I have talked many times about how the buck stops with me.
As a bootstrapping entrepreneur I wear many hats. Some hats are more enjoyable than others but they are all mine until I can afford to bring on help to take a few hats. Even when that does happen , ultimately it is still my responsibility.
Take for instance the blunder we had on Apple Pie’s inaugural label. I had 1000 labels for batch one printed and placed on bottles with a major error. In the main graphic it says: Washington “Moonshune” instead of Moonshine. This mistake made it past countless eyes. The Graphic Artist, the account rep at the printing company, his designer, production staff, Amy, the distiller and even me. How did this happen? Well we were all looking somewhere else. Pouring over the fine print on the label and the Government warning, we missed the main graphic. Yes I paid the graphic artist and the printer but, it was my signature on the final proof. It was my responsibility and I can only blame myself.
Today the hat I was struggling with is my scientist hat. Yeah, I have one of those, pretty cool huh? Well not today. This weekend we nailed the recipe for Peach Cobbler Moonshine. When we experiment in the home kitchen we use ingredients that are readily available at the store. Transitioning that recipe into a commercial application is a bit tricky. If I was to use the same ingredients just on a larger scale it would be way too expensive. So I have to make calculations based on previous experience and science.
So for the new recipe we used white grape juice as our base. I sourced white grape concentrate from a local Washington fruit predecessor and have to figure out the right mix for a 284 gallon batch. We are using the same process for this recipe as we have for the Apple Pie. We use the same spices and steeping process. When we add apple concentrate we have to add a certain amount of sugar to the mix. Well the grape concentrate is way higher in sugar. So today I have learned (or tried to learn) about the Brix scale (°Bx). Our apple concentrate only has a °Bx of 15 while our grape has a °Bx of 68. 4.5 times the sugar. °Bx is 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution. I have to figure out how that relates to an actual measurement like a cup into 2 quarts. Theoretically I may not have to add any sugar to the recipe at all but there is math and science and then there is my palate. Pretty cool stuff but it is time consuming to understand theories and conversions. The recipe has to be precise when submitting to the TTB.
Hopefully we can have all of this dialed and get the recipe submitted by the end of this week. Once we get recipe approval then its on to label approval. I HOPE we can get this out sometime in August.
Wishful thinking when dealing with a bureaucracy but I am hopeful. Glad I get to take of science hat now and put on my creative hat. Off to a meeting about a video project for Eve’s!
Stay tuned!
365 Days To My First Million. 