Spirits & Distilling Podcast

The romance of whiskey maturation meets environmental reality in many parts of the world these days—increasingly hot, dry climates can produce markedly different results than the humid environments of Scotland or Kentucky. That can leave distillers wrestling with the question of whether to lean into process- and environment-driven results, or to manipulate that environment to achieve intentional flavor goals. For Joe O’Sullivan—master distiller at Minden Mill (https://www.mindenmill.com) in Nevada’s high desert, just east of Lake Tahoe—the choice is clear: to prioritize consistency through distillation and maturation processes, so that they can let their estate-grown grain shine. In this episode, O’Sullivan and host Sydney Jones discuss: the impact of terroir on grain, and on distilled spirits made from that grain losing 3 to 4 percent angel’s share per month in a very dry climate building a distillery to optimize intended flavors in finished spirits identifying signature flavor characteristics and optimizing whiskey blends to highlight them controlling the rickhouse climate to mimic weather patterns in popular distilling centers such as Kentucky and Scotland And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

While we often look at spirits aging through the lens of popular climates and standard barrels—used cooperage in the cool climate of Scotland or new charred oak barrels in hot, humid summers and cold winters of Kentucky—many now-enshrined methods were born of efficiency considerations and political realities more than quality concerns. In places not beholden to specific traditions and regulations, different opportunities present themselves, and different takes on efficiency can become the norm. Take Melbourne, Australia, for example, where this episode’s guest, Jarrad Hucksold, spent almost a decade as head blender for Starward Whisky. The popularity of wine in Australia has created a steady supply of used wooden casks, making them an accessible and flexible vessel for extended maturation. But understanding the way the local environment affects those casks as they mature was key to creating great stock for their blends. In this episode, Huckshold and host Molly Troupe discuss: taking a winemaker’s approach to whiskey maturation how fortified wine barrels interact with aging liquid inside them re-coopering and re-charring used barrels for better spirits aging managing sulfur in used wine barrels reactive maturation environments and avoiding over-extraction because of temperature fluctuations training one’s palate for the precise sensory work of blending maintaining consistency in blends through solera aging And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Sid Dilawri from Filibuster Distillery says, “From the design and engineering to installation and start-up, G&D was easy to work with. We’ve had great customer service since commissioning our chiller, and I’d highly recommend them for any distillery system.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Building a blend of aged spirits that feels effortless requires both art and craft, and for Jonathan Goldberg of Black Velvet (https://www.blackvelvetwhisky.com) in Alberta, Canada, the key to great blends is nailing the mix of contrasting components and optimizing each from the still through aging, then carefully maturing after blending. The goal isn’t singular standout barrels; the goal is a continuous process that produces quality at volume. In this episode, Goldberg and host Sydney Jones discuss: the art of balance in blending lighter and heavier whiskies using high wines to create harmonious blends pre-blend aging and evaluation as well as post-blend additional maturation maintaining consistency and efficiency with a continuous still the positive impact of used cooperage on lighter distillates And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

In this special episode of the podcast, co-hosts Molly Troupe and Sydney Jones reunite for a panel discussion—not on distilling, specifically, but on how to set yourself up for success while maintaining work-life balance in the spirits industry. Joining the hosts are Maggie Campbell, CEO of American Cane (https://www.americancane.com), and Jennifer Wren. As chief joy officer of the Wren Way (https://www.thewrenway.com), Wren’s coaches women on how to make joy central to their careers. Among other topics, they discuss: the “bugout bag” and why you should pack one, today, even if you love your job why it’s important for leaders to maintain positive work environments tips on how to maintain work-life balance the perils of toxic productivity the importance of setting boundaries and taking breaks watching for signs of burnout the value of a network and keeping up with contacts financial planning for career flexibility And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Sid Dilawri from Filibuster Distillery says, “From the design and engineering to installation and start-up, G&D was easy to work with. We’ve had great customer service since commissioning our chiller, and I’d highly recommend them for any distillery system.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Three decades in, you’d think Todd Leopold of Denver’s Leopold Bros (https://www.leopoldbros.com) would have this whole distilling thing locked down, but he’s the first to admit he’s still figuring it all out. Or, maybe it’s more accurate to say that as soon as he has something solved, he finds a new problem or project with a new set of unknowns, to maintain a dynamic state of constant learning. His restless creativity just can’t stay in one place for too long. In this episode with host Sydney Jones, the widely respected maltster, distiller, and reluctant blender considers the distillery’s history and discusses the process and implementation behind a number of things, including: reviving Maryland rye with a focus on fruit over spice rediscovering and commissioning a three-chamber still to facilitate more flavor and aroma in specific spirits distilling great fruit brandies and finding a place for oak-barrel conditioning with fruit spirits very slow proofing to maintain stability using a dunnage warehouse to reduce evaporation and maintain more consistent temperatures for aging spirits maintaining a low entry proof for more breadth of flavor working vinegar into their product portfolio collaborating on vermouth with an award-winning winemaker And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

A certain kind of alchemy occurs when everything aligns in the production of rum—ingredients, expressive fermentation, maturation—but the story and the “why” behind great rum is another element that can’t be forgotten. Maggie Campbell and Chaz Vest of American Cane (https://www.americancane.com) are deeply focused on those components that make for interesting rum, driven to tell the broader history of rum production in America—even as they build production capacity and write up their own small piece of that ongoing history. In this episode, Campbell, Vest, and host Molly Troupe discuss: building a background in spirits—from Leopold Bros and Stranahan’s to Germain Robin and Mount Gay—before launching American Cane the historical context of American rum, and the heritage that includes black, brown, and indigenous people in its production the impact of fermentables such as fresh sugar-cane juice and molasses on the development of flavor expressions of terroir in rum via fermentation and ingredients building a sugar mill taking a staged approach to growing the brand, from sourcing through production And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

The distilling traditions we enjoy today are often the product of centuries of trial and error from past generations of makers, with ingredients carefully developed for efficiency and effectiveness in given locales. It’s hard to separate the spirit from the place that it comes from because often the very character of that spirit is a result of what grows, what fuels are accessible, and what ferments to a degree that matches the effort involved in extracting sugars. In Mexico and the southwestern United States, the ubiquity of agave has led many distillers to lean into such spirits, with tequila gaining traction as the segment’s most well-known, but similar plants such as the Dasylirion or desert spoon offer an adjacent distilled profile from a plant that often grows wild within its range. For Brent Looby and Desert Door, (https://www.desertdoor.com) the opportunity to ferment and distill a spirit somewhat familiar to modern consumers, but with its own personality and connection to the region, is a driving motivation. And from their distillery just outside of Austin, they’ve garnered medals and recognition for their classic and progressive takes. In this episode, host Sydney Jones and Looby discuss: the challenge in developing an agricultural supply chain for a wild-harvested plant cooking the hearts of the plants to extract fermentable sugars distilling with multiple stills to deliver the ideal flavor profile sotol’s unique earthy and herbaceous flavor, with notes of almond and bread barrel-aged sotol aged in Missouri white oak botanical sotol with regional ingredients such as sage, rosemary, and hibiscus And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

For Tyler Glasser of Stranahan’s, (https://stranahans.com) problem solving and creative exploration are best begun with a holistic view, borne from perspectives gained working across the various roles within a distillery. Through his current role as plant operations administrator, he’s gained an appreciation for the part that planning, forecasting, and procurement play in enabling distillers and blenders to produce and construct great spirits, as creating products at the scale of Stranahan’s requires an integrated, cross-discipline push. In this episode, host Molly Troupe and Glasser discuss: How planning and forecasting impact every aspect of the distillery The impact of procurement on the viability of distillers’ labors of love Developing spirits that connect to place and shorten the supply chain Managing stress and setting boundaries The impact of tariffs on an increasingly chaotic forecasting environment Using digital tools and algorithms to plan production and inventory levels Balancing production with market demand while managing capital expenditures And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

In this episode focused on distilling in Florida—host Sydney Jones’ old stomping grounds—she reconnects with industry friends Ric deMontmollin and Zack Wildrick from St. Augustine Distillery (https://www.staugustinedistillery.com) and City Gate Spirits (https://www.citygatespirits.com/home). The high-heat, high-humidity environment there poses challenges for barrel aging St. Augustine’s whiskey, while the flavored moonshines of City Gate aim to evoke experiential memories for both the locals and tourists who flock to the distillery in season. Over the course of the episode, the three discuss: data-driven whiskey aging in Florida’s climate aging concerns where the barrels’ internal temp never falls below 78°F (26°C) avoiding excessive loss via evaporation visually identifying potentially great single-barrel picks making lean cuts for whiskey that ages well in the hot environment finding authentic regional expression in flavored spirits from a neutral grain base adjusting for year-to-year changes in the citrus crop finding the sweet spot between audience, passion, and competency building taste experiences for customers with specific spirit preferences And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Sara Sergent, master distiller for Alpine Distilling (https://www.alpinedistilling.com) in Park City, Utah, has garnered countless accolades over her career, and today she works with some of the biggest names in the culinary world to bring their ideas to life, while also creating bespoke and diverse spirit expressions for guests at their social club. If there’s an ingredient out there, she’s probably tried it and worked through how it expresses best through distilling. Through the course of this episode, she shares that knowledge with us. Along the way, Sergent and host Molly Troupe cover: distilling challenging florals using vapor extraction to preserve delicate details in sensitive ingredients choosing which form of a plant—from root to flower—to use in distillation research methods for learning more about botanicals juniper variants from distant locales such as Japan and Croatia and their different impacts in gin the range of expression in different-origin angelica root maintaining botanicals in top shape for distilling and drying ingredients in-house the impact of different peeling methods on lemon expression And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Bigger world events have a way of bringing clarity and focus to individual goals, and for Bob Dillon of Dismal Harmony, (https://www.dismalharmony.com) the COVID pandemic gave him just the push he needed to change careers and explore the technical and creative side of craft distilling. Now, from his outpost in Morristown, New Jersey, he’s focused on both serving boundary-pushing cocktails and creating the spirits to make them possible. A recent Best in Show award for his Vidisha’s Masala liqueur from the American Craft Spirits Association’s 2025 competition is proof that his focus on finding new flavor expressions (within the confines set out by the TBB) is paying dividends. In this episode, Dillon and host Sydney Jones discuss: the challenges in opening a craft distillery balancing technical precision and artistic creativity across a range of spirits building a high-end tasting room with a refined cocktail program to support the distillery’s business plan distillery techniques for achieving great results with challenging ingredients working up to the edge of the TTB’s generally recognized as safe (GRAS) ingredients list And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Storytelling is in Devon Trevathan’s blood, and whether she’s distilling unique spirits in Austria, New Orleans, or Australia, or writing about the inspiring technical work of peers for articles for Spirits & Distilling, she remains focused on the dual side of making—pushing outside of one’s comfort zone and finding truth. Through Liba Spirits (https://libaspirits.com), she pursues a nomadic approach, producing spirits with their own stories at often far-flung locales. And with Trovador Rum (https://www.trovadorrum.com), based in Nashville, Tennessee, she applies her developed blending skills to create a synthesis of various rum traditions. But her interests stretch well beyond specific styles and schools, and in this conversation with host Molly Troupe, she touches on: the unique flavor profile and historical significance of peated whiskey navigating the unique challenges of nomadic distilling exploring new ingredients and processes in the context of foreign distilleries working with infusion and maceration in place of barrel aging finding balance between sweetness and bitterness in aperitivo fine tuning spirits with filtration and adjustments And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Sid Dilawri from Filibuster Distillery says, “From the design and engineering to installation and start-up, G&D was easy to work with. We’ve had great customer service since commissioning our chiller, and I’d highly recommend them for any distillery system.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

The process of making rum is rife with lore, but for Brett Steigerwaldt of Lyon Rum (https://www.lyonrum.com) in St. Michael’s, Maryland, breaking down the variables and understanding the impacts of each factor—ingredients, fermentation, distillation, finishing—leads to more refined expression. In this episode, Steigerwaldt and host Sydney Jones discuss: double pot distillation’s impact on flavor and texture in finished rum distilling various iterations of white and dark rum as well as finishing in alternate spirit barrels understanding base ingredients for better perspective on fermentation impact the challenges of working with molasses adapting traditional rum techniques to whiskey, making for greater ester formation working with Rosalie Bay Distillery in Dominica And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Sid Dilawri from Filibuster Distillery says, “From the design and engineering to installation and start-up, G&D was easy to work with. We’ve had great customer service since commissioning our chiller, and I’d highly recommend them for any distillery system.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Ashley Barnes, master blender at the Blending House, (https://www.theblendinghouse.com) joins host Molly Troupe for an in-depth discussion of the scientific and sensorial approaches to building characterful blends. A former pharmaceutical quality chemist, Barnes was recruited by Buffalo Trace, later moved on to Four Roses, and has worked with (and learned from) some of the greats in the bourbon world. Now, at the Blending House, she works with nondistilling producers to carefully age and blend fine spirits using a variety of creative and data-driven techniques, while tracking environmental data such as temperature and evaporation to better understand long-term flavor development. Over the course of the episode, they discuss: Learning quality, flavor profiling, and profile maintenance from Four Roses master distiller Brent Elliott The challenge of creating different flavors from the same barrel stock Useful analogies for thinking about cohesive blends Both negative and positive selection for minimizing distractions while maximizing cohesion Controlling variables in rickhouse aging for more favorable flavor development Ongoing research on yeast and other topics The basics of labs for both blending quality and bottling quality Sensory strategies for maintaining consistency through varying personal circumstances Building the right lexicon for sensory description And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Sid Dilawri from Filibuster Distillery says, “From the design and engineering to installation and start-up, G&D was easy to work with. We’ve had great customer service since commissioning our chiller, and I’d highly recommend them for any distillery system.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Caley Shoemaker got her start in whiskey at Denver’s Stranahan’s and went on to distill at Hanger One in Southern California before launching her own distillery, As Above, So Below (https://aasbdistillery.com) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2021. Now, from her home base on the edge of the mountains in a state nicknamed “The Land of Enchantment,” she’s summoning strong spirits with their own particular swagger. In this episode, host Sydney Jones and Shoemaker discuss: • Creating vodka, gin, whiskey, and botanical spirits inspired by place, travel, and experience • Making vodka from a mash with darker grains, for creamy texture and flavor • Aging spirits in the high and dry climate of New Mexico • Managing cuts to balance flavor and character given target aging time and high loss from barrels • Balancing botanicals in gin while prizing flavor over locality • The secrets to her ACSA medal-winning absinthe • Learning through consulting with a potato vodka distillery in Rwanda And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Tequila and mezcal are top of mind when you think “agave,” but Gian Nelson is working to change that assumption. For the past few years, working through his brand Jano Spirits (https://www.janospirits.com), he has partnered with growers who cultivate California agave—a much larger cousin of the classic Blue Weber agave used in tequila—to better understand what it takes to cultivate agave plants that translate into fine spirits. In this episode, Nelson and host Molly Troupe discuss: differences in types of agave plants, from Brix to maturation times farming practices that produce better agave wine-like fermentation for California agave with native and commercial yeast managing methanol production in California agave the impact of aeration leaning into inefficiency And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Founded in 2015, Baltimore Spirits is celebrating a decade of distilling in Charm City. Led by cofounder and head distiller Eli Breitburg-Smith, that run has played a notable role in the craft revival of American rye. Their Epoch Reserve has won multiple double golds at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, more recently landing on Fred Minnick’s Top 100 list of American whiskeys in 2024. In this episode, hosted by Sydney Jones, Breitburg-Smith talks about how he got into distilling as a former craft brewer and how Baltimore Spirits was focused from the beginning on bringing pot-distilled rye whiskey back to Maryland. He also discusses: the influence of single-malt on their rye whiskeys making other spirits, including their Shot Tower Gin, unusual apple brandies, and New World amari using Belgian and American ale yeasts to help drive tropical character in the Epoch Rye Baltimore Spirits’ approach to single-malt, and preparing barrels for that spirit what makes Maryland rye whiskey different, including its history the Ja Rule whiskey collaboration, Amber & Opal, featuring honey, smoky tea, and other botanicals making apple brandies aged and blended Solera-style, distilled from smoked apples—and pechuga-inspired, made with smoked ham and seasonal botanicals working with the Maryland Distillers Guild to share technical know-how and push for legislative changes for craft distillers And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Morgan McLachlan, the Los Angeles–based cofounder of Amass Spirits (https://amassgin.com) and Katy Perry’s nonalcoholic De Soi (https://drinkdesoi.com) brand, has a flair for theatrics that’s only fitting for someone who started her career as a camera operator for film and TV. Every nuanced performance is built on layers, some barely noticeable—but understanding the purpose of those creative choices is essential for McLachlan, as she constructs everything from gins and nonalcoholic spirits to fragrances and other botanical-based products. In this episode, host Molly Troupe and McLachlan discuss: McLachlan distilling background, which began in her own bathtub distilling clementine oranges into a citrus spirit using strategies from the fragrance and culinary worlds to produce compelling botanical blends in spirits the varied impacts of house-made and sourced botanical extracts as well as different extraction techniques challenges when working in the nonalcoholic space with water as a solvent how certain terpenes behave through the distillation process for unexpected results managing challenging botanicals such as cardamom creating gin that’s both classically versatile and noteworthy regulatory challenges with specific ingredients And more. G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Sid Dilawri from Filibuster Distillery says, “From the design and engineering to installation and start-up, G&D was easy to work with. We’ve had great customer service since commissioning our chiller, and I’d highly recommend them for any distillery system.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

Year one of the Spirits & Distilling podcast is in the books, and in this special year-end look back, hosts Sydney Jones and Molly Troupe recount some of their favorite conversations of 2024, discuss the dramatic changes in their own lives, muse on big issues of the past year like the TTB’s adoption of a definition for American Single Malt, and look at the big issues and conversations they’re focusing in on for the next year. Along the way, they discuss: refereeing between the two wolves inside of you developments in agave spirits favorite spirits they’ve tasted over the past year why meat is the last cool frontier in spirits water and its impact on distilling the benefits of higher proof bottled cocktails impacts of AI on distilling new year’s resolutions And more. Brought to you by: G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Jim Kuhr, VP of Manufacturing at Red Boot Beverages says, “G&D has been with us since the early days. Their knowledgeable engineers and service techs are there when we need them. We’re in the midst of a large expansion, and they have been right there with us to select chiller solutions for today and the future.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com

David Fisher’s love of spirits started with bartending in London and followed a winding path, eventually passing through pandemic-era New York City into sensory analysis and blending back home in Australia. Now the senior spirits blender at award-winning Archie Rose Distilling (https://archierose.com.au/) in Sydney, Fisher has one of the most respected noses in the business. In this discussion with host Molly Troupe, Fisher shares his thoughts on the importance of confidence to sensory and blending, and knowing your weaknesses as well as your strengths. He also discusses: stopping to smell the flowers (and everything else) in collecting sense memories the aromatic purity of gin botanicals versus the integrated matrix of whiskey the overarching importance of balance bridging New World flavors and Old World elegance the effects of Australian temperature swings on barrel aging backing up sensory data with numbers, and making the connections with production choices making distinctive whiskey with malts smoked by unusual local woods And more. Brought to you by: G&D Chillers: (https://gdchillers.com) G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Jim Kuhr, VP of Manufacturing at Red Boot Beverages says, “G&D has been with us since the early days. Their knowledgeable engineers and service techs are there when we need them. We’re in the midst of a large expansion, and they have been right there with us to select chiller solutions for today and the future.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com