While nosing out the local brewing/vinting shop, I stumbled across a collection of small bottles labeled "Still Spirits Original Spirit Essences", ranging from top name whiskeys to schnapps and liqeurs.
In a nutshell, you can take a bottle of top shelf grain alcohol and with these additives, convert it into an American Bourbon or a Jamaican Dark Rum or a Tequila or an English Gin.
Has anyone run across these? Have you tried them and what are your thoughts on their claims?
Cause no matter what you add, it's still flavored grain alcohol. Here's the back story. There is a sizeable contingent of home distillers, many of whom are extremely talented and who routinely can produce brown spirits that are superior to most of the commercial competition.
Most of these latter distillers use pot stills, or in a few cases, detuned reflux column stills. Most of the stills use stainless boilers with copper heads, tubing, packing and condensers. They know when and how to best make cuts and produce very high quality whiskeys and rums.
However there is a another contingent of less experienced home distillers whose primary goal is very clean, very high proof white spirits (vodka). They become pretty good at this. Using various small reflux column stills, outputs of good clean (95%) ethanol is common. The problem:
They won't or can't produce decent brown spirits in these stills.
Even detuned (to eliminate reflux and purity) they have not yet learned to make the proper cuts and blending required. Accordingly, they choose to buy "flavor" additives from companies like Still Spirits, to make the white spirits taste rum-like or whiskey-like.
But it's not the same, and it never will be.
No additive can replace the skilled distillation and aging of brown spirits from the get go. Pyrate Surgeon's post is well taken and well named...
