StillSmart

well i've had the result of a distillers lifetime here.. yes, partly due to my FIRST-TIMER experience and satisfaction.yes ive followed advice.. ive gave my angels a really good share while my kilner was filled with 55% neutral and bourbon chunks left open covered with cheese cloth.. 7days soaking and a couple of pours of finest maple syrup and wollah!! my very first JD... no flavourings or essences added.. smelt the 43% Jack Ds that ive got on shelf and cant see why i drunk so much of it in the past..

it now smells awful in comparison

I ordered quite a lot of rum and whiskey and whisky essences from get er brewed and am looking forward to trying them. I'm thinking that my tastebuds aren't good enough to really tell the difference and that the extra £1 or whatever per bottle for an essence is less than the cost of the ingredients, compared to sugar wash, and will give me more consistency.

Curmudgeon wrote:currently drinking the essencia carribean rum gloop in a base of half a pack of vodka star to 6 bags of sugar and can't taste anything from the flavouring at all.

I find the Alcotech rum essences are good

the essencia one needed about a month and then was better than I first reported.

I've ordered about half a dozen of the still spirits and prestige ones for delivery this week, but will try and let them "brew" for a month before commenting.

Edit : I ordered Canadian Whiskey and Western Rum at £1 for (I assume a bottle's worth) and honey bourbon, spiced rum and golden rum at £4 for 4 bottles.

Best website for ordering spirit flavourings?

There isn't a huge difference in price, so it largely depends on postage to your area to an extent. I mentioned the allegedly best maker of essences in a recent post on another thread and the shipping/handling charge direct is about £7 I think.

There isn't a huge difference in price, so it largely depends on postage to your area to an extent. I mentioned the allegedly best maker of essences in a recent post on another thread and the shipping/handling charge direct is about £7 I think.

http://allfreightfree.com/essences/280-ml-9-47-oz.html

(edit: I can collect from get er brewed)

Large bottles of Prestige essence often found at a good price on that site named after a river.
Some are good.


Robert.

Easydrinker wrote:Large bottles of Prestige essence often found at a good price on that site named after a river

.


Google???

Easydrinker wrote:Large bottles of Prestige essence often found at a good price on that site named after a river.
Some are good.


Robert.

£11.50 on Amazon with free delivery on orders over £20 certainly compares well with buying direct from his own site http://partymanshop.com/liquor/280-ml.html

Thx for that.... Good prices.... Anyone tried the American whiskey Bourbon?

My essences arrived today and the recommended amount of each was mixed with a bottle of good neutral (vodka star yeast and very tight cuts).

Tonight a friend and I are flying through a bottle of freshly made (spirit yesterday, mixed with essence this morning), still spirits top shelf spiced rum.

It really is very decent indeed even without any time. Not as sweet/orangey as Captain Morgans and could maybe do with a hint more spice as well as a bit of orange peel (or me using more essence), but very very decent indeed.

Edit: the prestige essences were £1 for 1 bottles worth and the still spirits were either £3.11 or £3.99 for 3 bottles worth, depending on popularity (prices from get er brewed which is local to me). Assuming same yeast and nutrient, we are comparing 5-6kgs of white sugar at £3ish + £1ish per bottle for essence with perhaps? £12 of molasses and brown sugar (plus a small amount for spices) to get 5-6 bottles. Not a huge difference, but I'm no great cook and the essence (with a tweak) will maybe be easier to reproduce consistently?

If you hunt around you can get horse feed
molasses quite cheap. I pay £6 for 4ltrs,
its pure black strap 50% sugar. If I take
my own containers its £5.50. Makes lovely
rum with Lidl Demerara sugar @ £1.29 per KG
25ltr wash £10 all in

Thats including 1x Allinsons tub yeast.

Thanks Gaza. I deliberately bought several different rum essences so I can compare fake with real rum.

I suspect in advance that my taste buds and concentration on recipe aren't good enough and essences will be the way for me personally to go in future, even though I started out down the pot still route.

Even reading my own posts from before Christmas shows me that I've forgotten stuff I learned the hard way just then.

Edit : The spiced rum is still getting a high score. The honey bourbon is too sweet and artificial. Maybe doing away with the sugar and adding a little actual honey would be better?

Quick update. of the 5 I bought, I'll only be buying the still spirits top shelf) spiced rum again as I really enjoyed all three bottles. The (still spirits top shelf) honey bourbon and prestige brown western rum were the worst, but I only made 1 bottle of the honey with the suggested amount of sugar, so it may be better with less but was horribly artificial. The still spirits jamaican rum was the 3rd of the still spirits top shelf ones and is drinkable but not great.

From prestige, I got canadian whiskey which is drinkable but not great and brown western rum that will likely go down the sink as it's just shocking. All fake flavours like a weird combination of sweets and crisps (candies and chips for American readers).

I was particularly pleasantly surprised by the spiced rum as it's something quite a few of us aspire to. I'd be tempted to stretch it to 4 bottles and put a little orange peel, star anise etc in while experimenting, but it's a really decent base imo. I'm curious what others think?