a piece of advice

[PANMAN1965]

I am a total novice, BUT I have brewed a LOT of beer so I have been very fortunate that between that and this place I have made some really good runs...... Ok here is the advice.. NEVER EVER tell anyone that you have a still, especially if your stuff is actually drinkable..... not your best friend or your buddy or your family. I let a couple of family members know I was doing small runs and all of a sudden I am supposed to give them some to give to someone else. I was asked by one of em the other day IN FRONT OF SOMEONE ELSE if I had any they could have, this same guys son always bums me for some.... I told him no that I quit making. People are so entitled anymore...it got so bad with the beer that I told em no more free beer, bring ingredients and prepare to learn to brew.... I make wine ( I used to make wine) making GOOD wine takes FOREVER and it is something that should be savored and kinda hoarded for special occasions IMO....... My sister was CONSTANTLY asking for wine to give to this person or that person or whoever.... I despise greed but man alive... SO be discreet. I thought I ws by keeping the circle very small but evidently not small enough.

[kiwi Bruce]

I never make my own anymore...I used to, but then a really good friend of mine introduced me to an old guy who lives in the pine barrens of New Jersey...and now I get everything from him. His name is Mr Hills, his friends call him Billy. He told me NEVER to bring anyone else around to see him...He's like a ghost. So all my equipment is now just for beer brewing.
Now I could have posted this on the "The liar's bench" but you get my picture...a good tale is worth a thousand lies. Just cook up a good one...or steal this one!

[HDNB]

Amen brother.

I'm not even sure i believe the lengths i had to go to fix my earlier indiscriminate sharing. People are bat shit crazy, to put it mildly.
My friend PFshine reminds me you go this trip of life alone...make the hobby yours and yours alone.

[NZChris]

Have a special stash for pests. Cloudy and/or vinegar for beer and wine.

For spirits, a counterfeit whiskey. Over oak some heads and tails mixed to about 25-30% with some chilli peppers steeped long enough to make up for the lack of heat from the low abv.

[zapata]

A nice set of decanters is a classy way to store and serve your "commercial" booze.

Anybody I trust well enough to actually cop to it, brag to, talk shop with, or make special bottles for occasionally gets a short discussion on security culture.
- "shine" never "zapata's shine"
- even if you suspect someone else knows
- especially if you KNOW someone else knows
- If they know, then you sure as hell don't need to say it out loud. If they don't know then you sure as hell don't need to say it out loud!
- It's not a business, no publicity is good publicity.
- Social accountability. Someone breaks trust to you, bust their chops, without having to break trust yourself AND let me know. Expect the same from others if you break trust.

We are only as safe as we keep each other. It helps that if someone knows my secrets, I know theirs too. Especially if they trust me all the more for obviously knowing the importance of keeping my mouth shut!

[Still Life]

My confidantes lobby for product the respectable and productive way:
They never ask. They butter me up with compliments on how good it is.
I dole out how I please.

[NZChris]

I willingly cooperate with people who have supplied their own hard to obtain, rare, or expensive raw materials, but beggars and people who think they can buy me some sugar and essence and get cheap plonk in return get told to FO in no uncertain terms.

[PANMAN1965]

people are just........stupid sometimes. MY brother was here the other day and was complaining about someone asking him if he still had the fighting roosters and if he still fought them. He was mad because they asked him in front of someone else. I asked him how that was any different than him asking me for some shine in front of someone else........he babbled about how the guy already knew and I told him not by ME telling him he didn't ( this is an old friend who I honestly have no issue with him knowing but its no one elses place to let him know) He thought for a minute and said " well one time I came in while you were running and there was a guy helping you I didn't know" As if that justified HIM letting someone else know. I have completely discontinued anything for the time being but sometimes people make me wanna beat my head against the wall.

[Shine0n]

Or his head to knock some sense into him, lol

My oldest son had some friends he'd drink with and I guess in conversation was mentioned my name "dad" made moonshine so I let him know not to EVER mention my name to a sole.

Luckily that's when I took some time off from stillin for out of town work and returned back with no one knowing but I still see some of the youngens lookin at me strange and I know they wanna ask but don't have the nerve.

Other than my rum extravaganza over the summer I've been quite low with production and even so I still have an eye open for the unexpected.

Now my oldest thinks I'm doing just mead and ciders but the backset and smell at the end of the property tells a different story, I have no one else who would even think about going out there except him and I for hunting.

[Antler24]

Other than a few family members and lifelong friends nobody else knows. There were a few more that used to still (maybe they still do) that used to willingly tell everyone and I had shown interest in what they were telling. They've asked a few times over that last few years but I just tell them I never finished my still. Being a truck driver and away from home alot they seem to buy the story.

[Worm_Drippinz]

Loose lips sink ships.

[sltm1]

Don't we have a rhyme here that covers it all? Don't tell, Don't Sell" !!!!!

[Worm_Drippinz]

Don't we have a rhyme here that covers it all? Don't tell, Don't Sell" !!!!!

No smell, no sell..no tell.