INTERVIEWS

WHISKY PRODUCTION

Given that whisky production is not an easy task, let alone profitable for the first few years, how did you decide to do this?

Old Pilot’s: We started distilling because we collected different drinks from all over the world. After a few years, we decided to engage in production. Our first loves were bourbons and single malts, so the first distillate we wanted to make was whisky. There was a general idea or a plan, but it was very difficult to open a company/distillery. You need to invest a large amount of money, and you don’t know what will happen in the next couple of years and whether the product will sell and meet all the required criteria.

Therefore, we decided to focus on our second love and that is gin, of which the production technology is much simpler. We also wanted to see how we function as a team and whether it can be a successful business in Croatia. After 3 years, we realized that we can function and be successful and we have the opportunity to make whisky from the reserve of our company’s business. We decided to finally return to our first love, the production of whisky and bourbon. We were not interested in the production of brandy, rum, tequila or vodka for example, because we simply do not enjoy these drinks as much as we enjoy whisky or gin. We’re not going to do anything we think we can’t do well or that we can’t enjoy. Accordingly, for the next 3 years, the time it will take for one barrel to become legally called whisky, we won’t engage in the production of new distillates so that our knowledge and technology can only be dedicated to whisky.

Looking at the current state of the market, do you have a particular audience for your product, i.e. do you want to tailor towards cocktails or would you rather have the audience consume it in some other form?

Old Pilot’s: Our production, starting from gin and through whisky is intended for a smaller circle of people, we are not a mass product. Consequently, the quantity we can produce annually is very small. I reckon that in the first year we could put on the market around 1500-2000 bottles of 0.5L, so no matter what kind of audience we target, regarding the size of the whisky market it will be a very small amount.

Due to our batch-based production method (no continuous production), we make products that are different, in which technology and a very detailed high-tech production process are involved, thus obtaining a higher quality product that will not be for the mass market. I think we will be a novelty on the market because even though Croatians drink (mostly commercial) whiskies, I expect that in the next 3-4 years Croatians will also develop this scene of higher quality whiskies and increase the number of fans of quality whiskies, which already exists but it’s still small.  When our whisky is ready for consumption, people will be proud that we made the whisky here. I think the audience will be eager to try something new, something different and I hope they will abide by our motto which is:  drink a little, but well.

Tell me more about the production, of course as much as you can say in public; What yeasts do you use, how long the fermentation lasts, something about distillation, what kind of stills you use, if it is allowed to know the size of the barrels and how much distillation you plan to do per year?

Old Pilot’s: As for yeasts, we use distiller’s ones. In the future, we plan to have combinations with brewer’s yeasts, and only later with some wild yeasts from forests in Croatia. The fermentation time of the first batch is between 6-7 days, however, the variables regarding lactobacilli were above the limit so we reduced this to 4-5 days. Speaking of distillation, we do that on the IStill device. Since we do gin, we have a division of labour; the distillery makes whisky for six months and then gin for six months, so we don’t have the number of distillations per year yet. For now, we do one distillation about once a month. Fermenters are open-top fermenters that are more characteristic of American and Scottish distillers. Unlike breweries we do not use hermetically sealed or anaerobic fermentation technology, we prefer them to be open because we want different types of esters and different types of flavours to a certain extent.

Are you satisfied with the new make and how many attempts did it take you to get to the position that you are satisfied with?

Old Pilot’s: When we start with a new recipe and a new batch, we do it very conservatively. E. g., the ratio of grains and water, the quantities of different grains in the mash, etc. However, when we see what the equipment we have at our disposal can withstand, what specific gravities we have obtained and how yeast behaves in terms of conversion, then we react to it. Our first three batches are very conservative and then from the 3rd to about the 12th-13th, we bring the batch to what I think it should produce.

We need about 5-6 “test” batches that are successful, but to get the maximum ratio of usability and taste, we need about 6-12 cookings. We then have the recipe we want – new make, and only after that it goes into the barrel and we check it every 3 months. How it changes and in what direction it develops.

What variations of whisky do you currently make and what are you interested in the future?

Old Pilots: We started with a single malt that is based exclusively on malted barley. We have triple malt (wheat / rye / barley) and we also have four grain (corn / wheat / barley / rye). In the future, we will make variants of four grains with peat and also combinations of triple malt with and without peat in different proportions.