The Ambassador Visit – First Dollar of Clear Profit

Waconia Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors

We had visitors yesterday. Kellie Sites, President of the Waconia Chamber of Commerce, stopped by with the Chamber Ambassadors to deliver our First Dollar of Clear Profit. We did not really know what that meant until we were presented with a framed one dollar bill which read, “Congratulations and Best Wishes to J. Carver Distillery. May the confidence you have shown in this community be rewarded with many years of success. By way of a start toward this goal, the Waconia Chamber of Commerce presents you with your First Dollar of Clear Profit.” What a great idea and incredible gesture! 

To Kellie, Carmen, and the Ambassadors of the Chamber, thank you for all you do to support this community. You definitely have put the DESTINATION into “Destination Waconia” which was so evident during last Saturday’s successful Nickel Dickel Days! Congratulations! The Chamber and its volunteers do amazing things. We appreciate you sharing your time, gifts and talents with J. Carver Distillery and our community.

Many of the Ambassadors in attendance yesterday read the blog from last week, so it was a perfect opportunity to explain to them the next steps of distillation and now to all of you.  
To recap from last week, in the fermentation process the objective is to convert the starch in the grain to fermentable sugar creating a liquid that is fermentable.  In last week’s blog, it was described as an ale-like liquid. That liquid mash is run through the still in what is called a stripping run and what comes out is a liquid we call a low wine(not wine at all and not beer either). The liquid that comes out of that first stripping run will then go through the rectifying columns in our Vodka Still and will become our J. Carver Premium Vodka. 

The grain for our Premium Vodka is local winter wheat. A question was asked, “can vodka be made from potatoes?” The simple answer is yes. In short, vodka is distilled from the mash of a variety of grains including wheat, corn, rye, potatoes and grapes.

From mashing to fermenting with the next step being distilling, the team at J. Carver Distillery is on track to crafting unique and quality spirits for you to enjoy - In the words of our Lead Distiller, Matt, “Just around the corner, baby! We are that much closer.”

It’s Official – Let The Distilling Begin!

Perfect timing for the blog of the week!  I received word from Beth, who is in charge of all our paperwork along with all our state and federal reporting, that we are a state and federally licensed micro-distillery. Yep, you could say we are pretty excited! All of the details are in place for Matt and Dan to start the distilling process.  Here is a little history about distilling.

Over the course of history, distilling can be traced back to 3500 BC. The original concept was not to produce spirits as we know them today, but rather, distillation was used by Alchemists to produce a liquid which was used for medicinal purposes as well as perfumes. There is evidence the distilling technique was used around the world by the Chinese in 3000 BC along with the East Indians in 2500 BC, the Egyptians in 2000 BC, and then used by the Greeks and Romans 1000 BC and 200 BC respectively. The process was improved over the centuries. The Latin, aqua vitae, literally translates to “water of life”. Aqua vitae was usually prepared by the distillation of wine and was known by the English as “spirits of wine” also known as brandy. Depending upon the country, the translation of “aqua vitae” varied, being called whisky in Scotland known in the Gaelic language, “uisge-beatha”. The Scotts term their whisky without the “e” whereas the Irish Whiskey has an “e”. This is one of the distinguishing factors. There is much more to come as we dive into differentiating spirits made around the world and close to home including here at J. Carver Distillery. From Whiskey to Brandy and Gin to Vodka, we have a lot of spirits to discover.

Winter Wheat

And so it is, and today is the day. Matt, Dan and John started our first mash using local winter wheat; the grain used for our premium vodka and will be the first product we produce. 
They started pouring the wheat into the Hammer Mill this morning to grind the grain into a flour like texture called grist. At this point, for all my home brewers out there, this part of the process is similar to producing beer. The grist is added to water in the mash tun. The objective is to convert the starch in the grain to fermentable sugars creating a liquid that is fermentable. 

Dan prepping for the first mash at J. Carver Distillery

The liquid mash will go into the fermenters and yeast will be added which creates a low alcohol mash. Our “soon to be vodka” will be distilled from this ale-like liquid. At this point, I love how Matt describes the distilling process. He says to think of it like rain…evaporation, condensation and precipitation. What goes up must come down. The low alcohol liquid goes into the still and the distilling process begins. This is when we start discussing terms like heads, hearts and tails and we’re not talking anatomy…Until next time.

The FIRST mash

Community Teamwork - A Great Recipe For Success

Photo by Gina Holman

I have witnessed a lot of community team work the past couple of weeks and great things have happened. The J. Carver Distillery First Annual “Golf With A Purpose” Tournament benefited the Waconia Baseball Association (WBA) Grandstand project. It was a smashing success with over $64,000 being raised the day of the event because of amazing sponsors, volunteers and golfers. Todd Moen from The Waconia Patriot wrote a great article recapping the success of the tournament in this week’s publication titled “Grandstand project receives official go-ahead.” A huge shout out and thanks goes to all of our sponsors and volunteers who made the event possible.

Photo by Gina Holman

One of my favorite highlights at the golf event was the generous support from Island View Dining. Thank you to Kim and Kevin Heenie for collaborating with J. Carver Distillery as we showcased cocktails made with Minnesota craft spirits and local beer from Enki Brewery. As the sign at Hole #6 stated,” J. Carver Distillery isn’t in production YET, but we are proud to highlight and support other Minnesota micro distilleries already in production.” The specialty cocktails were:

Cocktail #1:
Moscow Mule made with 11 Wells MN 13 White Whiskey from 11 Wells Distillery in St. Paul, MN

Cocktail #2:
Raspberry Ginger Crush made with Norseman Vodka from Norseman Distillery in Mpls., MN 

Cocktail #3 
Twisted Gin Margarita made with Far North Solveig Gin from Far North Spirits in Hallock, MN

Cocktail #4
Minnesota 14 aged Whiskey was served neat from Panther Distillery in Osakis, MN

Photo by Gina Holman

I can’t thank these other micro distilleries enough for being open to sharing with us one of their favorite recipes which created a great opportunity to talk about Minnesota craft spirits and the whole micro distillery boom - Great drinks, Great conversation, and Great recipes. Yep, the teamwork paid off as our golfers watched Gregg Groechel, one of our distillery partners, and distillery friends and volunteers, Mary and Greg, who whipped up sample cocktails and poured some local beer from Enki Brewery. Fun was had by all and I must say the cocktails and beer were tasty.  Much gratitude to Island View Dining, 11 Wells Distillery, Norseman Distillery, Far North Spirits, and Panther Distillery for letting us showcase their products for our golfer’s enjoyment. Hole #6 was a hit. Thanks for helping us pull it off!

Photo by Gina Holman

Back at the distillery, we have been busy as ever. I must say, it’s been a pretty awesome week. We finished up the final chapter of our renovation project. All plumbing and electrical are complete which allowed us to “unwrap” and fire up the stills for cleaning; steam never looked so good! 

Photo by Gina Holman

Now to the next chapter of our story. I’d love to title this one, “Production – Can’t wait to quench your thirst!” We have a couple more logistical items to complete this week and then we hope to be milling and mashing which are the first steps in the distillation process. Over the next couple of weeks, my blogs will be describing the distilling process step by step. Exciting times and we can’t wait as this next chapter unfolds. It goes without saying, but a huge thank you to all of our distillery friends and fans for your support!  Here we go. Full steam ahead! J. Carver Distillery – Spirits of Discovery.

Photo by Gina Holman

Flurry – Defined By J. Carver Distillery

How can I describe the past week’s activity at J. Carver Distillery in one word? Let’s try this one – FLURRY! Flurry is defined a number of ways by Merriam – Webster on-line dictionary. One definition says, “A brief period of excitement or activity”. Flurry defined another way, “A large amount of something that happens or comes suddenly”. Both definitions perfectly describe the activity since last week’s post. There was a flurry of activity and excitement from Wednesday through Sunday, August 6-10th, at our booth during the Carver County Fair. We were able to answer questions regarding the renovation project at the distillery, from electrical, plumbing, and steam lines, to our products, and our opening date. While at the fair, we all talked about the other flurry - "the large amount of something" - ‘aka’ - the delivery of our stills scheduled for arrival on Monday, August 11th. Many of your questions we had definitive answers and others we could not answer specifically, such as, “When are you going to be open”? As we explained, we will open for distillery tours when we are producing three ore more products to sample and taste (ABSOLUTELY can’t wait for that day!) If you haven't heard, will start out making vodka and gin and will get as much whiskey, brandy and bourbon into barrels for aging. Thirsty? Me too!

So many of you, from near and far, said we were all beaming with excitement at the fair as we announced the delivery date for the the stills. Yes! We were set for Monday morning, August 11th. Right on schedule, minutes before 8 am,  a large, red semi-truck turned onto Mill Lane holding two of the most beautiful, shiny stills to adorn the production floor at the distillery. I heard Matt say, "Billy, the stills are here!" I ran and got my camera so I could add photos to our website photo gallery. Also on the truck, was our large stainless steel mash-tun. The mash tun made the delivery complete and added to all the excitement since we knew it was going to be tight getting that piece of equipment through a window into the building. At that moment, it was great to have friends in all the right places. Jason, Brian and Ryan from Shorewood Engineering down the road on Mill Lane answered our call. (Sounds catchy doesn't it!) We needed some tools and they lent us the helping hands we needed to get the job done as we squeezed the mash tun through the window with just centimeters to clear and I mean centimeters to clear! Thanks for all the help guys! We are so glad you were here during the “flurry” of activity.

Since Tuesday, the day we installed the stills, the activity at the distillery continues! The walls for the hammer mill room and mash tun room were framed. The flooring in the sampling room is being installed, carpeting installation for the conference room starts this afternoon and to top it all off, we are putting the finishing touches together for the first annual J. Carver “Golf With A Purpose” tournament benefiting the Waconia Baseball Association “Raise the Grandstand” project set for next Monday, August 18th at Island View Golf Club with food and beverages served by Island View Dining. Thanks for signing up for the golf tourney, and thanks for subscribing to The Good Gossip E-Newsletter, and liking and following all our social media sites; your comments have been priceless. Whew! This past week was packed with activity at the fair, the distillery and in the community - a flurry indeed! Now, off to the next project! Cheers!!!

Loving The Carver County Fair – Many Come From Near And Far

The Carver County Fair kicked off this week on Wednesday, August 6th, and we were happy to be there to welcome a great number of fairgoers who stopped by our booth to say “Hi”. You have come from near and far…from Waconia to Norway (Norwood too) and everywhere in between inquiring about our production schedule, the types of products we will be producing, and when we were going to be open for distillery tours. 

I thought it might be timely to answer some of those questions in this post. The great news is we received confirmation our stills will arrive on Monday. Make sure you go to our gallery next week. I will be adding photos daily so you can watch the progression of the stills going into place. Once we get the stills installed and get through our inspections, Matt will start on production. Many of you asked what products we will be producing. We are going to produce vodka, gin, whiskey, bourbon, brandy, and liqueurs. We are focusing our efforts on unique, quality products and small batch production that emphasizes the artisan craft distillation process. We are excited to create some really unique spirits. As you have heard us say before, we are driven to succeed in an emerging and undefined industry. We are going to do a lot of exploring and can’t wait for the opportunity to share these products with you. 

It has been so great to meet so many of you.  We are grateful for all the well wishes as we move from renovation to production. I will continue to update you on when we will be open for distillery tours and tastings. Until then, if you haven’t already, stop by and say hi to us as we continue to enjoy our time at the fair. We will be the ones wearing J. Carver Distillery shirts and hats and eating cheese curds and Pork Sandwiches (num) and quenching our thirst with local wines and brews from Parley Lakes Winery, Sovereign Estate Winery in Waconia, and Enki Brewery in Victoria. Yep! Waconia has the Carver County Fair, wineries, breweries and now a distillery to boot –kinda doesn’t get any better than that. Cheers!