StillDragon® Community Forum

Welcome!

Be part of our community & join our international next generation forum now!

In this Discussion

Customize your Whiskey in 24 hours!

edited October 2014 in General

Customize the flavor of your favorite whiskey and improve the quality in 24hrs. After a year of development, 6 patents filed, hundreds of samples tested, 3 ovens destroyed and a couple nights we don’t really remember, you can now get 3 years of aging 'effects' (time travel not included) in just 24 hours, and have complete control over the flavor.

Whiskey Elements: Customize your Whiskey in 24 hours @ Kickstarter

Time Oak Whiskey Elements

Tagged:

Comments

  • Baby Jesus is crying over the fact that they raised over $100,000 with this scheme.

  • edited October 2014

    haha gotta love kickstarter. Im keen for your always insightful breakdown please @grim

  • edited October 2014

    Skeptical doesn't begin to describe it.. @ AD

    Bit of discussion about it here too.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • edited October 2014

    It's brilliant.

    The branding, marketing, packaging, photography, story, graphics, and so on in the kickstarter are beyond exceptional.

    They aren't selling the oak, plenty of places are selling oak, heck you can get more varieties of charred oak blocks right here. They are selling an experience, from the point of purchase, through the activity, to the taste test with your pals.

    If the number of whiskey stones I've received as gifts is any indication of how many people are apt to purchase something like this at retail and give to a friend, or use themselves, they'll do great.

    The problem is that there will be a million copycat competitors in no time at all, they claim they have IP, but there is no IP, there is plenty of prior art and similar products on the market. The winner isn't going to be the first one, the winner is going to be the company that can mimic this and make the oak sticks for 2 cents, the packaging for 5 cents, and wholesale it at $5.00 to every liquor store in the country, who will mark it up to $9.99.

  • Thanks thats a good/funny read :)

  • Regardless of the packaging and advertising strategy, I am not buying it. Good folks on this site have taught me to know better. But, the fellows at the local HBS that have not had the priviledge to read and learn in places like this site, well they will buy it, not one but 2 or 3 and someone is going to make money off them.

  • edited October 2014

    It is a question of: what do I expect from my product: If someone wants REAL whisky, there is no way around doing it the traditional way with a barrel. But: many people cannot afford one, or do not have the amount of spirits to do it in a 280L barrel the proper way. And aging for some years can be really a challenge, after all, we are not thinking like a whisky distillery in generations and we do make proper cuts, so the main ancient reason for aging in barrels is not there: To improve the product by reducing the bad taste of foreshot and tails with time and air.

    Smaller barrels are tricky: the risk of over oaking is really big. I personally know some pro distillers, who do it quite skilled, but mainly with fruit brandies, which stay only a short time in the small barrels.

    So the solution with the oak staves and blocks is the next best thing: carefully designed to bring the flavors to the spirit. The are not as small like the oak chips, and this is for a good reason: it allows the flavors to come in slowly. Personally it makes much more sense to me, because: some flavors get in quickly, some need more time. And we are talking about natural flavors. Also, let's not forget: young spirits have edges and taste unround. You have to give the proper amount of time to let them age, with or without oaking, it is necessary. It is a matter of respect for the product, if we are willing to give time and patience for it to age.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • This main be a good way to get people interested in distilling... and ultimately help legalize the hobby and/or help increase interest in craft distillers who experiment with different flavors and have more hands on approaches like these encourage.

    If we look at it as a whisky customizing product, that while over priced is still relatively cheap when marketed to the bourbon/whisky drinker. $15 for a bottle of bottom shelf plus $5 in oak to experiment with is still cheaper than a $25 bottle. While it may not be better, it may be different. They may then realize that with a little effort of their own, they could improve or make a product that is superior to the commercial whisky. Is it a stretch, yes, but that's they way I view things...

    Do I love the product? No. But they really do a nice job of telling their story and marketing it and their product is in the perfect price point for gifting, which is the best way to sell something like this since the purchaser doesn't care if it's really a great product...

  • edited October 2014

    Great new idea for a company.

    Company Name (most important) - Oak'd or Oak'r- Follows the recently trendy "letter ommission" naming strategy, tumblr, etc.

    Product - Whixky Stix - Clever txt-like naming convention to appeal to the younger demographic

    Differentiator - Toasted and Charred oak sticks will fit neatly into the bottle, sticks will be pressure infused, post-char, with organic, natural flavors and botanicals - Vanilla, Spices, Caramel, etc. Even a special cinnamon version called "Firebomb", geared at the college crowd.

    Also an idea for a product using light toasted oak and pressure infused botanical flavors for a DIY gin. I don't know what to name this one though.

  • Ginny in a Bottle ? put a Genie on the label... or a female Mule/Donkey is also call a Jenny LOL

    Genie cause is makes a magical product...?

  • edited October 2014

    Instant-Gin-O-Matic.

    Turns a handle of the cheapest plastic bottle vodka into the worst gin imaginable.

    But wait, there's more, act now and get 3 sticks for the price of one. Who can pass up a deal like this?

  • @grim said: But wait, there's more, act now and get 3 sticks for the price of one.

    all for 19.99 call now operators are standing by. =))

  • Two gin sticks in a bottle of rum for the perfect Gin Rummy.

  • My biggest concerns is the amount of end grain exposed. Traditional barrel aging minimizes this and it is mostly( if not near 100%) long grain on the inside. Dominoes have a large long grain area compared to the end grain, but these "magic" sticks, like spirals, sure have a lot of end grain exposed. Read somewhere that exposure to end grain is "no bueno". so I will stick to barrels and dominoes just because it has worked for me. You just can not speed up time. 23 YO Pappy VanWinkles spent all that time in a barrel and did not over-oak and it barely ever saw any end grain.

  • So.. pretty much 'time and oak' have been voted off the island. Possible uses? Game of Jenga?

  • the concept in general is good, but like @captainshooch I do not approve of cutting the wood like they do, for the same reason I do not approve of spirals or honeycombed barrels.. the side grain of the wood is what you want for a mellow, not harsh spirit, the end grain is not the good stuff... something about lignin I have read... Dominoes, or some charred oak kebob skewers, I would use.

  • Side grain good and end grain bad as far as oak goes seems to be the consensus.

    The length of the charred stick if homemade is now in question. I got lots of charred wood from many sources and my favorite is the dominoes from Punkin. They give me the flavor that I want PDQ but costs more than others. Doesn't matter much because it is only a buck or two more than DIY since it is very hard for me to secure good charred oak.

    I do Punkin's dominoes even though I have other choices. I have no financial interest in Punkin's dominoes - I'm just a satisfied user.

    I do not expect miracles in 24 hours. I do expect and get great results in a few months.

    Satisfied user, me.

  • I snicker ever time I look at that kickstarter page, because there is a photo of charred oak flooring.

    Not only is it flooring, but it appears to be red oak flooring, not white oak. I could be wrong, but the end grain structure on those photos looks much too predominant to be white oak. Maybe it's a bad shot, but it sure as heck looks like red oak to me.

  • edited October 2014

    White Oak:

    image

    Red Oak:

    image

    You tell me? Is this just plain old common red oak flooring?

    image

    white-oak-endgrain-zoom-200x200.jpg
    200 x 200 - 16K
    red-oak-endgrain-zoom-200x200.jpg
    200 x 200 - 20K
    kick.jpg
    700 x 525 - 61K
  • @grim: yes that puzzled me too - quite unusual look for white oak.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • Something's clearly off with this, but I'm no specialist.

    Your Place to be >>> www.StillDragon.org <<< Home of the StillDragon® Community Forum

  • There's a video somewhere on you tube that shows a particular cooper cutting tongue and groove profiles on the staves used for the head and bottom, others use wood dowels and some cheap barrels from Mexico even use glue! @-)

  • No, not something I want to have in my drink, it has got to be the real stuff. If not barrel aged, then those nice little staves and blocks, not something artificial. Who needs his booze "customized" in 24h anyway? Make enough booze, drink some pure, and put the rest to age, period! :)

    Your Place to be >>> www.StillDragon.org <<< Home of the StillDragon® Community Forum

Sign In or Register to comment.