It has been a while since I have posted to this site. So, here is a thought….

Many people have asked why the craft distilling movement faltered. My first insight is that it all started back in the 1950s. Post WW2, the Whisky (and presumably the Vodka) made by the big operators like Seagram’s (the Bronfman family) was not smooth-tasting. I can recall in the late 1960s seeing people drink Seagram’s Five Star whisky. Each bottle had a plastic star glued on to its front face. I would take a knife and pry off the star. The residual glue on the star would allow me to stick it on my jacket lapel. At the age of 4 years, I was now a 5 Star General – a military commander. But – I digress…

I can recall seeing people mix their Whisky with water or with ginger ale or coke. The taste of the Whisky was so harsh that mixing was a necessity. Drinking Whisky in those days was not about appreciating the subtle flavor characteristics. Drinking was about ingesting a “drug” to alter one’s perception. As a society, we evolved into “mixers”.

The connection between the taste buds and the brain is a complex study in microbiology. Suffice it to say, however, when we find a mix that we like, the brain develops a response mechanism. People will quickly develop a desire for a certain alcoholic product with a certain mix. This is how ‘rye and coke’ and ‘rye and ginger ale’ became so mainstream fashionable. My late mother-in-law for her entire lifetime only ever drank Wiser’s Whisky and ginger ale. No other taste combination would pass muster. In fact she once told me (very bluntly) that my homemade Whisky was good, but it was not Wiser’s!

Sadly, Canadians never did explore their favorite alcohols beyond taste. The reality is, there is no such thing as ‘rye’ made by the big commercial distillers. When I am in a cheeky mood I love to walk into a liquor store and pretend to be confused. When a store clerk asks if I need help I will remark that I am looking for rye whisky. The clerk will then point me to the shelves containing bottles of brown stuff, all of which maybe will have 10% rye grain in their recipes. Consumers still have no clue how their Whisky is made or what it is made from. All they know is that when mixed with a certain soda, their brains send out an approving signal…

No surprise then to see the craft distilling movement stumble right out of the gate. Marketing pitches to ‘drink local’, or sales tags indicating ‘hand made’ all fell on deaf ears. We are a society of mixers, not a society of sippers and savorers. Evidently, that is not about to change any time soon.

Craft distilling (and in fact the alcohol industry in general) has been dealt a further swift blow by consumers becoming more mindful of what they put in their bodies. The days of getting “pissed” might be over. And certainly the young generation (call them generation social media or generation Z) is moving away from alcohol. As a case in point, look at the growing number of 0-alcohol beverages available these days.

I have many memories of Workshops where I went to great pains to tell people that just because you can make it does not mean people will buy it. As I uttered these sage words time and time again, I felt like a traitor. Here I was standing in front of people, whose Workshop tuition $$$ I had just taken, telling them that craft distilling was a tough row to hoe. In hindsight, I wish I had been louder and more vocal in offering these words. I might have prevented more people from financially ruining themselves as they blundered into starting a distillery….

Peas, along with beans and grains, are among the earliest of all cultivated vegetables. Evidence of peas has been found in 5000+ year old Bronze Age archeological ruins in Switzerland. Peas have also been found at a much older prehistoric cave site in Hungary. It is thought the pea was introduced to the Greeks and Romans; but neither civilization held the pea in high regard. After the Norman Conquest of England peas appeared more regularly. In the 16th century peas were recognized and accepted by the French. Around this time, peas were introduced into North America by early European explorers. Records show that indigenous people were growing peas in the Montreal region in 1535.

Today on the prairies, green and yellow field pea varietals are grown as a source of human and animal nutrition. The next time you have a can of Habitant pea soup, think western Canada and yellow field peas.

Earlier this year I happened upon an academic article written by a group of Scottish academics. They focused on the ability of the pea plant to act as a Nitrogen fixer. That is, the pea plant can restore Nitrogen levels in the soil of a farm field. They argued that a distiller using field peas to make alcohol would be acting in a sustainable manner. When I read this article, I immediately reached out to Stonehenge Organics in Assiniboia, Saskatchewan. The owner was very accommodating and gave me a 15 kg pail full of yellow organic field peas. I finally had a chance to do some experimentation with the peas this past week. From what I have read, I estimate the starch content of the peas was about 30%. Knowing this, I opted to make a mash bill of 5 kgs peas plus 3 kgs of malted white wheat.

I added 5 kgs of peas to 15 liters of water and began heating the mash kettle slowly. I added 6 g of CaSO4 to supplement the Ca ion level in my water which comprised 2 liters Mossbank tap water and 13 liters Culligan RO water.

As the peas heated they started to soften. I used hand held kitchen blender to reach into the mash pot to mulch the peas. I then added ViscoFerm and Teramyl enzymes to help the cause. When I reached 80C, I shut off the heat and let the mash kettle of mulched peas rest for 1 hour.

I next added 9 liters of RO water. I adjusted the mash temperature to 67C and added the malted wheat. I allowed the mash to rest for 60 minutes.

After this rest I cooled the mash to 55C using a coiled immersion chiller hooked up to my garden hose. I then added some San Extra enzyme. I let the mash rest a further 60 minutes.

I then cooled the mash to 30C and added 16 grams of Lallemand DS yeast plus some liquid nutrient. I allowed the contents to ferment for a full 5 days.

I strained the pea/wheat mixture from the fermented mash. The remaining liquid was added to my 60 L copper A’Lembic pot still. I discarded 250 mls of heads/foreshot material. I continued to capture distillate until the alcohol hydrometer read 25% abv.

I must admit, the collected alcohol is every bit as tasty as any alcohol from a mash bill of all cereal grain. I had been worried that the peas would impart some unusual flavors to the distillate.

My next step will be to run all the collected distillate from the 3 mashes/strip runs through my Turbo-500. I will seek to capture distillate at or neat 95% abv.

As pleased as I am with this experiment, I will issue a cautionary note: DO NOT expect a lot of alcohol from a mash bill of peas + cereal grain. I ended up with a total of 3.5 liters of collected distillate. To a craft distiller, the economics of using peas fall into the questionable category. To make the use of peas more worthy of consideration, one would have to find a farm operator growing a high starch varietal of pea. Even then, the starch level might only be 48-50%; still far removed from a cereal grain.

I fear that peas will not be deemed economic for creating beverage alcohol due to the inadequate starch levels. Many thanks to the academics who proposed the idea. It was certainly worth a try and made for some good fun in my back yard shed.

If you happen to live in the Ottawa region, give some thought to taking a drive from Gatineau, QC up highway 148 along the Ottawa River. Just before you reach the village of Shawville, QC you will see a sign indicating the road leading to the tiny villages of Bristol and Norway Bay. In Bristol, you will find a small cidery called Coronation Hall Cider. The owners were there when I stopped by on Sept 21 and they treated me to a tour of their small operation. I learned they are pressing up to 4 varietals of locally grown apple. I learned that 40 pounds (1 bushel) of apple yields about 12 liters of cider. They are using a Reisling-type wine yeast to carry out the ferments. The cider is dry and crisp and I think it will pair well with pasta dishes and maybe even with Indian curry dishes. There is more than just cider available too. You can buy cans of carbonated apple juice as well as apple butter, apple BBQ sauce, and my favorite desert – apple pies. Sometimes in our busy world, it pays to take the road less travelled. It pays to turn down smaller side roads to see the sights. Who knows what you might find. Maybe even a cidery……

Today we left PEI heading for Quebec. During our trip we discovered Covered Bridge Potato Chips from New Brunswick. Best chips ever!

As we were driving along the highway not far from Hartland, New Brunswick we spotted a sign for the factory that makes Covered Bridge chips. The sign said we could take a tour. As we peeled off the highway and turned down the road for the chip factory, I spotted from the corner of my eye a craft distillery. Wow! This was shaping up to be a great day…. Oh, and Hartland is also the home of the longest covered bridge in the world – hence the name Covered Bridge Potato Chips.

After learning how potato chips are made, I headed across the street to Moonshine Creek distillery. Co-owner Jeremiah Clark happened to be in the tasting room and we soon struck up a conversation. He offered me a taste of his 3 year old whisky made to a mash bill of 70% rye and 30% barley. I must admit I was reticent to try it because of its young age. As I swirled the nectar in the tasting glass i quizzed Jeremiah as to his distillation technique. My reticence quickly disappeared when I learned that he engaged a 2 X distillation process. First he did a stripping run, next the stripped alcohol was re-distilled through some plates in the column of his still. A wee sip sent my senses spinning. YES! A craft distiller who was making fantastic whisky at 3 years of age. It was smooth and approachable. The earthy/spicy notes form the rye grain were on full display. This is whisky the way it should taste. He then explained that he had just proofed down a tote of corn whisky (70% corn, 30% barley). He offered me a wee taste and again my senses were floored. How could something so young taste so damn good? The answer of course is the 2X distillation technique. And the story got even better. It turns out that in the area around Hartland there is a maple syrup producer. To obtain syrup, a producer will tap the maple trees to obtain the sap run-off each Spring. The sap will have maybe 2% sugar content to it. The producer will have to boil the sap for hours on end to drive off the water content and concentrate the sugars. But, what if that producer decided to capture the steam from the sap boiling kettle? What if that water vapor steam were to be condensed? The result would be effectively a distilled water. Clean, pure, natural. But, let’s not call it just water. Let’s call it “tree water”. Now….let’s use the tree water to proof down the distillate at a nearby craft distillery. The word “sustainable” screams in the back of my head. Jeremiah Clark is a marketing genius!

I could go on and on waxing prophetically, but I will wrap it up. You HAVE TO try the whiskies from Moonshine Creek distillery. You just HAVE TO. You can apparently get a shipping discount if you order on-line from the distillery. Christmas is coming and gift-buying is just around the corner. What better to buy than some very nice whisky that is a pleasure to sip. ( If you need my address to send the whisky to, just email me…). Just kidding! But, if your close friends and family enjoy smooth, well balanced sipping whisky, I am sure they will appreciate a bottle or two from New Brunswick.

It was a pleasure meeting Jeremiah today. I wish him all the best. I am sure Moonshine Creek has a stellar future ahead of it. Oh…and yeah…the potato chips at the factory were good and the covered bridge was cool too. All in Hartland, New Brunswick…..

In a recent post I wrote about potato vodka from Blue Roof Distillery in New Brunswick. Last evening I had a few drinks of the product and I woke up at 3am with a raging headache. So….a more critical analysis of the product is now called for.

This is where I get myself in trouble. This is always where I get accused of picking on the little guy. This is where I get accused of using my M.Sc. education unfairly.

As I point out over and over again in my Distilling workshops, the craft alcohol industry needs to improve its products. Craft operators need to embrace the science of fermentation and distillation. The notion that because a product is craft it will automatically sell in large numbers is a false notion. You can sell anything to anybody one time. But when that person wakes up with a smashing headache, he will not return to buy a 2nd bottle. He will gravitate back to his big-name commercial brand name product.

At issue with the Blue Roof product is the very obvious aroma of what I call “pear drop”. When I tasted the vodka at the Blue Roof tasting room I immediately spotted the defect. I warned the lady in the tasting room that I am a harsh critic of distilled alcohol and that I would be taking the bottle to my next workshop in Kelowna, BC. She did not seem too fussed by that suggestion. When I did get to speak to the distiller I quizzed him as to what %abv he stopped collecting at during his rectification run. He said he did not distill using the %abv approach. Rather he stopped collecting when the temperature at the column top exceeded about 79C.

Where far too many distillers err is in their understanding of alcohol. There is actually no one single substance called alcohol. Hard to believe – because bottles of beer, wine, and spirits all tell us a % alc figure. When yeast ferments a fermentable sugar (potato starch, grain starch etc..) the metabolic pathways generate molecules with anywhere from 2 to 6 carbon atoms in their structure. These assorted molecules all will have an -OH attachment to their tail ends. Collectively, all these molecules are called “alcohol” by virtue of the -OH attachment. Fermentable starches will also contain a substance called pectin. Proteolytic enzymes within the yeast cell will transform these pectins into methyl pectate which has the aforementioned “pear drop”, solvent taste. Potatoes evidently are prone to expressing more of the pectates. These pectates have a lower boil point than the alcohol molecules. To rid the distilled alcohol of the solvent aroma, a distiller must make a conscious effort to discard the first runnings in both the stripping run and the rectification run. Another approach I have seen is to have the still fitted with a de-methylyzer. This is a device in which the temperature is set at around 68 C. Methyl pectate molecules typically vaporize around 64-65C. Ethanol vaporizes at 78.5C. A vapor stream entering the de-methylyzer will see the alcohol molecules condense and fall back down the still column. The pectates will remain in vapor form and will be directed away from the process into a separate condenser where they are discarded.

I think I will leave it at that for now. In your travels if you happen to be given a chance to sample some craft vodka, take a bit of it in the palm of your hand and rub your hands together. Now smell your hands. A properly made vodka should have NO aromas. It should be neutral, it should be clean. If your nose detects any “pear drop” or solvent hints, then you can immediately begin to question the distillation process. In my opinion, the craft spirits industry needs to embrace the science that underpins “booze”. As more and more customers also start to embrace the science, these customers can exert influence on the craft distilleries. Selling anything to anybody one time just does not cut it. The big name commercial operators continue to rub their hands in glee. Craft distilling is not the threat they were afraid it would be.

I will conclude with a standing invite to attend one of our workshops in Kelowna in the near future. These workshops are NOT just for people interested in starting a distillery. I assure you, after attending a workshop you WILL become a more discerning consumer of “booze”. You WILL understand in detail how whisky, gin, and vodka are made. And who knows….you might even take up the hobby of home distilling. I hear rumors that it is a wonderful hobby……

Will your travels take you to Prince Edward Island in the near future? If so, as you are driving along the road heading towards PEI and getting near to the Confederation Bridge, keep your eye on the left side of the road for a large building with a blue steel roof. This is Blue Roof Distillery.

When I stopped in for a visit in early September, 2022 I learned that the team behind the distillery are actually potato farmers. I learned that the largest potatoes they grow are bought by McCain’s who cut them into french fries. Medium sized potatoes are sold to grocery store chains who retail them to consumers in 5 pound bags. The smaller and unevenly shaped potatoes are not so lucky. They end up (hopefully) getting sold at cheaper prices through other retail channels.

When a farming operation is growing near 1 million pounds of potatoes, it tends to be a shame when the smallest sized potatoes do not generate much revenue. So what to do?

The answer is – use the small potatoes to make Vodka. Buy some mash tanks. Buy a stripping still. Buy a packed-column still for rectification runs. Put an eye-catching blue roof on your building….and the next thing you know tourists will beat a path to your door for some of your Blue Roof Vodka. On the day I stopped by in early September, I was the only person at the facility. Tourism season was pretty much over. This gave me a chance to spend some time with the distiller who answered my technical questions. (and yes….it does take about 4 kgs of potato to make 1 liter of vodka).

This bottle will be making its way across the country in October to Kelowna, BC where I will be delivering another workshop to people eager to learn about distilled beverage alcohol.

If you are curious to try some of this Vodka and will not be in eastern Canada, fear not. The Blue Roof team tells me that if you order 3 bottles, they will ship them to you via UPS at NO cost!

So, skip the french fries. Consume your potatoes in liquid format. Give the Blue Roof folks a call. Order some of their vodka.

Oh…shit! Here we go again….

There is something seriously wrong with craft alcohol in Saskatchewan. In particular, there is something wrong with craft distilling. Or, is the problem with Gov’t?

In my experience craft distilling has never been made to feel welcome in Saskatchewan. Back in 2015 this became evident to me. Sask Liquor & Gaming (SLGA) took a suspicious view of craft distillers. The senior level inspectors adopted what I call an Elliot Ness attitude. They treated craft distillers poorly and resorted to intimidation tactics. Some of these inspector types came from ex-military and ex-RCMP backgrounds. Perhaps this fueled the Elliot Ness attitude? Over a year ago there was a change at SLGA. New, more reasonable, inspectors were hired and the old problem players were re-assigned to other Gov’t departments. Hope was in the air. Distillers were feeling more confident. But that all went out the window this week when out of the blue the Saskatchewan Auditor targeted craft alcohol in her annual assessment. She has ordered SLGA to renew its intense focus on craft. She went so far in her report to suggest that craft distillers are cheating on their declared production volumes. Wow! The entire relationship between craft and Gov’t has taken a dark turn. What I cannot figure out is why. Why this inherent mistrust of craft alcohol makers? Could it be the big commercial players pressuring SLGA to adopt a harsher approach? Maybe…..but why? I am at a loss to explain this about-face turn. But I do know this – if you are contemplating starting a craft distillery in Saskatchewan, you had best think again. There is a province immediately to the west that would be a more welcoming location. Move one more province west and it gets even better. How utterly sad this all is…..