PNW Meet and great 2019

[Oldvine Zin]

So do we have anymore interest ? I know that there are more than 4 of us in the PNW

OVZ

[OtisT]

I’m getting excited about the meet up. I’ve been looking at my aging stock and have been pulling small amounts for bottling so I can get some feedback from all y’all. I few weeks ago I proofed and bottled a lot of types of panela rum that have been aged on various treatments of oak, cherry, apple. Yesterday my peated whiskeys turned one year old, so I bottled up a bit of each barrel. Next I’ll be bottling a few samples of some young wheat and barely whiskies. Add my gin to the list and my collection of bottles makes me look like a traveling snake oil salesman.

Otis

[Oldvine Zin]

Just pulled some 2.5 year old HBB out of a 5 gal barrel, - proofed to 43 ABV but I'm a bit biased, so looking forward to hear an honest opinion from you all.

OVZ

[Bigbob]

Been off the boards for a while trying to get a house built, retire and move 1500 miles away, sorry I’m missing this. Sure had a lot of fun at the first two! Still remember that Panela rum salmon old vine! I’ll try to get on more. Have fun!

[Oldvine Zin]

Great to hear that you are doing well Bigbob Those ribs that you smoked up put my salmon to shame, we will miss you this year

OVZ

[nerdybrewer]

Likewise Bigbob - great to hear from you, I was wondering the other day about you!

I will be out of state from tomorrow until 7/1.
Trying to catch and bring home some Salmon & Halibut and maybe some big rockfish up in SE Alaska.
See you all next month!

[Scorpster]

Was hoping to find a way to make this, although having to cross the line I would have been empty handed....
I'm close to a border crossing and when the dollar is more favourable we are regular visitors. Not worth risking that freedom.
However we have tickets for the Brit Floyd concert in Vancouver that evening (wife is a huge Pink Floyd fan).
Was wondering if there was any interest in a north of the border meet sometime?

[Oldvine Zin]

Was hoping to find a way to make this, although having to cross the line I would have been empty handed....
I'm close to a border crossing and when the dollar is more favourable we are regular visitors. Not worth risking that freedom.
However we have tickets for the Brit Floyd concert in Vancouver that evening (wife is a huge Pink Floyd fan).
Was wondering if there was any interest in a north of the border meet sometime?

I hear ya on the concert, whenever I do a HBB Floyd is always playing during the ferment and runs.

As far as crossing the border empty handed, that wouldn't be a problem - lots of sips here already, emptied a barrel of HBB and just emptied a rum barrel

OVZ

[Oldvine Zin]

oops just did the math My math sucks

OVZ

[OtisT]

Oops! That was kind of a big mistake. I hope you feel this one was ready to go too. The good news; You have a good second use barrel ready for your next batch.

Based on the thread you posted this in, I’m guessing we will be able to taste these results of your labor? I’ve been tasting, proofing and bottling anything I think is worthy of sharing, getting ready for the get together next month. Can’t wait.

I hope some folks are PMing you about attending, because right now it looks to be just Nerdy, you and I again this year. Great company regardless, but I do hope some others can make it.

Otis

[Odin]

Great to hear that you are doing well Bigbob Those ribs that you smoked up put my salmon to shame, we will miss you this year

OVZ

Those ribs were amazing!

Odin.

[Oldvine Zin]

Oops! That was kind of a big mistake. I hope you feel this one was ready to go too. The good news; You have a good second use barrel ready for your next batch.

Based on the thread you posted this in, I’m guessing we will be able to taste these results of your labor? I’ve been tasting, proofing and bottling anything I think is worthy of sharing, getting ready for the get together next month. Can’t wait.

I hope some folks are PMing you about attending, because right now it looks to be just Nerdy, you and I again this year. Great company regardless, but I do hope some others can make it.

Otis

A stupid mistake for sure and I could always refill that barrel, I only proofed down a few bottles worth. I'm not going to, I think it was the proper age for it and it doesn't taste like the rumskey that I have made in the past, just a pure mellow panela flavor But I'll leave that judgement to anyone who shows up.

I do hope that more people reply, everyone out there is more than welcome to attend.
It's less than a month away
OVZ

[Bigbob]

Great to hear that you are doing well Bigbob Those ribs that you smoked up put my salmon to shame, we will miss you this year

OVZ

Those ribs were amazing!

Odin.

Wow!! Thanks Odin! Wait till my friends find out I’ve been praised by a Norse God!!
OVZ, I would love to come up again but.... I’ve been crazy here working with contractors and my work at same time.
Not promising anything right at the moment but, maybe just maybe,we can have a rendezvous at the new homestead.

[Oldvine Zin]

maybe just maybe,we can have a rendezvous at the new homestead.

I'm with that And oh I've built a mini still - tiny 1 gal and learning how to run her, it's a skill that I need to learn.

OVZ

[BaxtersDad]

I am in for the PNW Meet & Greet, probably not Proof, I am hoping Bushman and I can come down together, we are starting from more or less the same area. I am hoping he and I will get together fairly soon to talk about the details.

[Oldvine Zin]

Cool I'm thinking about a BBQ or maybe a gumbo or both and maybe more. PM me for the location and you are correct about Proof. Out of the 30 ish distilleries a couple are worth drinking - most are not, much better drinks at the meet and greet

OVZ

[OtisT]

OK meet and greet _ going to be great! at my place, BBQ and some tastes of rum and HBB from me and hopefully more from others

07/14 19

please let me know if you are attending

OVZ

I will be there for the meet and greet BBQ.

I’ll will bring a side dish or two for the BBQ and my favorite sippin glass.

I’m mainly bringing an assortment of rum finished with various treatments of American and Oregon oak, cherry, and apple. Also a taste of gin, lemonchello, and a couple of immature (1 yr) peated whiskies I’d love to get some feedback on. Not much in the way of good aged whiskey ready to share at this time but next year I should be set with that.

I spent a while proofing and bottling an assortment of spirits and had them all ready to go for your BBQ as of last week. Then my French neighbors brought over some friends visiting from Italy to see my stills, and we got to sampling my stuff. One drink led to another and that pretty much drained my stash. I just finished proofing more and topping everything off so I’m all set (again).

Otis

[Oldvine Zin]

The PNW Meet and greet is two weeks away, PM me for the location.

Hope to see you all there
OVZ

[nerdybrewer]

The PNW Meet and greet is two weeks away, PM me for the location.

Hope to see you all there
OVZ

Sent you a PM, looking forward to this!

[OtisT]

I sent you a PM. Can’t wait.

Otis

[zapata]

oops just did the math My math sucks

It's an appropriate mistake for rum. I think it needs a bigger 25 and if you underline it nobody will see that pesky little . in between!

[OtisT]

For anyone going to the PNW meet&greet, I have some free wood scraps for you if you are interested. If you want some of this, let me know here on this thread what you want and I will bring it, otherwise it will get burnt.

Free Wood
1) Unseasoned White Oak - 1” thick scraps left over from a furniture project. Odd shapes, but many sticks and dominoes could be cut from this stuff. I think I have about 4 to 6 bd feet total in scraps.

2) I have a few small boards of seasoned (1 year) American White Oak and seasoned (1 year) Oregon Oak. These are 3”x9” barrel head staves that checked really bad while seasoning and won’t work for a barrel. Still great to cut up and use for jar aging.

3) I have a small bundle of hand split seasoned Apple wood.

4) Lots of scrap bits of American White Oak and Oregon Oak that have been toasted on one face over half way through. Seasoned only 6 months. 1” think wood toasted half way through (2.5 hours) at 400F. These are odd shaped scraps from making Badmo style barrel heads.

Cheep Stuff

I also have a few misc. still parts I can bring if you are interested in seeing them. I won’t bring it unless you let me know you are interested. I’m moving soon and just trying to get rid of a few extra parts I don’t need.

1) I have an insulation box that I’ll sell you for less than the cost of materials. $50. It’s is sized for two of those 15 gallon tall opaque white ferment barrels. Bottom, top, and 4 sided wall section are made from a single sheet of 2” thick closed cell foam board with that shiny silver insulation on the inside. Assembled with duct tape. Perfectly square and sealed well to hold the temp. I can post a pic if you are interested in it.

2) I have two new 1/4” soft copper reflux or dimroth coils. Fit for a 2” column, 26 coils over 10” in length, salt packed for good flow. Just the coils plus about a foot of straight for I/O. No cap. Make me an offer when you see em.

3) I have a 1/2” ID copper Liebig condensers, never used. 1” over 1/2”, 24” jacket. Just the straight vapor path, would need an elbow and fitting soldered on to fit your column output. Make me an offer when you see it.

Otis

[Oldvine Zin]

A few of us got together today and shared some good sips, I hope that next year there will be more

OVZ

[nerdybrewer]

A few of us got together today and shared some good sips, I hope that next year there will be more

OVZ

It was a lot of fun, thanks to those who provided food - OVZ your pulled pork was great and I liked the baked beans too.
Lots of good drink there, I am pretty sure I tried them all.
Well, not all of Otis's - wow Otis!

[OtisT]

I had a wonderful time at this year's PNW Meet and Greet.

Thanks for hosting and cooking OldVineZin. The Cuban pork sandwiches were delicious. I was really great meeting your wife, son, and seeing your beautiful home as well as all your pretty copper and stainless. Thanks for sharing what you have learned about rice in such detail. I cant wait to taste some of your rice spirits next year.

Nerdy, sorry I failed to offer you some bottles to take home before you left. I intended to give a lot more of them away before going home. I'll catch you next time, or shoot me your address in a PM and I'll hook you up. OVZ and I did swapped a half dozen or so bottles before I left last night.

It was great meeting you xxxxx. You know who you are. (Sorry. I remember your real name, but not your HD alias.) Incredible fruit brandies and that amaretto was to die for. For only having distilled for 2 or 3 years now you sure impressed the hell out of me with what you brought. Those were the best darn brandies I have tasted in a very long time. Seriously. I've avoided fruit ferments for the most part so far for various reasons, but you have inspired me to work on some single pass fruit brandies this fall.

It is always fun sipping others' spirits AND being able to talk to them about the creation process in detail from end to end. Detailed discussions on ingredients and recipes, cuts for various products, aging and polishing, tools and equipment used, the works. It was extremely educational for me in addition to a whole lot of fun. One key takeaway for me from this gathering is to work on my heads cuts. I'll be using smaller jars up front until I selectively learn to be less conservative on my head cuts.

I would encourage more folks to take advantage of these infrequent regional get togethers if they are serious about expanding knowledge and upping their spirit making game. None of us there were experts or long time distillers, yet we each brought our unique knowledge and experience to the table and shared with the group. Real community.

Otis