Articles of Interest found on the Web

crozdog

From time to time we all locate something of interest to the distilling community, so here is a place to put them instead of starting individual threads.

To start the thread off, here is an interesting write-up by Reid Mitenbuler the author of "Bourbon Empire: The Past and Future of America's Whiskey" discussing the merits of "BIG" distilleries vs small.

When Bigger Is Better: Contradicting Modern Foodies’ Love of Small @ LinkedIn

Smaug

Good read.

Unsensibel

Although heavily biased against small distilleries. I resent the implication that consistency has to go above everything else. If consumer palates are getting more and more experienced aren't they inevitably going to look for differences???

grim

Best argument I've heard against consistency is wine vintages. You can have great and mediocre vintage from a great winemaker, but nobody holds that less than ideal year against them.

Perhaps we should learn to appreciate the grain, wood, and the seasonal impacts a little more? Doesn't that make the really special bottles even more special?

Blending is an art, but I don't think you can blend your way to something really special. If everything you do revolves around averaging, well... The best you'll do is average.

There is a counter argument that small distillers can focus more closely on quality, while still driven by profit, a close eye by those with vested interests means little things don't slip by. Big companies and big profits means plenty of penny punchers, especially when investment capital is involved. Everyone does it for money, but some still do it out of the love for it.

FloridaCracker

@grim said: Best argument I've heard against consistency is wine vintages. You can have great and mediocre vintage from a great winemaker, but nobody holds that less than ideal year against them.

Perhaps we should learn to appreciate the grain, wood, and the seasonal impacts a little more? Doesn't that make the really special bottles even more special?

Blending is an art, but I don't think you can blend your way to something really special. If everything you do revolves around averaging, well... The best you'll do is average.

There is a counter argument that small distillers can focus more closely on quality, while still driven by profit, a close eye by those with vested interests means little things don't slip by. Big companies and big profits means plenty of penny punchers, especially when investment capital is involved. Everyone does it for money, but some still do it out of the love for it.

And then there are guys like me who have never exactly duplicated a run of anything. I know the article is about pros but it seems like the smaller the setup (to a point) the better the ability to dial in that perfect spirit. I keep really good notes so I COULD replicate a run but I am constantly striving to improve my product so there is no need as of yet to duplicate a run. Don't know if that day will ever come but it is getting closer.

I know that better is the enemy of good and I am making good hooch but I will keep trying to improve. That is kinda hard to do when you are a large distillery with shareholders to answer to. Seems like the smaller distilleries have more flexibility to improve.