Is distilling as romantic as it seems?
Oct 10, 2020
The romance
Imagine yourself. In your distillery, standing at the still and checking the flow of liquid, the gentle trickle the only sound in your peaceful distillery.
You look around and admire your year’s work, a beautiful sea of filled casks. You take a sip of your spirit, take a deep breath, nod your head and sigh with satisfaction.
It is a beautiful vision isn’t it? And one that at some stage will come to life. That’s the good news. The less palatable reality of distilling is that it is a lot of hard work to get to the point where you have rows and rows of silent spirits growing old, and valuable.
Toil, sweat and tears
There is equal amounts of toil, sweat and likely tears to get to the point where you can make your romantic vision a reality.
So what are the skills needed in a distillery and when does the romance kick in?
The reality of romance is that to build a distilling business you need to love it. Understanding why you want to start a distillery in the first place is a good way to start and planning for your success will make you fall in love with your dream.
The reality
Some of the realities of distilling, which produce less love of the job involve things like cashflow and profit, which really means getting the business model right to start with so that you know when you’re likely to reach the sweet spot in your business.
Another is the paperwork involved in recording goods in and out, your excise payable to the tax office or other costs relevant to your business.
People and skills can also be a challenge. Especially if you haven’t thought about the technical skills needed to create an audience-winning spirit.
So yes there is a romance in distilling. There is a tradition of spirit making and the magic of turning a humble grain, or other ingredients, into something that people share and enjoy and being part of that history. Just remember there are equal parts of hard work, so get planning so you can enjoy the romance.
What else should you be thinking about? Jump over to our courses to have a look.
