BoneShine®

[AVB]

My sample of BoneShine® arrived on Thusday and sat on the shelf just waiting to be opened. I have to admit I did sneek a whiff and it smelled pretty good and I was looking forward to trying it on Saturday.

Well, Saturday arrived and after getting the grass cut I started in on the other yard work that needed to be done. However, Mother Nature decided she was going to pee all over my plans so I was chased inside. No better time to open up my BoneShine®.

The initial nose reminded me of brandy although a bit more fruity, something I was familiar with but couldn't quite put my finger on. The first taste triggered my memory. Kirschwasser! For those that don't know Kirschwasser is a German Cherry liquor made by fermenting cherries. You can't make a real Black Forest cake without it .

Now I don't know why but I was expecting something close to the corn shine that I've had in the past. Did you ever bite into something expecting it to taste a certain way and it was completely different. That's what happened to me with BoneShine®. After regrouping my mindset I poured a bit more into my glass and got a shot of Kirschwasser to compare it to. If anything BoneShine® hides it's alcohol much better than my 80 proof Kirschwasser. There is very little alcohol "burn" at all, something I was surprised about considering it is supposed to be about 140 proof.

I have 5 plump cherries in my little 4oz sample and that may be why this is more cherry then I would have thought. The cherry juice has leeched out and since it is sweeter and not processed (distilled) it has a pretty good effect in a small jar.

Overall, I'm impressed with how smooth this is and how much flavor it contains. To really check it out Tony will have to send me some out of the jar (big bottle?) without the extra fruit so I can see what the overall product tastes like. (Blatant mooch attempt)

A commendable effort and one that I would be proud of. If you are starting out this good you'll have some killer stuff in a year or so. :thumbs:

P.S. If you are taking orders the wife says she'd like some with pears instead of cherries. She even offered to trade some of MY cigars for it :lookup: :0

 

[Tony Bones]

Thanks for the kind words AVB.

A good friend of mine is in town right now and he spent a share of his miltary time in Germany. He too compared my concoction to Kirschwasser.

Frankly, I'm a bit lost on the burn factor too. I've had some high octane corn liquor in the past and it burned the throat and everything there after until it hit rock bottom. I'm not complaining and as best I can tell, an alcohol hydrometer isn't too easy to screw up readings with.

There still is a bit of harshness w/ the stuff though, so I think I'll carbon filter and oak it next round. This will polish it a bit and hopefully take a little of the harshness away.

Once I make another batch I'll send you a small sample w/ out any fruit. I'll send one to your wife w/ pear as well She deserves it for putting up w/ you.

:sign:

 

[AVB]

If I had to guess I would have said you were in the 60-70 proof area based on the feeling going down. Maybe you could check your hydrometer against some known distilate like 100 proof vodka and see what it reads. Still good stuff no matter what the proof is.

 

[Tony Bones]

Grabbed a bottle of Absolut this afternoon to check my hydrometer.

Absolut is 40% ABV. Hydrometer read 38%

Boneshine was thought to be 70% ABV. Apparently I was schnockered from testing the product. It's actually 60%, or so the hydrometer says this time around.

Oh, I also neglected to correct for temp. the first time I measured. Irrelevant though. However, that's why the hydrometer reading on the Absolut was 2% off this time. It was an 80 degree day here today. Correct by adding two points and she's dead on.

So, 60% or 120 proof it is. Although this is a bit lower than what I'd originally thought, I must admit the stuff does hide its alcohol well in comparison to a straight shot of Absolut. Burn, cough, wheez, hack.

 

[Tony Bones]

Cooked up a batch of what will eventually be Vodka last night and got a bit heavy into the tasting. Woke up leaning against the garage wall sitting in a chair this morning. Terrible crick in my neck.

Need to go a bit lighte on the tasting before diluted from here on out.

 

[bigmac]

Cooked up a batch of what will eventually be Vodka last night and got a bit heavy into the tasting. Woke up leaning against the garage wall sitting in a chair this morning. Terrible crick in my neck.

Need to go a bit lighte on the tasting before diluted from here on out.

Do you water it down any at all? I am into cooking the good stuff and I have built a reflux column that will run at 95% FIRST RUN. if you havent tried something this potent it is really a shocker the difference between 80% and 95% there is no comparison. But I would never gift anything this potent without the giftee knowing full well that it is really dangerous stuff, it isnt really good to drink but it is good for the effect and showing people what pure clean alcohol is really like. I have been thinking about taking some and diluting it to about 140 proof(70%) and aging it in some kind of wood(i would like to get a small port barrel)

 

[AVB]

For both of you, here is a place with smaller barrels.

 

[other1]

Do you water it down any at all? I am into cooking the good stuff and I have built a reflux column that will run at 95% FIRST RUN. if you havent tried something this potent it is really a shocker the difference between 80% and 95% there is no comparison.

:0

I tried Everclear straight once.


Once.

We did make punch with it in college though that was great. Mix it with fruit punch and you would end up with really high proof punch that didn't taste like alcohol at all. The girls at the parties would all drink the punch thinking they were going easy on the alcohol. Uh-oh, I've said too much.

 

[AVB]

Purple Jesus Everclear and Grape Koolaid. Breakfast of Champions!

 

[rknicker]

I never thought i would hear the term 'purple jesus' again. Oh, the (total lack of) memories.

 

[Matt R]

I saw a report on t.v news the otehr day about the comeback of moonshine and how local sheriffs are really starting to crack down on it. Apparently it is the drink of choice for teens in some parts of the country. They can make it themselves and don't need to have anyone purchase it for them. From the footage they were showing it didn't appear these kids were getting any of the " throat burn" from what they were drinking. Heck, the kids up here just make crystal. Maybe if they switched to moonshine we'd be better off.

 

[AVB]

I never thought i would hear the term 'purple jesus' again. Oh, the (total lack of) memories.

You're a youngun' too. I had an old wino introduce me to it, a drink that transcends generations. You're right though, I don't remember much and some of it ani't pretty. :lookup:

 

[Treamayne]

Purple Jesus Everclear and Grape Koolaid. Breakfast of Champions!

Tang works better IMO.

Would love a go at the Boneshine though ... <grin>

 

[Tony Bones]

I saw a report on t.v news the otehr day about the comeback of moonshine and how local sheriffs are really starting to crack down on it. Apparently it is the drink of choice for teens in some parts of the country. They can make it themselves and don't need to have anyone purchase it for them. From the footage they were showing it didn't appear these kids were getting any of the " throat burn" from what they were drinking. Heck, the kids up here just make crystal. Maybe if they switched to moonshine we'd be better off.

That show was crap. Absolute junk. Furthermore, I'd love to meet the teens who are doing this. The amount of work that goes into making a good end product is so immense that it'd scare most teens away.

-Purchase all ingredients
-Carefully cook ingredients
-Wait until at proper temp. and strain, measuring for correct Ph and adjusting
-Add yeast at proper temp.
-Estimate end of fermentation...but don't let it go too long
-Distill at very specific temp.'s over a 14-20 hour period, making sure to seperate various stages of runs
-Redistill
-Carbon filter

Done. Does that sound like a lot of work for 1/2 gallon of liquor? It is. It's a ton of work. Much easier to find someone to buy you a fifth...and cheaper too. 'Shine making is not what people make it out to be. It's damn sure not easy to produce a good product and it's not cheap.