Still Spirits New Size

[Opus 27]

The re-packaged Still Spirits Classics have arrived in my Local HB Shop. They are now in a sachet with sufficient to flavour one litre. Price is £2.15p Who came up with that size. I suspect most people use the same size bottles as I do i.e. 750 ML which meant the original size pack made three bottles. This new size now means you need three sachets for an even number of bottles i.e. four bottles. This really was a case of \"If It Ain\'t Broke Don\'t Fix It\".

Another Gripe I have with Still Spirits is have they ever answered a customers email. I have emailed them on three seperate occasions over the past eighteen months and so far never had a reply.

Perhaps the UK customers are to insignificant to matter to them?

I should clarify that I am refering to the company and not the UK distributor.
Opus 27

[optic]

I cant see the logic in them doing that Opus,like you I use 750ml bottles so it rather cocks up our system.Maybe thats the reason for doing it to force customers to buy 3 packs?.

Do you buy the Prestige nectar of the gods scotch essence?,its one of my favourites that used to do one 750ml bottle per bottle of essence,but they have now changed it to 350ml per essence and the price has gone up to!!

Funny you should mention about Still Spirits not replying to emails,because I was thinking this morning about emailing them about marketing some bits of kit that would be usefull for our hobby,i.e parrots ect,but after your post dont think I will bother,I can never understand companies that cannot be arsed to reply to customers,why bother giving a contact email address if thats their attitude.Unless its just UK emails that get no reply or am I being cynical?,perhaps one of our AUS or NZ brothers could try and see what response they get.
Optic

[Andy]

Settle down guys, its not just the pom\'s they ignore.

I have sent a few emails and never had a reply.

.

I have asked the guy at the LHBS last time this size thing came up, he said they would market both sizes along side each other.

Craig (the guy at my LHBS) said he would be happy to ask any questions (via the SS rep) I might have that he cant answer.

So, try emailing Craig maybe - http://www.tru-brew.com.au what you got to loose?

I have asked Craig to join up here but he \"just aint got time\", I think he is just a technophobe

[marc83]

The LHBS is selling both side by side,i asked about the new size and he confirmed my thought,alot of people-well in these parts anyway-mainly get 1L bottles.So makes it easier for some consumers to flavour a 1L without a small amount of leftover.makes sense in my opinionj,nothing to get your undies in a twist.Both are still on sale.

[freelancement]

Its the still spirits classic air still range ....
using the still spirits air still triple distilled production packs produces (700ml @ 60%) diluted to 1L @ 40% of alcohol per distillation using the air still, got to keep in mind majority of the users of the air stills dont want hassles and want ease of use.

its marketed to be a plug and play 4 basic steps system to attract more customers, which i think is great
1. ferment (15mins of setup time) 2. distill (2 hr of time, 15mins setup and actaul watching time) 3 filter (1min setup) 4. flavour blend (1min)
its designed to be more convenient

[freelancement]

mmmm good source of infomation are these guys

www.onestopbarshop.com.au

or imake.pro

or brewcraft.net
yeah still spirits never reply but its all part of brewcraft i think
cheers,

freelancement

[Phantom]

Well even then there seems a lot of confusion about sizing etc.
For instance, the instructions that came with my still, advised taking 800 mls distillate per 4 litres of wash.
Plus the SS classic range of flavourings is normally 2 sachets, each flavours 1.125 litres of spirit, or what would be known as a 40oz bottle in the US.
I\'m just lucky that I\'ve got some 2.25ltr old cider jars and can mix it in them.....
And judging from checking the numbers, £2.15 per litre is slightly more expensive than £4.65 per 2.25 litres (21.5pence per 100mls of mixed spirit as opposed to 20.6pence per 100mls of finished spirit). So it isn\'t really a way of increasing the cost, but it is really as something like 5 pence increase in a 1 litre flavouring pack is the same as putting the 2.25litre one up about 11 or 12 pence per unit - but you might think about looking elsewhere if it\'s gonna be cheaper with that kind of increase, whereas they hope we won\'t notice if it\'s just 5p on a 1 litre pack........
Just like the bastards did with petrol when they changed over from selling it by to gallon to by the litre - you often see a 1 or 2 pence increase per litre, damn if they\'d put it up by 5 pence a gallon there was an outrage in the press...... so who gains ? no-one except the chancellor of the exchequer and the oil companies........

[Opus 27]

Can\'t say I all together follow the air still logic with one litre batches as when I was using the air still I used to run the whole twenty five litre wash and then carbon filter which gave me a lot more than one litre of finished spirit. Secondly perhaps bottle sizes differ in the UK to down under but invariably if I buy bottles from my Local HBS they are either 750 or 700 ML ie standard wine and spirit bottles same goes for secondhand spirit bottles, normally 700ML. I should also add that in the case of my HBS he ordered the normal classic range and was supplied the new size but double the quantity which would suggest that in the UK it will be one size only. Time will tell.

Perhaps Richard from Wineworks can shed some light on this as he is the UK supplier for SS products.
Opus 27

[Ellie-Claire]

Still spirits in Uk are changing over to 1 litre sachets over next few months. Its very confusing and especially as I list 2.25 litre packs in my eBay store. Price is prorata (with me anyway) - 2.25 litre £4.49; 1 litre £1.99 (it has actually gone down as the exact rate should be 199.5555555). Please don\'t ask why they have changed but I doubt its because the new version of the SS still produces 1 litre at 40% as most essence users worldwide have reflux stills. It certainly messes up our bottles. Or perhaps we should mix 1 litre, bottle .75 litre and drink .25 litre....now that gets my vote.

[freelancement]

so your saying the large 2.25l classic range are getting completely discontinued?

... for the 1L

[Opus 27]

Ellie probably knows more than I do as a retailer but my HBS assures me that is the situation, i.e no more 2.25 litre packs in the UK.
I\'m slowly going over to Essencia Essences not only are they as good as the SS range their customer services do reply to questions and requests.
Opus 27

[Ellie-Claire]

Yes Freelancement, the Classic range is now going to be 1 litre sachets. The Top Shelf is remaining at 2.25 litres at the moment (it would be a farty likkle bottle if that changed to 1 litre).

I wouldn\'t just change to Essentia, Opus, just cause SS customer services are crap, as its the taste that you should be looking for. The Essentia gin is great - or so my friend says and i would stock them if I could get them.

I really feel that the 1 litre is quite a good idea or certainly because it gives drinkers the change of trying new stuff. 3 bottles would take some shifting of something not very nice but a litre could always be kept for guests.

[Opus 27]

Hi Ellie,

Firstly don\'t panick, after 65 years on this planet I\'ve learnt not to act in haste. But I\'ve been slowly moving toward Essencia Essences for a little while as they are as good and sometimes better than SS. One factor though they do need at least a month to develop.

Opus27
All that\'s good.

Opus 27.

[freelancement]

hmmm, i was told otherwise ...

alright, so im assuming they must be expanding the range to cover all 11 classic products as they only have 6 atm from what i gather (again i was told they weren\'t doing this) these words were from aussie though, but they are made in england so im torn in thought

I guess time will tell

[Ellie-Claire]

I am not sure the Essentia essences are made in UK, the SS classics are (except Queensland Gold Rum.

Also all turbo yeasts are blended in UK.

I \'d appreciate some feedback on the Essentia ones.