How to fix a spirit you have over flavoured
Too much essence is a mistake you can actually walk back
Most of the ways a home made spirit goes wrong are permanent, so it's worth knowing that the commonest one of the lot is not. If you've been heavy handed with a flavouring and the result tastes like cough syrup rather than a drink, you haven't ruined anything, you've just made a concentrate by accident, and a concentrate can be diluted back to where you wanted it in the first place.
Work out where the batch is before you touch it
Get the numbers down on paper first, because you can't fix a ratio you can't state. Write down how much neutral went in, how much essence went in, what strength the neutral was and what the thing tastes like now. Most flavourings are built for 2.25 litres of spirit, so if you put a whole 50ml bottle into 1 litre you're sitting at roughly double strength, and that tells you immediately that you need about another litre of neutral rather than a vague splash of something.
Blend it back in steps, never in one go
Add clean neutral in measured steps of roughly 200ml at a time and stir it properly, then taste it before you add the next lot. Doing it in steps means you can stop the moment it lands where you want it, and it also means you aren't left with 4 litres of something you only ever wanted 2 litres of. A smoky profile such as Still Spirits Smokey Whiskey is the one most people overshoot, because smoke keeps developing for a day or two after you've mixed it.
Wait a day before you judge the result
This is the part that catches everybody, myself very much included. A spirit tasted 10 minutes after blending isn't telling you the truth, because the flavour hasn't settled through it yet, and if you keep correcting on the strength of a fresh taste you'll chase it past where it needed to be. Mix it, leave it overnight, then decide.
When dilution isn't the answer
Sometimes the problem is balance rather than intensity, and watering it down just gives you a weak version of the same imbalance. If the flavour is right but it tastes flat and thin, a touch of oak from Still Spirits Oak Cask or a small amount of Still Spirits Distillers Caramel puts weight back without pushing the original flavour any harder. Go in small there as well, since that's the whole lesson of this post.
Where the law actually sits
Worth saying plainly, because it gets muddled constantly. Owning a still is legal in Australia and we're allowed to sell you one. Distilling spirits at home is the part that needs an excise manufacturer licence from the ATO. That's a real licence with real conditions attached, not a formality anybody gets to skip. Flavouring a base spirit you have bought is a different activity altogether and needs no licence at all, so that's the road most people end up taking.
Shop related products
- Still Spirits Smokey Whiskey 50ml. A smoke profile that's easy to overshoot, so dose it low.
- Still Spirits Mellow Oak 50ml. Warmth and roundness when a blend has gone thin.
- Still Spirits Top Shelf Distillers Caramel 50ml. Colour and a little weight, in very small doses.
- Still Spirits Cedar Oak Profile 50ml. The dry end of the oak range for balancing a sweet blend.
Did you know we also keep glycerine, PET bottle cartons, a standard glass thermometer and Turbo Clear in the shop. A good part of the spirits range isn't listed online, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's there.
The rest of the range is in our homebrew collection.
Our homebrew adviser Brewhilder will talk you through your own setup if you would rather work it out that way.
Read next
- Still Spirits Cedar Oak Profile, what it does
- Still Spirits Fruity Esters Profile, what it does
- Still Spirits Cherry Bourbon essence, how to use it
My instinct with a new flavour is always to put too much in and find out, so consider this whole post a note to self that somebody else is allowed to read.
Cheers,
Candeece
Follow our Facebook Page: Strathalbyn H Hardware on Facebook
