Germain Robin Part 2: Everything By Hand
How many of us really know how whiskey is made? Or spirits in general, even? Although I had an idea going into our visit to Germain Robin, I had no idea what it meant to do every step by hand. Apologies in advance if some of this veers into the realm of "too technical" but I will try to explain as plainly as possible what makes Germain Robin (and Crispin's Low Gap label) such an inspired endeavor. Just imagine how awesome it would be to have a farm-to-table restaurant with the farm on site. That's fairly analogous to what drinking Germain Robin is like.
Whether it was a byproduct of limited resources, or an unwillingness to concede in the pursuit of quality, a prevailing the of the day was "by hand". These guys are craftsmen, and perhaps nothing illustrated this point more than Crispin's grain mill.
In the introductory video, Devon vowed that each bottle of booze passed through one of their arms. In the video below, his claims are supported as we check out the super-tiny, 1 horsepower mill that leaves Gerardo and I in awe.
In order to make whiskey, you need to grain. The grain (in their case, wheat) is heated, and the increase in temperature causes the grain starches to release sugar. This process also allows flavors to develop, but opening of fermentable sugar is the major coup at this stage. The purpose for the milling to begin with is to increase the surface area of the grain, making it easier to induce fermentation. This process is called mashing and the sugary byproduct is the wort.
Many commercial producers can get away with using malted extract for their mash, but very few are doing their own milling, malting, mashing and distilling on site. If you weren't convinced by the size of their mill, a few things to consider to further contextualize what it means to make "everything by hand". It takes 2 tons (4,000 lbs) of mash to produce 200 cases of booze. At a given moment, there are 2,000 gallons of mash fermenting between 3 tanks. They also have an additional tank for apple-honey brandy. All by hand. I wonder if part of the grain diet is Wheaties. So impressed by these guys. Part 3 coming soon.
