Welcome to Diary of a Distiller. I am in the process of moving the content over from the old site. The biggest problem with moving the old content over is the photos. So the text will be here, but photos will have to slowly follow. Until then you can read the old content in the Archives.
You can also read my thoughts on my Journey on Enjoying Libations at: 
XML FeedsDiary of a Distiller: Chapter Five - Wine a bit, you'll feel better ;-)>
By JMF on Jun 20, 2008 | In Main | Send feedback »
Wine a bit, you'll feel better! We do! As junior man on the Winterport totem pole I am constantly having to be reminded to wine a bit and enjoy myself. Sometimes I have 17 different things going on and setting apart some time for fun falls to the wayside. I'm constantly worrying about back ordered equipment, monetary deadlines, and so much more; and that's just for the distillery. Then there are my writing and consulting gigs, traveling to events, and staying connected with all the big things and new trends coming out of NYC and the rest of the world. It's completely overwhelming at times, so every now and then I have to remember to pick up a glass of wine and say "Skoal!"
Last week I mentioned that I had been on several radio spots. The past week I was down in NYC, and ended up back on Mike Colamecco's Food Talk show on WOR radio taping several shows about artisanal spirits and basic introductions to rum, gin, and cocktails. Mike had recently been turned on to the world of cocktails, so that was a good topic to chat about since I was in New York for several cocktail events, including Jonathan Pogash's Summer Cocktail workshop at the Astor Center; which was excellent. So we had a nice talk about cocktails and he invited me to come back later this summer to do a few shows on the Cocktail Revolution, the New Golden Age of Cocktails that started around 6-7 years ago, an area I have been focusing on the past few years. You can check out the archives at WOR to hear many interviews with top food and beverage experts, and hopefully several interviews that I did, that will be playing over the next few weeks.
Diary of a Distiller: Chapter Four - Roadside Stories
By Jonathan M. Forester on Jun 13, 2008 | In Main | Send feedback »
So, last week I showed you a gallery of photos of us framing out walls, putting up drywall, prepping them, and priming the paint. This week I will show you how we painted the future Penobscot Bay Distillery & Brewery at Winterport Winery. Because we have windows on the second floor of Pairings Food and Wine Culinary & Education Center looking down into the distillery, we decided to splash a little color around. The main outside wall we left a nice crisp white. This wall is where we will have all the equipment stationed and a plain and simple background will be best to showcase all the copper, stainless steel, and brick nicely.
Diary of a Distiller: Chapter Three - Starting to Build
By Jonathan M. Forester on Jun 6, 2008 | In Main | Send feedback »
In the past few weeks I have complained about how we have been held up for months waiting for the gas lines to be installed. Well they finally were. A simple job that took them three hours, but a several month wait for them to show up. Now at last we can finish ordering equipment and building the facility.
The distillery didn't look like much when we first started construction back at the beginning of February 2008. It had been a storage room for holding bottles and equipment for Winterport Winery and was just a big, barely used space with half finished walls, some painted and others just framed out.
As you see above in the rough blueprint of the floor plan, the facility is a decent size, but not too large. It's apx. 13x44 feet with a few extra areas at the front end under some stairs for storage and at the rear for sinks and a refrigerator for yeast and other supplies that need to be kept cool.
We were in no rush with the construction, because, although I had ordered the still in mid-December, it wouldn't be built and delivered until the end of March. But I was still in a hurry to try and get things done, although so many things were out of my control that I was totally stressed out all the time. To find out more, read on after the jump.
Diary of a Distiller: Chapter Two - Oh, the Pain of it All
By Jonathan M. Forester on May 30, 2008 | In Main | Send feedback »
In the beginning of this journal, Diary of a Distiller, I told you a little about my early life, and how I entered the world of food, wine, and fine spirits. As I mentioned, I became disillusioned with my life and plunged into the world of food and beverages. I started a journey and as I walk down this road I hope that the bricks become yellow, then golden; and don't just crumble away.
I'm still working hard on my still as I told you last week, buffing it to a mirror shine. I put some fancy and expensive protective finish on the Georgia Ridge Rocket still head and the top of the kettle to see how it looks. It's not perfect. You don't have the same intensity of a mirror shine or that silky, sexy smooth, almost oily texture, as you run your hand along it, as there is without the protective coat; but it still looks darn good.
I put the whiskey head on the kettle to hold it steady and started buffing that as well. About an hour later, when I was halfway through I decided to clean it off with some denatured alcohol to see how much of a shine I have. It was looking very nice when I noticed that some of the alcohol had dripped down onto the part of the kettle that I had already sealed and the finish was starting to turn white. I grabbed a cloth to wipe the alcohol off and realized that the alcohol had dissolved the sealant completely. Aaaargh!
