Thanks for the feedback Jesse. One this is for sure and that is we need to make more distillation hardware to make home whiskey production easier. We absolutely love the channel. I would totally agree with you that it's difficult to create real whiskey with an essence. I feel that we have done a really great job compared to others on the market but whiskey and rum are so complex they are very difficult to simulate. If you are prepared to oak age the Whiskey/Rum once you have made it really helps to get some complexity out of some real oak. Thanks so much for doing the review. I look forward to reading the comments as we are actively working on more new products in the range and we really appreciate the feedback!
you guys need to provide videos on your products. you sell an alco engine and dont provide any videos on actually distilling. I'm keen to get into distilling and Ive watched a shit load of jesse's videos which has built confidence but i wish you guys would provide videos on the process using the equipment.
@@Jimsmith656 to be fair they are based in australia and distillation is illegal here outside of commercial setups, it is illegal also to own a still above 5L
For me, the essences were my way into the craft. For years, I was just doing the turbo wash, double distilled and triple filtered to make it smooth. Then essesnces to make gin, coffee liquer, bourbon (for mixing, etc). Perfectly adequate for mixing and drinking. Then moved into TPW and the "whiskey profile" - pretty friendly. Have only just moved into the "flavoured" fermenting and proper "pot mode" stilling with a plate column without reflux. I would not have gone anywhere near full on fermenting and distilling without the "baby step" of neutrals and essences ;)
I agree with you. I do have a spiced rum essence bottle on my shelf so I can have a rum and cola. Every whiskey that I have tried from essence has not been to my liking but i like to have the straight.
Pretty much what I expected. But here's an idea for anyone making essences: Make them in a syringe style dispenser with a re-sealable "snout". I don't want to buy umpteen entire bottles of spirits for cocktail, but if you make a vodka+essence substitute (1ml to 2cl mixing ratio) I could see myself buying a bunch of them.... provided they have preservatives enough in them that they'll last a good while (12 months at the very least) after being opened. Making them in 5ml for try-outs and 30ml for stables/favorites would probably increase sales.
One place i use essences. Apple brandy. It can be a huge pain to make any significant amount of apple brandy from scratch in an apartment. But i've found that i like jack rose cocktails. An essence apple brandy gets 90% of the way there in a cocktail without having to spend a fortune or evict the kids for brandy making space.
I hope you warmed and kneaded the packages first to incorporate everything inside. For best results. I agree they will never be as good as low and slow real distilled but they have their place. Love you bro.
I use essences for mixing with pepsi max or lemonade etc.. I haven't found one that was a sipper. I suspect some of the whisky styles would make okay cocktails as well as the liquers, but I don't think they are designed or expected to be used as a sipper. The other good thing about being used as a mixer is you can use a lower abv. So you can go to a party and enjoy a few ''rum and cokes'' and drive home without the risk, or enjoy a few smoky whiskies and coke before bed on a school night without having to fret about fitness for work the next day. They definitely have their place IMO. Just not for neat pours, lol.
I've messed with a few as a flavor booster but not as a final flavor ...the coffee may be fun ..I also have vanilla extract that's been macerating for 6months that's getting close to supposedly being ready
A note on orange zest. Maybe better results could be had by cooking the orange zest before putting it into the still. This could boil off some of those sharp citrusy / green volatile compounds leaving more heavy ones that may remain in a cooked product like a jam or marmalade.
Loved the video yes I started out with essences so we could have a rum and coke at home but you got me into the real grain whiskeys and rums so I prefer them aged and with out coke I think they have a market for beginners to try their hand at distilling as I did first my air still now my 40lt still and copper pot still head 🇦🇺
I have used the essences from Still Spirits. Some are better than others. Elderflower Gin is actually rather good. All of them are good for mixed drinks if you don't have the time and resources for aging.
Thank you! Good to know some are OK, good to know the rest may be better but not enough! Wish we had Kegland here in the U.S. for other things (we get some things at inflated prices, but it's bad enough that I've spent inordinate amounts of time trying to find clones on aliexpress though I haven't bought them).
Fully agree with your diagnosis Jessie, got a few "aged" spirit flavours when I bought my T500 a year ago. The coffee and other sweet flavours were great in my opinion but meh to the "aged". Must admit though there was a Rum flavour Still Spirits had that when i added coke to it, it tasted exactly like a spider (coke float), which consists of coke & vanilla ice cream for those unaware. Brought back childhood memories, sadly can't remember what the Rum type it was. Anyways, cheers for ya vids and by the by, you should have included Erin for this one mate😊
As much of a fan of the channel as I am I have never tried distilling, but I'm curious if I could do any fun stuff with beer brewing with these. I feel like I could whack in some really interesting flavor profiles that are hard to get with just grain and hops in a short time period. I tried using some homemade Belgian Caramel Syrup in a few brews recently (based on your distilling Belgian Strong Dark video) and have had some interesting results (the batch carbonating now has an absurd alcohol content, haha, but flavor is interesting). Maybe I could get some positive results, or at least have a bit of fun, with essences. Great video, always enjoy learning more.
I love the real thing. Hands down there is no competition…however I have on my sideboard a sliced rum amd London dry gin. They are great for making a mixer. In fact the gin is almost sip-able. I’ve made a lot of my own gin with botanicals but the still spirits is pretty darn good. Nice work bro! 🎉
I mostly only use essence for drinks. Peach for cranbarrie/vodka/peach(WooWoo/Sexonthebeach) and GIN for Gin and Tonic! works very well. Those are my gotos. I also like Still Spirit Spiced rum, it has added sugar, so its mosty a sipper for me, but works very well with cola/rum. Blue curacao I have on hand for making tons of blue kamikaze shot as a party starter, people find it fun shotting those blue nasty things (20ish abv if you make em by shaking with ice) Tested quite a few others, but overall I dont buy it again, all the different liqures normaly works great for different drinks.
Jesse, I want to see you reviewing powdered cocktail mixes. I did a review of an Old Fashioned mix from Pocket Cocktails waaaay back when I was still figuring out video editing and also from back when I could be bothered to actually try, and the damned thing was wretched. I'm curious to see what an actual pro with a more developed palette would say about them.
I completely agree about brown spirit essence being not very good. I found Still Spirits gin essence not bad, but like you, I prefer my own, and it's pretty easy. I also want to comment on the coffee. I found the trick to getting coffee liquer right is time. I tried a few times and wasn't happy, so I followed a recipe on HD, I thought it would nail it, but I was disappointed. I made a pretty big batch, and when I went back to it months and months later, it was so much better. I'd say it was perfect at around 6 months. There is just something about coffee that takes longer to fully combine, if that makes sense.
I agree on the time with coffee. I tried making some in a week and it just wasn't right. Since then I usually let it go for 3 or 4 months and it always comes out with no balance issues and great depth of flavour.
I've tried a few of the still spirit essences, the scotch one made me angry as it was actually ok to drink. Irish whisky made me want to rip my tongue out and I redistilled it back to neutral. The blue curacao was better than a commercial one but it likely that was a taste preference. But the one which has been a.hit with my friends was the chocolate rum liquor which made for.awesome after dinner shot style of drink.
Of the U.S. available essences I've tried, I agree: they're "meh." Not bad, but soooooo not great. That said, they did help me get through Dry January. I poured a tincture of essence into ginger ale to mimic a bourbon & coke/ginger/etc...
The only essence I have really enjoyed so far has been Top Shelf Creme De Cacao, but I didn't really follow the instructions. I just created something I called "hot chocolate" with clean distillate and the essence. My friends were not impressed.
I've use essences a few times and got the same results as this brand. They make an half decent gin and fruit liqueur but that's as far as they're useful for me.
Instead of simply making a neutral into something it's not, why not use these essences to hide the flaws in the actual product you've run? Like, run your single malt, then add the single malt essence to help speed up the "aging" process or augment poor cuts where you might have included more head and tails than you might have liked for the sake of achieving volume. Does that make sense?
I did that with a rum - i used a dark rum essence. It wasn't good. I'll wait for the barrel to do its work. I will be trying again with a white rum which was originally too neutral. I'm hoping it can add some nice flavours like some good white rums have.
Theres two things Id be thinking about honestly 1.25L is a strange amount to me I hardly ever see spirits in a bottle size over a litre so idk Id kinda be left with some left in the packet or Id be using extra and probably make it taste bad If it were me I’d just scale down the size to being a litre Also a lot of these I don’t really get the point of buying them instead of just buying a cheap version of that spirit directly Unless you’re in one of the like two countries that allow home distillation I don’t see the economics behind it I can buy a cheap bottle of gin or whiskey or rum for the same price as a bottle of vodka I can buy something that’s going to be as good in a cocktail for the same price as the base vodka let alone buying any extra essence stuff and that way I don’t have to worry about doing extra stuff Maybe it’s just because uk Moment and everything Is taxed so heavily that the cost differences for spirits themselves might as well be redundant Id probably use it If vodka was cheaper or able to be made at home legally Or idk maybe I’d just want to be a gremlin and put the gin essence in gin to get like gin^2 kinda like how you make protein shakes or stuff with milk instead of water to get extra from it but that’s probably just me liking gin rather than it being a good idea lol Id maybe consider them for a home bar of they were in dropper bottles or something A way that I can go to the store buy a gallon of vodka for super super cheap and be able to pull out a shot of gin or a shot of whiskey out of that bottle of vodka but even then I’d rather just buy the bottles of that stuff directly
I believe that is for a double batch of 700ml bottles leaving enough space for the essence and sugar. Also kegland is an Australian company catering to Australian needs first. Here the price of alcohol is 3 to 4 times the price it is in the states.
I've been meaning to grab some of these to try N/A spirits, just mix the extract with water. The N/A spirit bottles are already expensive and rough, why not a cheap alternative for mixing?
Have to disagree on saying these would be fine in a blank and coke. I can very much tell a difference between every whiskey and rum I mix with coke. I can and have picked out a difference between something like jack vs. bookers or Captain vs. flor de cana 12 mixed with a coke. Those subtleties do come through. I've tried these essence things mixed before, and I still feel let down by them in that application.
"Chasing the craft" I love to cook. I'm proud of my kitchen skills, but sometimes, rarely, I'll open some pre-made sauce and throw in some store bought ground meat. The difference between that and my hypothetical spirits hobby is that my family needs to eat every day, even if I don't feel inspired to be a chef just then. Drinking for us is fortunately not the same. When I need Cointreau or Gran Marnier I buy them. One day I may try my own interpretation of those spirits, but I would never drink or serve the Kool-Aide version.
Yeah pretty much what we expected :D But pls do a part 2 with some of the ones left over!!!!! Then pick the best 3 overall and see how they go with coke or soda! :D :D
I have a question, I make wine for 2 years now and I have an Air Still (4 liters) and want to test what I get but I am scared of Methanol, I really dont want to die 😅 so how much do I have to throw away when the destilled Alkohol comes out ? Oh and I want to give the yeast only sugar water for this test. And ist it possible with a water still ? Thank you
My opinion Essences are a base to build on. Making a Whiskey, Rhum, or Gin profile base fast, so you can't then have fun flavoring it. Get the time consuming part out of the way so you can play with it. I don't believe they are there to make a knock off well spirit for mixing into other cocktails or drinking sipping. If you are in a country where you can only get vodka cheap and can't get anything else, then you use essences to clone a well spirit. I've been to that place and using essences for that purpose.
This is probably something I'll never try....first, because I can't find them here....second...because...because... I don't know...I just prefer the more artisan way of doing things. Good thing to see anyway, I was trying to change my mind, but definitively not...thanks Jesse!
If you want to cut out the jacket shuffling sounds you can isolate some of that audio in Audacity, filter it, then apply it onto the whole track. It was very distracting in this video especially.
hey why don't you do a colab with a really good cocktail maker you making the liquor and them mixing cocktails from it, i used to work cocktail bars in pubs and clubs. have a great day.
If i want a sipping scotch then i will buy the real thing. if im drinking scotch and dry with my mates then the Still spirits classic Northern Whiskey is my go to. all i have is an airstill. i dont have the time the space or the money needed to get these stills and mash tuns you use. do i expect it to taste like a 30 year old Glen Fiddich? no of course not . but its cheap and its good enough with dry!!!
Yer I'm with you buddy if you just want to drink for the sake of it make bird watchers or suger wash and use these there ok but yer nowhere near the real thing i can only speak for the brand i used (top shelf sprits) if you like cocktails yer the liquor mixes are really good found them to be better than the straight sprit flavors but the best one I found from top shelf was sea beast dark spiced rum that one was the best by far
So I don't want to be one of the people that are all about essences or tricks for essences, but have you ever tried making a rum then instead of aging, use an essences.
I'm in complete agreement with you Jesse-there is just no replacement for those spirits that require time in a barrel for micro-oxidation and influence from oak wood. Trying to scale a bourbon down at home is no easy task; perhaps the best way is with a BadMo barrel. For those spirits, these essences seem to make an assumption that they all taste the same which we all know to be patently false. The others to be used in a cocktail or mixer is the best take away from this experiment. Some folks even add essences into their low wines and find the final distillate to be much better than just adding to the finished spirit. I feel the same way about them, even having never messed with them-it's just not what I'm after. The true craft is influencing a spirit with grain, yeast, wood and distillation techniques. Always appreciate you exploring the world of whiskey on our behalf! Stay well brother!
Found out that my uncle was a passionate distiller last year, and he's into rum. We were really stoked to have someone to talk to about. He brought around a sample and it was flavoured (wide cut) sugar wash that was overly sweet. But he was super proud and shares it around in his circle... Who apparently all only drinks rum with Coke 😂 So yeah, not for us, but it definitely has it's place. And more passionate people in the hobby means more access to stuff for us to play with
A bit confused in your “fake product” statement. Define “fake product”. To be honest, define “product”. At the end of the day, a spirit enthusiast (probably one that doesn’t have a distillery license) is enhancing a spirit that they particularly like for consumption. How is that “fake”? Are they fake drinking it? Also what were the manufacturer instructions for bottling time that you skipped? It would have been better if you loafed test vials and followed the rest of the instructions.
i make beer in a bucket fermenter i am told by guys down the brew shoip i can use it to make sprits have you ever done this? this way i wouldent have to get a licence from the ATO and pay tax on all i make.
Making spirits of any kind in different countries and states are illegal but so is everything else you either buy the stuff and choose to make it or you go to the shop and pay the taxes
in Australia, you can get a distillers licence for free from the Tax office (ATO) you just have to pay tax on all the spirit you produce. in australia you can make beer and any non distilled alcohole with out a licence. I don't GAF about anywhere eles because it dosen't apply to me.
Yes, we used to do this back in the 90's before homebrew stores sold stills. Brew a batch of sugar with turbo yeast, rack into another fermenter and add turbo clear. It's not good and of course only ~20% abv. It's sometimes (barely) passable with strong liqueur essences (like coffee) other than that it's pretty rough stuff. It often tasted like stale white wine.
close enough in a pinch if you really have to...... you have it as a back up if you run out of one of your good booze and your to drunk to go get more....
Thanks for the feedback Jesse. One this is for sure and that is we need to make more distillation hardware to make home whiskey production easier.
We absolutely love the channel. I would totally agree with you that it's difficult to create real whiskey with an essence. I feel that we have done a really great job compared to others on the market but whiskey and rum are so complex they are very difficult to simulate. If you are prepared to oak age the Whiskey/Rum once you have made it really helps to get some complexity out of some real oak.
Thanks so much for doing the review. I look forward to reading the comments as we are actively working on more new products in the range and we really appreciate the feedback!
you guys need to provide videos on your products. you sell an alco engine and dont provide any videos on actually distilling. I'm keen to get into distilling and Ive watched a shit load of jesse's videos which has built confidence but i wish you guys would provide videos on the process using the equipment.
@@Jimsmith656 to be fair they are based in australia and distillation is illegal here outside of commercial setups, it is illegal also to own a still above 5L
You nailed it. Essences are for mixing, not sipping. They're not bad, just niche.
Wonder how these essences fair out with different base spirits? Maybe a white whiskey or a light rum would work better with the darker ones?
For me, the essences were my way into the craft. For years, I was just doing the turbo wash, double distilled and triple filtered to make it smooth. Then essesnces to make gin, coffee liquer, bourbon (for mixing, etc). Perfectly adequate for mixing and drinking. Then moved into TPW and the "whiskey profile" - pretty friendly. Have only just moved into the "flavoured" fermenting and proper "pot mode" stilling with a plate column without reflux. I would not have gone anywhere near full on fermenting and distilling without the "baby step" of neutrals and essences ;)
I agree with you. I do have a spiced rum essence bottle on my shelf so I can have a rum and cola. Every whiskey that I have tried from essence has not been to my liking but i like to have the straight.
i find these to be a level above the competition. not the real deal but better than others
Pretty much what I expected. But here's an idea for anyone making essences: Make them in a syringe style dispenser with a re-sealable "snout". I don't want to buy umpteen entire bottles of spirits for cocktail, but if you make a vodka+essence substitute (1ml to 2cl mixing ratio) I could see myself buying a bunch of them.... provided they have preservatives enough in them that they'll last a good while (12 months at the very least) after being opened. Making them in 5ml for try-outs and 30ml for stables/favorites would probably increase sales.
Instead of an eppipen, an essence pen where you can one-shot your cocktail in an emergency 😂
Essences are great 👍 for many hobbiests. Not time or space to use barrels and age. Flavours should, meld better with time😊
One place i use essences. Apple brandy. It can be a huge pain to make any significant amount of apple brandy from scratch in an apartment. But i've found that i like jack rose cocktails. An essence apple brandy gets 90% of the way there in a cocktail without having to spend a fortune or evict the kids for brandy making space.
I hope you warmed and kneaded the packages first to incorporate everything inside. For best results. I agree they will never be as good as low and slow real distilled but they have their place. Love you bro.
I use essences for mixing with pepsi max or lemonade etc.. I haven't found one that was a sipper. I suspect some of the whisky styles would make okay cocktails as well as the liquers, but I don't think they are designed or expected to be used as a sipper. The other good thing about being used as a mixer is you can use a lower abv. So you can go to a party and enjoy a few ''rum and cokes'' and drive home without the risk, or enjoy a few smoky whiskies and coke before bed on a school night without having to fret about fitness for work the next day. They definitely have their place IMO. Just not for neat pours, lol.
I've messed with a few as a flavor booster but not as a final flavor ...the coffee may be fun ..I also have vanilla extract that's been macerating for 6months that's getting close to supposedly being ready
A note on orange zest. Maybe better results could be had by cooking the orange zest before putting it into the still. This could boil off some of those sharp citrusy / green volatile compounds leaving more heavy ones that may remain in a cooked product like a jam or marmalade.
Loved the video yes I started out with essences so we could have a rum and coke at home but you got me into the real grain whiskeys and rums so I prefer them aged and with out coke I think they have a market for beginners to try their hand at distilling as I did first my air still now my 40lt still and copper pot still head 🇦🇺
I have used the essences from Still Spirits. Some are better than others. Elderflower Gin is actually rather good. All of them are good for mixed drinks if you don't have the time and resources for aging.
i agree. i like them overall for when i want to mix them or drink more than i should, but if i want to enjoy something its going to be properly aged.
Thank you! Good to know some are OK, good to know the rest may be better but not enough! Wish we had Kegland here in the U.S. for other things (we get some things at inflated prices, but it's bad enough that I've spent inordinate amounts of time trying to find clones on aliexpress though I haven't bought them).
Fully agree with your diagnosis Jessie, got a few "aged" spirit flavours when I bought my T500 a year ago. The coffee and other sweet flavours were great in my opinion but meh to the "aged". Must admit though there was a Rum flavour Still Spirits had that when i added coke to it, it tasted exactly like a spider (coke float), which consists of coke & vanilla ice cream for those unaware. Brought back childhood memories, sadly can't remember what the Rum type it was. Anyways, cheers for ya vids and by the by, you should have included Erin for this one mate😊
As much of a fan of the channel as I am I have never tried distilling, but I'm curious if I could do any fun stuff with beer brewing with these. I feel like I could whack in some really interesting flavor profiles that are hard to get with just grain and hops in a short time period. I tried using some homemade Belgian Caramel Syrup in a few brews recently (based on your distilling Belgian Strong Dark video) and have had some interesting results (the batch carbonating now has an absurd alcohol content, haha, but flavor is interesting). Maybe I could get some positive results, or at least have a bit of fun, with essences.
Great video, always enjoy learning more.
I love the real thing. Hands down there is no competition…however I have on my sideboard a sliced rum amd London dry gin. They are great for making a mixer. In fact the gin is almost sip-able. I’ve made a lot of my own gin with botanicals but the still spirits is pretty darn good. Nice work bro! 🎉
I mostly only use essence for drinks. Peach for cranbarrie/vodka/peach(WooWoo/Sexonthebeach) and GIN for Gin and Tonic! works very well. Those are my gotos. I also like Still Spirit Spiced rum, it has added sugar, so its mosty a sipper for me, but works very well with cola/rum. Blue curacao I have on hand for making tons of blue kamikaze shot as a party starter, people find it fun shotting those blue nasty things (20ish abv if you make em by shaking with ice) Tested quite a few others, but overall I dont buy it again, all the different liqures normaly works great for different drinks.
Jesse, I want to see you reviewing powdered cocktail mixes. I did a review of an Old Fashioned mix from Pocket Cocktails waaaay back when I was still figuring out video editing and also from back when I could be bothered to actually try, and the damned thing was wretched. I'm curious to see what an actual pro with a more developed palette would say about them.
I completely agree about brown spirit essence being not very good. I found Still Spirits gin essence not bad, but like you, I prefer my own, and it's pretty easy. I also want to comment on the coffee. I found the trick to getting coffee liquer right is time. I tried a few times and wasn't happy, so I followed a recipe on HD, I thought it would nail it, but I was disappointed. I made a pretty big batch, and when I went back to it months and months later, it was so much better. I'd say it was perfect at around 6 months. There is just something about coffee that takes longer to fully combine, if that makes sense.
I agree on the time with coffee. I tried making some in a week and it just wasn't right. Since then I usually let it go for 3 or 4 months and it always comes out with no balance issues and great depth of flavour.
I've tried a few of the still spirit essences, the scotch one made me angry as it was actually ok to drink. Irish whisky made me want to rip my tongue out and I redistilled it back to neutral. The blue curacao was better than a commercial one but it likely that was a taste preference. But the one which has been a.hit with my friends was the chocolate rum liquor which made for.awesome after dinner shot style of drink.
Of the U.S. available essences I've tried, I agree: they're "meh." Not bad, but soooooo not great. That said, they did help me get through Dry January. I poured a tincture of essence into ginger ale to mimic a bourbon & coke/ginger/etc...
The only essence I have really enjoyed so far has been Top Shelf Creme De Cacao, but I didn't really follow the instructions. I just created something I called "hot chocolate" with clean distillate and the essence. My friends were not impressed.
Sipping on some of the 101 bourbon atm not too shabby only new to the craft so just mastering the sugar washes and having a ball.
I've use essences a few times and got the same results as this brand. They make an half decent gin and fruit liqueur but that's as far as they're useful for me.
Instead of simply making a neutral into something it's not, why not use these essences to hide the flaws in the actual product you've run? Like, run your single malt, then add the single malt essence to help speed up the "aging" process or augment poor cuts where you might have included more head and tails than you might have liked for the sake of achieving volume. Does that make sense?
I did that with a rum - i used a dark rum essence. It wasn't good. I'll wait for the barrel to do its work.
I will be trying again with a white rum which was originally too neutral. I'm hoping it can add some nice flavours like some good white rums have.
Theres two things Id be thinking about honestly
1.25L is a strange amount to me I hardly ever see spirits in a bottle size over a litre so idk Id kinda be left with some left in the packet or Id be using extra and probably make it taste bad
If it were me I’d just scale down the size to being a litre
Also a lot of these I don’t really get the point of buying them instead of just buying a cheap version of that spirit directly
Unless you’re in one of the like two countries that allow home distillation I don’t see the economics behind it
I can buy a cheap bottle of gin or whiskey or rum for the same price as a bottle of vodka
I can buy something that’s going to be as good in a cocktail for the same price as the base vodka let alone buying any extra essence stuff and that way I don’t have to worry about doing extra stuff
Maybe it’s just because uk Moment and everything Is taxed so heavily that the cost differences for spirits themselves might as well be redundant
Id probably use it If vodka was cheaper or able to be made at home legally
Or idk maybe I’d just want to be a gremlin and put the gin essence in gin to get like gin^2 kinda like how you make protein shakes or stuff with milk instead of water to get extra from it but that’s probably just me liking gin rather than it being a good idea lol
Id maybe consider them for a home bar of they were in dropper bottles or something
A way that I can go to the store buy a gallon of vodka for super super cheap and be able to pull out a shot of gin or a shot of whiskey out of that bottle of vodka but even then I’d rather just buy the bottles of that stuff directly
I believe that is for a double batch of 700ml bottles leaving enough space for the essence and sugar.
Also kegland is an Australian company catering to Australian needs first. Here the price of alcohol is 3 to 4 times the price it is in the states.
I've been meaning to grab some of these to try N/A spirits, just mix the extract with water. The N/A spirit bottles are already expensive and rough, why not a cheap alternative for mixing?
Have to disagree on saying these would be fine in a blank and coke. I can very much tell a difference between every whiskey and rum I mix with coke. I can and have picked out a difference between something like jack vs. bookers or Captain vs. flor de cana 12 mixed with a coke. Those subtleties do come through. I've tried these essence things mixed before, and I still feel let down by them in that application.
I can understand your reservation about Coke how do you feel about Pepsi?
"Chasing the craft" I love to cook. I'm proud of my kitchen skills, but sometimes, rarely, I'll open some pre-made sauce and throw in some store bought ground meat. The difference between that and my hypothetical spirits hobby is that my family needs to eat every day, even if I don't feel inspired to be a chef just then. Drinking for us is fortunately not the same.
When I need Cointreau or Gran Marnier I buy them. One day I may try my own interpretation of those spirits, but I would never drink or serve the Kool-Aide version.
Yeah pretty much what we expected :D But pls do a part 2 with some of the ones left over!!!!! Then pick the best 3 overall and see how they go with coke or soda! :D :D
I have a question, I make wine for 2 years now and I have an Air Still (4 liters) and want to test what I get but I am scared of Methanol, I really dont want to die 😅 so how much do I have to throw away when the destilled Alkohol comes out ? Oh and I want to give the yeast only sugar water for this test. And ist it possible with a water still ? Thank you
You should learn about cuts namely foreshots, heads, hearts and tail. He has videos about cuts and airstill.
Thanks for keeping it real.
My opinion Essences are a base to build on. Making a Whiskey, Rhum, or Gin profile base fast, so you can't then have fun flavoring it. Get the time consuming part out of the way so you can play with it. I don't believe they are there to make a knock off well spirit for mixing into other cocktails or drinking sipping. If you are in a country where you can only get vodka cheap and can't get anything else, then you use essences to clone a well spirit. I've been to that place and using essences for that purpose.
The only thing I see as an issue is they aren't in bottles so feels more single use compared to others where you could mix to personal tastes
i need something to add and make mix and spray hand sanitizer
not bad , I might try making flavor pacs
Interesting idea.
This is probably something I'll never try....first, because I can't find them here....second...because...because... I don't know...I just prefer the more artisan way of doing things.
Good thing to see anyway, I was trying to change my mind, but definitively not...thanks Jesse!
Just like cooking. You don't use stock cubes for making a stock. But they are fine for adjusting the final flavor.
If you want to cut out the jacket shuffling sounds you can isolate some of that audio in Audacity, filter it, then apply it onto the whole track. It was very distracting in this video especially.
hey why don't you do a colab with a really good cocktail maker you making the liquor and them mixing cocktails from it, i used to work cocktail bars in pubs and clubs.
have a great day.
If i want a sipping scotch then i will buy the real thing. if im drinking scotch and dry with my mates then the Still spirits classic Northern Whiskey is my go to. all i have is an airstill. i dont have the time the space or the money needed to get these stills and mash tuns you use. do i expect it to taste like a 30 year old Glen Fiddich? no of course not . but its cheap and its good enough with dry!!!
Overall rating: Good for mixers if you don't have the thing on hand and need it quick.
Yer I'm with you buddy if you just want to drink for the sake of it make bird watchers or suger wash and use these there ok but yer nowhere near the real thing i can only speak for the brand i used (top shelf sprits) if you like cocktails yer the liquor mixes are really good found them to be better than the straight sprit flavors but the best one I found from top shelf was sea beast dark spiced rum that one was the best by far
So I don't want to be one of the people that are all about essences or tricks for essences, but have you ever tried making a rum then instead of aging, use an essences.
I have tried it once, it was so so.
I'm in complete agreement with you Jesse-there is just no replacement for those spirits that require time in a barrel for micro-oxidation and influence from oak wood. Trying to scale a bourbon down at home is no easy task; perhaps the best way is with a BadMo barrel. For those spirits, these essences seem to make an assumption that they all taste the same which we all know to be patently false. The others to be used in a cocktail or mixer is the best take away from this experiment. Some folks even add essences into their low wines and find the final distillate to be much better than just adding to the finished spirit. I feel the same way about them, even having never messed with them-it's just not what I'm after. The true craft is influencing a spirit with grain, yeast, wood and distillation techniques. Always appreciate you exploring the world of whiskey on our behalf! Stay well brother!
none of the essence,s smell right but the flavour is usually pretty good and i have made over 100 ltrs of them at this point
Please do a compound Gin! Golden Gin kix azz.
Yeah, I’ve tried these essences from Kegland for shits and giggles but found them to be too sweet. Admittedly, I mixed them with coke.
Found out that my uncle was a passionate distiller last year, and he's into rum. We were really stoked to have someone to talk to about. He brought around a sample and it was flavoured (wide cut) sugar wash that was overly sweet. But he was super proud and shares it around in his circle... Who apparently all only drinks rum with Coke 😂
So yeah, not for us, but it definitely has it's place. And more passionate people in the hobby means more access to stuff for us to play with
A bit confused in your “fake product” statement. Define “fake product”. To be honest, define “product”. At the end of the day, a spirit enthusiast (probably one that doesn’t have a distillery license) is enhancing a spirit that they particularly like for consumption. How is that “fake”? Are they fake drinking it?
Also what were the manufacturer instructions for bottling time that you skipped?
It would have been better if you loafed test vials and followed the rest of the instructions.
There's a pot o gold for any leprechaun wannabe who can distill shamrock shine. Its edible. OXALIS ☘
Sounds like shamrock shite
Really? I used to chew on it when I was a kid, loved the bittersweet almost sour taste.......interesting🤔
This video needed a whisky (not a whiskey)
😂😂 love it.
i make beer in a bucket fermenter i am told by guys down the brew shoip i can use it to make sprits have you ever done this? this way i wouldent have to get a licence from the ATO and pay tax on all i make.
Making spirits of any kind in different countries and states are illegal but so is everything else you either buy the stuff and choose to make it or you go to the shop and pay the taxes
in Australia, you can get a distillers licence for free from the Tax office (ATO) you just have to pay tax on all the spirit you produce. in australia you can make beer and any non distilled alcohole with out a licence. I don't GAF about anywhere eles because it dosen't apply to me.
Yeah I do it regularly, some taste like ass, some like Vermouth.
I made some homestyle Drambuie with my cousin's, off homebrew.... Delicious 🎉
If you pay tax on your alcohol, YOU ARE TRAITOR TO THE HUMAN RACE.
Yes, we used to do this back in the 90's before homebrew stores sold stills. Brew a batch of sugar with turbo yeast, rack into another fermenter and add turbo clear. It's not good and of course only ~20% abv. It's sometimes (barely) passable with strong liqueur essences (like coffee) other than that it's pretty rough stuff. It often tasted like stale white wine.
I don't understand why you wouldn't just buy the thing you want to drink. The price will be comperable.
Where is your accent from? You don’t sound like a kiwi
Bah!!!!!
Kind of pointless considering who knows what flavors or smells there would be if you mixed them properly.
close enough in a pinch if you really have to...... you have it as a back up if you run out of one of your good booze and your to drunk to go get more....