I hate this place because

[scarecrow]

Up untill I joined these forums I was quite happy to shuffle down to the local bottle shop and get my bottle of Jim Beam or Johnny Walker or whatever, take it home, and sip on it till it was gone.

Not once did I bitch about it or begrudge the money to buy it.

Now, thanks to this place, I can't drink that crap anymore. Seriously, it tastes like shit. The first mouthful I have to spit out. I can taste all the nasties in it, and some hooch tastes like it's a bottle of heads and tails.

What have you done to me?

In the short distilling life of the scarecrow (smee) I have learned how to distinguish heads and tails, where the oils are, how to oak, mellow and smooth out my distillate. I now sniff every shot just out of habit.

I can make a rum that so far has not been bettered (in my opinion) by any on the shelf. I have learned to flavour my distillate to achieve what I want, not what the corporate giants say I should have.

I had a few close drinking buddies come over the other night for a "sampling". Every one of them, and I mean every one of them asked if they could buy some from me. One guy even said that my spiced rum made what he drinks taste like dishwater. And I'm only a novice compared to the experts on here.

And I'm only going to get better at it.

So, yeah, you people did this to me.

And all I can say is THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

scarecrow

[Hawke]

As I sit here gagging on every sip of R&R!

[HookLine]

I had a few close drinking buddies come over the other night for a "sampling". Every one of them, and I mean every one of them asked if they could buy some from me.

Give a man a bottle of booze and he will be happy for a day. Teach him how to still, and he will be happy for a lifetime, and will also stop turning up at your house every second day 'just for a social call'.

[kiwistiller]

Give a man a bottle of booze and he will be happy for a day. Teach him how to still, and his wife will never forgive you.

[HookLine]

Who cares. As long as he stops draining your barrel.

[rad14701]

I have a drinking problem... I distill more than I can drink...

[kiwistiller]

Who cares. As long as he stops draining your barrel.

very very +1... I've got a few high volume 'friends' distilling, and now my stuff is getting older

I have a drinking problem... I distill more than I can drink...

call that a problem?

[LWTCS]

I was just thinking about this stuff recently.

Picked up a hydro couple weeks ago. Had a $10 min purchase for the card so I bought a "nice ale" at the brew shop. Way to friggin headsy as the alcohol content was high.

Went back this week to pick up my glass testing vessel, had to by another beer to satisfy th $10 min. Headsy again.

Picked up a pak of cheap domestic to boil down some sauages this weekend prior to installing some nice grill marks. Saved one to drink,,,,,,,,,,headsy.

Now I been drinkin my hooch real proofy. Been cutting with my mixer. Relatives and friends are impressed the,,,,,,,,,,,,,quality of the buzz. Now (since I've been stilling) everyone thinks I'm this ruff tuff likker drinkin machine.

But in reality, I have become a Pansy.

I am making really conservative cuts and so spoiled that I in fact,,,,,,,,,,,have to drink my clean (and I'm pot stilling) likker cuz everything else seems to taste like,,,,,,,,,shit.

I mean, one lousy beer makes me feel more polluted two (or three ) really proofy cocktails???

"They" say you can't go back........I think "they" may be right!

[scarecrow]

I distill more than I can drink...

Hind sight is such a wonderful teacher.

I built my first still and stood back rubbing my hands thinking of how much booze I could make.
I ran my still for the first time and stood back rubbing my hands thinking of how much bigger the second still should be.

The biggest problem I have is self control. Asking not to touch and let it age is like going to a strip club and saying I won't look.
And because I don't produce a lot of likker makes it a lot harder not to "sample".

Why do we always envy someone who has a bigger one than you have.

I've gotta get my keg built and fired up.

scarecrow

[deepseajb]

I jumped in with both feet, not knowing all the benefits. New friends, no headaches, and a hobby my wife don't mind.

But I too find myself trying to keep up, put some back, and really experiment.

Now my second Gerber went in a 32g trash can saturday, and today it is drier than a popcorn fart.


Cheers

J.B.

[goinbroke2]

This thread is too funny! I just got back from 2 weeks leave. I bought a cottage and took the 4 wheelers, dirt bikes, and 3 bottles of my whiskey. (aged on hungarian toasted oak since 2 April 09)
Well, after cutting down 8 trees and getting a bit over 3 cord of firewood and sitting back with a drink and enjoying the lake, I noticed I ran out of whiskey. No problem, it's 1 1/2 hours to home and the wife had to go for a meeting anyway...so...I picked up 4 more bottles. So..the second week, I'm still just drinking in the evening while sitting on the dock after the work is done(and offering anybody/everybody free drinks) I made up 2L of irish cream at 40% for the wife. All the ladies are drinking it on the rocks and getting polluted by noon!
hmmm, wife started drinking with her friends on the 15th of aug and never stopped until the 1st Sept

OK, long weekend left, 4 days..one more trip home to pick up more crap for the cottage..and 4 more bottles!

Came home monday afternoon with 1/2 bottle of white dog (took it to make irish cream then drank it when the aged stuff was gone)

Notes:
1) Holy crap you can drink a lot when there is a never ending supply (just got to buy more 7-up)
2) Ran out of my stuff one night so inlaws supplied crown royal while playing cards...NEVER AGAIN WILL I DRINK STORE BOUGHT GARBAGE!!! I had a headache for two days from getting a bit tipsy!
3) Someone made me a drink while I was playing guitar, I gagged, put down the guitar and did a 10 minute diatribe on the evils of store bought, profit seeking likker.
4) The wife now not only likes my likker but also shy's away from store bought, a couple good rounds and then waking up fresh proved itself.
5) The mother in law (who's a loon) decided that my white dog in 7 up is really good so I must be rebottling something. (I obviously am not smart enough to make something better than someone who does it for a living)

So, total is 11 bottles (.750ml) over two weeks. It's like $29.99 a bottle hear so about $330.00 of whiskey. Instead it cost about $6.00 a bottle for me to make it which is $66.00.
$270.00 saved!

If I drank more I could save more too. LOL!

I agree, thank you all so much for an awesome site and a great hobby.

(I just bottled 12 more bottles last night)

[rad14701]

If I drank more I could save more too. LOL!

True words to live by...

[Husker]

If I drank more I could save more too. LOL!

True words to live by...

Sounds like the circular logic my wife gives me about saving me 100's of dollars shopping at this wonderful sale. I have the same response for her every time, I stick out my hand, and tell her to put those 100's of dollars of savings into it. ......... Still waiting

H.

[meangene]

Ahh yes woman math! I told my wife to go back shopping and don't stop untill she had saved @ 3000.00 bucks then we could go on holiday in NZ.

[regulardaddy]

Try justifying the cost of building and operating a still when neither you or your wife drinks!

I've always been a DIY kinda guy and distilling seems to be one of those things that may come in handy down the road, whether it's spirits, water or oils.

[rubber duck]

I mostly drink beer but my god it's a pain in the ass to make compared to stillin. So most of my stuff ends up getting aged out realy well and then my wife has one hell of a crazy party. I think they put down close to 10 gallons one night and i didnt get home till 01:00 im suprized the house was still on the foundation. Any way she does'nt complain to much.