I wish I had a camera

Posted: 01/30/08

I am sitting here at my desk in the still house having just selected the 10 barrels that will become batch 17.  The stills are in front of me behind them a window.  The warm morning sun is softly spilling over the smooth copper contours of the wash still’s hand made body.  To the left of the wash still is the “new spirit” tank.  It is made of stainless steel and is glinting in brilliant contrast.  Sitting on top of the new spirit tank are 10 bottles filled with cask samples from the selected barrels, no label just the whiskey in the bottle.  They are filled with spirit directly out of the barrel, unfiltered and uncut, one sample per barrel.  Each bottle has its own distinct hue of amber.  The morning light is streaming through them and casting soft warm light around the room like stained glass.  The whole room has a caramel sweet glow- and in the time it took me to write this down the position of the sun has drifted the light has changed and the moment is gone.  Wish I had a camera.