Spirits in the night

A few breweries around the country have begun to diversify their business by producing spirits such as whisky and vodka. Anchor Brewing, Dogfish Head and Flying Dog are some of the more well known names that have done so. Here in Arizona, Mogollon Brewing up in Flagstaff is the latest one to add a distillery. The basic ingredient that is needed to produce whiskies and vodkas is essentially unhopped beer so it is an easy for breweries to become a distiller since they already have most of the equipment already.

About the only thing a brewery needs to add to become a distiller is a still. Mogollon's still differs from the one most others use and this set them apart in the quality of the final product. Most stills around the world are called pot stills and they've been around for a couple of thousand years and haven't changed much. You have all seen examples in the movies of a hillbilly boiling it up and the liquid going around a loop and moonshine coming out at the end. Well that is what a pot still essentially looks like. The type of still Mogollon has is called a reflux still and was only invented about 100 years ago. With a pot still, in order to increase and purify the alcohol they have to go through the distillation process a number of times. With the reflux still they only need to do it once. The reflux still differs from a pot still in that it employs a column fitted with internal trays instead of the familiar loop we have all seen. In the column the distillate vapors from a boiler and rise up the column to the top where the vapors are condensed. The condensed liquid is then allowed to run back down through the rising vapors. As the condensed liquid cascades back down through the trays, it becomes enriched by the rising vapors in the column. As the descending liquid passes down the column a point is reached where the temperatures become hot enough that the liquid boils again. The Mogollon reflux still has 12 trays in it so essentially the liquid gets purified 12 times before it comes out at 190 proof liquid. To adjust the proof down to 60 or 80 or whatever number they want they simply add purified water to the 190 proof everclear.

Mogollon is only going to produce vodka right now and not whisky. Unlike whisky, vodka does not need to age so they will be able to get it into the market as soon as they get the label approval. Because our license is only for beer and wine you won't be able to get it at Papago. Now, I am not a vodka drinker, it's probably been 10 or 15 years since I have had a drink made with vodka but I have to tell you the vodka they are making was really good. They are planning on selling it in the mid 20's range and I think it will be a real bargain at that price. It will probably be just a couple of months before it is available in Phoenix.

I got to sample a few different proof's of vodka they are experimenting with this weekend up in Flagstaff along with a Prickly Pear vodka that I am sure will be a big seller for them. It had a great color and the taste was outstanding. I even got to sample the 190 proof everclear. I was surprised at how good it was. If you have ever tasted everclear before you know that it has some really harsh flavors. Mogollon's though, because it is so pure from their process didn't have any of the harsh flavors. It was amazing how pure and clean their vodkas were. The brewer, Rick opened up a bottle from another brewery and I have to tell you it did have a lot of the higher ethanol type aroma that Mogollon didn't.

Vodka I learned can be dangerous, not so much to me but to my friend Jeffrey Haines who owns the Brewers Connection in Tempe. Jeffy has had the nickname of Cactus Jeff for a few years after he fell into a cholla plant at the flightline beer festival. Now after this weekend he has a new name after visiting Mogollon, he was lucky this time that there weren't any chollas around but he is now known as Bushwahacker Jeff. You can probably figure out why.

Prost, Ron