Those amongst you who read the iStill Blog regularly, probably know it: we like to challenge ourselves! Our iStills are perfectly capable of making a vodka or neutral from pretty much any kind of wash, when the Pure Program is used. The power of around 40 redistillations in one run ... And the Potstill Program gives a very taste whiskey or brandy. Two distillations in one go. Efficient and effective. Is that news? Not really. At least not to our standards. So, some time ago, we took the challenge one step further. I personally added feints (heads & tails from a previous run) to a fresh wash (Corn Flakes Whiskey Recipe, actually) and did a Pure run at 96%. The taste transfer from those feints to the 96% hearts was increadible: a full bodied whiskey was the result. Only a few weeks ago, I took the challenge one step further. I posted that I wanted to make a whiskey from my Rye Bread Recipe, using the Pure Distillation mode (96% all the way), but without extra feints added. Can an iStill make a whiskey in one run, in pure mode, collecting at 96% all the time ... without adding extra feints? Well, I tried it ... and I feel I failed. The drink I produced is great. Smooth, tasty, spicey (rye will do that), but not whiskey. Not a vodka either. Too much taste for a vodka lable. But, to my opinion, not enough taste to be called a whiskey, white though it may be. Okay, so what did we learn from this experience? With an iStill you can make a vodka in one run in Pure Mode. And you can make a whiskey or brandy in one Potstill Run as well. Hey, you can even make a brandy or whiskey in Pure Mode, as long as you add extra feints. Using the Pure Mode distillastion program without extra feints will give you a darn fine drink. Smooth, tasty, rye (in this example) definately there. But not quite a whiskey ... Thought I should share that with you guys. Taste note from a pro-distiller drinking the result of this drink? "A great rye maltwine, albeit young". I guess that, even when we didn't succeed in making a full blown whiskey ... at least we created an approach to make a base drink for the famous Dutch genever! And that, my friends, is not a bad result at all!

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