Donna Nally are at Wyoming Whiskey, Lincoln and Wes Henderson are opening the Angel's Share distillery in Louisville and Dave Pickerel is doing a bottling of WhistlePig rye whiskey out of Vermont, but the whiskey was made in Canada. It is very good and I have reviewed it here.

Other exciting people were Cheryl (Delaware-Phoenix here) and her friend Sharon who is opening a distillery in Virgilina, Va. Cheryl has done a very impressive white dog from rye on a small scale and is hoping to get her larger scale still in place before summer is out. I am looking forward to tasting her rye and maybe a bourbon. Sharon is looking to do corn whiskey, brandies and fruit infused whiskey with maybe a bourbon down the road. She is going to play into the local moonshining tradition the real old recipes for using fruits to flavor whiskey. Should be very interesting and I am going to send her some early 19th century recipes.

I was impressed by the Garrison Bros. They invited all of the Texas State Representatives and Senators to visit the distillery and gave them a complete tour, and set out some white dog and aged product. Whenever a Senator or Representative went to taste it, they stopped them and reminded them that tasting would be illegal. The law was changed in the next meeting.

Tuthilltown did a very good presentation on marketing. I have to admit I have only had their first production product and I was not impressed with it. They have greatly improved their quality and their Manhattan rye won a gold in the competition. Their marketing is also very impressive. These guys know what to do to get their product before the bar patrons.

I am sure I am forgetting other highlights, but I will let John Lipman add his own comments and between the two of us we will probably get it all covered.

Mike
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Re: ADI Whiskey and Moonshine Conference in May

Unread postby delaware_phoenix » Thu May 06, 2010 4:42 pm

OK, I'm just back.

I wanted to say what an awesome time I had at this conference. Obviously it's totally geared towards people with operating new microdistilleries interested in whiskey/bourbon/"moonshine" production as well as folks that have the idea or are planning on opening one. That said, the chance to meet other distillers, distillers-to-be, whiskey enthusiasts, and industry folk (i.e., some of the big folk) all at one event was incredible.

I want to thank Mike and John so much for sharing all their knowledge and time in chatting with my friend Sharon and I. It made everything just so much more pleasurable and downright fun. You two are really great guys. And Sharon concurs. And then the chance to taste some exceptional historical whiskey like the Old Crow 1908/1925, as well as the modern expressions like BT experimentals that basically only locals get to obtain, and everything else that came you way. That was awesome. Really, thank you ever so much. :wow:

On opening night at the Receptions, it was great to meet many people for the first time, Mike, John, and also Chuck Cowdery and folks from the ADI. Lots of free sampling of yummy and interesting stuff.

I had the wonderful pleasure of being introduced to Lincoln Henderson by Mike and immediately upon Mike telling him I had my own little microdistillery he began offering advice and suggestions. It was really great to meet such an icon of the industry.

There was a great tour by bus on Monday where we got to visit Vendome Copper (the still manufacturer), Kelvin Cooperage, AllTech Brewing & Distilling (Forsyth stills), (some place I'm forgetting in my foggy mind), and Buffalo Trace for a behind the scenes tour including their 60,000 gallon capacity beer still and doubler, fermenters, grain processing, mashing. All the behind the scene stuff that geeky distillers like to see.

There were more geeky sessions the next day and a half. I really liked hanging out back behind the conference with Jim Blansit of Copper Run Distillery (Missouri) and Sherman Owen (Vendome Copper) that had hooked up a homemade steam generator using a gator burner, a 15 gallon keg, some SS pipe with tri-clover clamps and a custom 55 gallon SS 304 barrel. So many micros start cash starved. They have a lot of equipment to buy, and everything is expensive. Here was an example of something homemade for minimal money (maybe $500) and a few hundred more would have added some necessary safety features (in a real distillery rather than a moonshine operation), things like this need to be better promoted. Plus, it was good experience to see how to cook a corn mash, one of the most difficult things to do correctly. And to do it without chemical additives like enzymes from other than the barley.

I could mention a lot of other stuff, but I don't want to bore you. Not boring howvere was the talk Mike gave on History of Bourbon. From the origin of the name to the differences in historical barrel sizes, and char, Mike gave a lot of ideas to those attending about alternative expressions based on historical techniques and recipes, with the benefit of lead free stills and other modern equipment. Could be very interesting...


Thanks for the nice comments Mike on my rye experiment. Seriously. It was literally an experiment. Now will be the hard work of actaully being able to reproduce that! It was good to be knowing I'm going in the right direction.

The rest of this week and next will be very busy for me catching up and getting ready for MCC. I'll be back!

cheers, everyone!
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Re: ADI Whiskey and Moonshine Conference in May

Unread postby bourbonv » Thu May 06, 2010 6:27 pm

I am glad to see that you made it back home safely. I am serious when I say your rye white dog impressed me and i am looking forward to seeing you do that on a larger scale and get it into the barrel. I do ahve some posts already on this site with some historical methods and mash bills. If you wish I can bring them forward for you to look at and maybe they will give you some other ideas.
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Re: ADI Whiskey and Moonshine Conference in May

Unread postby delaware_phoenix » Thu May 06, 2010 7:14 pm

I have searched around and found some stuff, but most likely not everything by a long shot. Feel free to send any info or links to threads as I love reading that stuff and will give it a bunch of thought.

But I can't say that little rye was a historical recreation at all, more like inspired by history.

There was a rumor that the 2011 ADI conference will be in NY somewhere, but I didn't hear any details.
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