A PHOTO REPORTAGE BY ROBERT SCHROETER
TO UNDERSTAND THE DISTILLATION PROCESS BETTER!
Because of the restrictions imposed by the SARS-COV-2 pandemic in 2020, Spiritsfully couldn't travel so it asked Robert Schroeter, from Cocktail Academy and Artisan Bar Camp to describe the distillation process he was witnessing on a daily basis at Distillery Studer, based in Switzerland, where he was working for a couple of months. This visit is an extension of the interview of a bartender turned distiller and also another way to understand distillation through images.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
To showcase the process of production at the distillery Studer I am working at currently I put together pictures from various products coming to life. As I pointed out earlier, producing one product from head to toe is a longer process (sometimes months). So I need to ‘fake along’ by showing you the proper steps — although they show different products in my pictures. Oops!
Of course the production of any spirit starts with thoughts and research. Even if you have a recipe: if you’ve not worked with it before you definitely try it out in a small batch. Producers, distributors, seasons, origin, time of production, etc. etc. all influence your product as long as it is a natural one. So you try out with samples and then a sample batch.
These here are a selection of herbs and spices we are pondering to use in our forthcoming Vermouth program.
The following picture shows one of my batches for pear bitters. The first dummy was 100ml large, we’re going 12l now. Using different parts of the pear and different alcohol strengths all need to be considered.
The following picture shows one of my batches for pear bitters. The first dummy was 100ml large, we’re going 12l now. Using different parts of the pear and different alcohol strengths all need to be considered.
Should it be a distillate you’re creating, this is what you’ll use. A good old-fashioned still!
But before distillation you’ll need base alcohol, which brigs us to fermentation. A good old bubbly way of having yeast over for a bubbly party to turn carbs into alcohol and carbon dioxide (the bubbly). As you can see in this lively example of the magic of fermentation: our yeast is on a high-carb-diet — yes sir!
| Video with the yeast |
The result might be a kind of (un-hopped) beer based on grain, molasses or fruits.
One of our long-running hits here at Studer is Absinth. In this look into the still through the distillation window you can see fennel among others. Herbs and spices all having a big orgy in there. As the resulting offspring a new batch of Absinth will see the light of the world soon!
One of our long-running hits here at Studer is Absinth. In this look into the still through the distillation window you can see fennel among others. Herbs and spices all having a big orgy in there. As the resulting offspring a new batch of Absinth will see the light of the world soon!
The Swiss are much more relaxed when it comes to guarding the production of alcohol. You could actually hold your glass into the stream and … errr… ’taste’.
But seriously: distillers almost always only smell the spirit, hardly ever taste!
But seriously: distillers almost always only smell the spirit, hardly ever taste!
After your distillate is done (or a possibly added maturation in wood) you want to store it airtight and in stainless steel. It’ll loose least aroma and alcohol this way. But even this does not guarantee 100% loss-less storage. Especially when it comes to the delicate aromas of eau-de-vie…
So you use these...
So you use these...
…or these...
…or those depending on the amount of liquid to be stored. Rather keep your containers full than near-empty. Pick the right size!
Once you draw the product out of the containers to fill bottles you want to filter. There might be tiny particles left in the liquid. Or fatty acids. Those guys are usually a good sign and rich in aroma. But since they might cloud the product in the bottle ‘we’ taught our customers this is a fault. Whichever marketing agency came up with that, I wonder? Anyway. But because of those guys we’re all filtering out a bit of taste in order to have the perfectly clear spirit in the bottle. 'Trading superficial beauty for inner values' and all that…
After filtering only follows the rather uninteresting tasks of bottling...
…capping and sealing...
…and finally boxing.
Well, and that’s about it ‘already’!
I hope this gave you a good and general overview to understand the process. You’ll find heaps more and much more detailed info here on Spiritsfully.com. But you’ve got the larger picture, I hope?
Should you want to dive deeper into any of your preferred spirits you can find me at www.cocktailakademie.berlin. As soon as Corona is over, that is!
I hope this gave you a good and general overview to understand the process. You’ll find heaps more and much more detailed info here on Spiritsfully.com. But you’ve got the larger picture, I hope?
Should you want to dive deeper into any of your preferred spirits you can find me at www.cocktailakademie.berlin. As soon as Corona is over, that is!
