Fun with Infusions

This is my how I have been having fun. I have been infusing all kinds of ingredients to perfect my recipes for the day I (finally) have the distillery open. It's good to play in a lab again, although kitchens are not that much different from chemistry labs.

Right now at The APK you can sample our Creme de Menthe, made with peppery garden mint; Madagascar Creme de Cacao, made from cocoa nibs I get locally from Habitual Chocolate; Lemoncello, from a recipe I have been refining for decades; my own Canteloupe Melon Liqueur; spicy Kumquatcello, and Buddha's Hand cello made from a weird-looking Citron from China. And once I can figure out the reason why the truffle flavour keeps disappearing, Truffle, Caramel and Fleur de Sel Liqueur.

Most of these have been made with Smirnoff vodka, but second and third batches are now being tested using Wyborova Polish Vodka. Since Smirnoff is corn-based and Wyborova is rye-based, the end result can be quite different. I am planning on making wheat-based vodka and that will introduce yet another variable to the process, and yet another refining of the recipes.

Currently I am also infusing roots, spices and herbs. Gin here we come!

I had a meeting with Anne Sloboda, my contract herb grower yesterday and we have a planting plan for spring. Her garden hasn't had any pesticides or other nasty additives in the 35 years since they bought the old school house in Sparta. This part of the plan has me very excited. We head out this weekend to buy herbs to get the garden stocked and growing.

When I attended the Amazing Grazing event at the Western Fair's Agriplex, organized by my old pal Martin Withenshaw, I met a Beekeeper from just down the road from Anne. We are going to arrange for some hives for the herb farm and also for the distillery. Our roof will be buzzing when we have the bees, the bat houses, and the bird houses up there. Wild kingdom!

And best of all, we are hoping for location news very soon.

The Speakeasy

Speakeasy or  Speak / Blind Pig / Blind Tiger / Booze Can / Bootlegger / Smugglers House 

These are all terms used over the centuries as terms for places that sell illegal booze. They are all more exciting terms than "bar", "tavern" or "lounge" evoking images of danger and lawlessness. 

Even "lounge", while the most evocative, is still pretty lame, as all I can imagine are a bunch of people laying around drunk, which while it may be true, does lack romance.

Moonshine or  Shine / Juice / bathtub gin are names for the illegal or home-made booze. They too are evocative. Maybe it takes a bit of illegality to put the spice back into our language. 

I came across this entry online in the web page: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/01/speakeasy/.
The article is called Bathtub gin, blind tigers, and bootleggers: the language of the speakeasy and is a paean to the colourful language of illegal alcohol. It also has a very cool illustration.

And finally a bit of urban wisdom:

It's better to sit in a bar and think of the church than to sit in a church and think of the bar.

A Question of Esthetics

Here at Kettle Creek, which is soon to become an operating distillery (and is currently a plan), we believe that sustainability is an achievable goal. And we are planning everything to that end. We will be using local grains, fruit, herbs, etc. Or, if we need to import, we are sourcing the most sustainable products. These products should be fair- trade, or the producers or growers should also be making an attempt to be as sustainable as possible.

We are considering and acting on what happens with our waste, and are building to reduce, reuse or recycle waste from spent grains, CO2, water and heat.

We will have bottle recycling at the distillery. We will recycle your alcohol bottles, ANY alcohol bottles, as well as our own.

Which leads me to a question.

Given that our vodka and other spirits will be made with the highest-quality ingredients, using no artificial ingredients or colours, and manufactured with an extremely high level of care, is there a place for a plastic bottle in this scenario? Or a Bag in Box? We are going to sell mini kegs. And also to allow bulk purchases which the purchaser can bottle as needed.

The up-side of plastic is a lower carbon footprint both if we buy the bottles or make them in-house. It also costs less to ship them filled. Savings can be passed along to the consumer.

The down-side is how do you make plastic look like a luxury? There are so many vodkas on the market that consumers are buying based on the design of the bottle and the label. It's all about the branding. And since most people buy their vodka to mix, not to sip, the branding is likely the most important part of the purchase to the  non-connoisseur. Does it look good on the home bar? Have my friends heard about this brand and do we perceive it as a Premium product?

I would be interested in people's thoughts about this.

Progress or Something Like That

Progress is an interesting word. It implies forward movement, something that may be nearly undetectable. After working on our business plan for the past two years, I feel that one day I will be able to measure the forward progress of the distillery. But right now I am still in front of the tsunami: what I call the huge mountain of stuff  that needs to all come together at the same time to make this project fly.

And lately, I do believe that the tsunami of work is reaching a measurable state. We are having plans drawn up for the distillery itself, its equipment designed, and the necessary work on the building if not contracted, at least quoted on.

The tsunami of which I speak is this: you cannot apply for the licensing until you have a building and a business that is incorporated. You can't design your distillery and it's equipment and leaseholds, until the building is secured too. I believe we will be staying in the location where the bar is currently, barring unforeseen difficulties, which mitigates the location question. But you can't design the bottling line until you know what bottles you will need. And that involves getting the brand, the logo, the illustration and all its design-y aspects done such as the size and shape of the bottles. This means you should also be firm on  labels, fonts, label verbiage etc. Bottle samples should be arriving from Italy any day, so that part of the process can go ahead, if any of them float my boat. And of course the engineer needs to see them and of course he will have ideas. He always has plenty of ideas!
If you do go forward too far ahead, you can bleed through your money really fast!

Do you get the tsunami feel yet? Have I mentioned that it is illegal to own a still and to make alcohol before you are licensed? So, while we can design the machinery, we cannot build it until licensing is in place.
And we haven't even gotten into the website and other design-type elements. Not to mention the names for the various production lines and their contents and production schedules,

While it is very exciting, this pile up of elements can be really daunting.
I haven't mentioned the licensing much, because with 5 bar and restaurant licenses under my belt, that doesn't  daunt me. BUT... I think I may be farming out the LCBO application to someone who has experience, at least the first one, so I have a template to work from.

I am speaking with government agencies about grants and loans, especially for hiring, but also those grants and loans directed specifically at the food processing industry. A whole new field to conquer!

Exploring Vodka- Vat Izzit?

Exploring Vodka- Vat Izzit?

In my last blog entry I spoke about The Devil’s Cut- a “new” way of making booze using a barrel that had previously been used to aged whisky. The Jim Beam people poured water into these barrels and after extracting the whisky flavor, blended it with some of their bourbon to make this “new” product.

We called that swish when I was younger.

Now let’s look at vodka. While others spirits are made from something specific (Brandy from grapes, Whisky from grains, Tequila from agave), vodka is made with any product that will yield sugar once fermenting is initiated using yeast and water.

The distillation process works like this: you add yeast and water to a product (potato, fruit, beets, honey, whatever) that will break down to produce sugars. You will then have a wash , also called green beer, which will top out at about 15% alcohol. Then the yeasts will die. That’s why wines A.B.V. (alcohol by volume) will be between 12 and 15%. 

To get a higher proof, you would need to distill the wash. This process separates the alcohol from the water, concentrating the alcohol. The more times you distill it, the more flavour you leave behind and the higher the proof. At 100% alcohol (if you could even do this), you would have no flavour left. 95.75% ABV is about as high as you can get. This is what is called a Neutral Spirit.

After the distiller has added water to lower the ABV to around 80 and 100 proof, and It has been filtered through various means, it is sold as vodka. 

So: the flavour of the ingredients used in the initial fermentation is largely removed by distillation, and the rest of the flavour is removed by filtrations and being cut with water.

This results in what the marketing refers to as “clean”, “pure”, and is really “flavourless”.

The better to mix with your favourite juice or soda, without any alcohol flavour getting in the way!

Note the overwhelming appearance of water! You already know that Aqua Vitae means water of life in Latin and so does uisce beatha (uisge beatha) in Irish Gaelic. Coincidence? Metaphor? Or a nod to the process?

One of the aims when Kettle Creek Small Batch Distillery makes vodka is to retain the characteristic flavour of the ingredients. Flavour without the ethanol burn. Smooth and truly adding to the cocktail, rather than just diluting it. It will be more than just alcoholic water!

SWISHY STUFF

I recently stumbled upon Jim Beam’s Devil’s Cut Whiskey while looking into new products for my bar, The APK in London Ontario.

Bourbons and premium whiskeys are trending at the bar and we have been trying quite a few. 

This intrigued me- was it a new variation, a premium addition? 

Well- here’s what they say:

“As bourbon ages, a portion of the liquid is lost from the barrel due to evaporation—that's the "Angel's Share." After aging, when the bourbon is dumped out of the barrel, a certain amount of whiskey is left trapped within the wood of every barrel.
We call that the "devil's cut."

To create Jim Beam® Devil's Cut®, an extraordinary new bourbon experience, we developed a proprietary process that actually pulls the rich whiskey trapped inside the barrels' wood after they're emptied. We hold this barrel-treated extract until it develops the proper balance of bourbon notes, then blend it with 6 year old bourbon and bottle at 90 proof. The result: a robust, premium bourbon with deep color, aroma and character.”

When I was a kid we called this Swish! And the bootleggers loved to sell it! You add water to a barrel that was used to age whiskey and leave it until it absorbs the flavour and the alcohol residue. You “swish” the barrel to get at all the left-overs.

Hmmm- not exactly a Premium product. 

I haven’t gotten to trying it yet, but I have been assured that the flavour profile suggests that it is better for sipping!