Good Things To Come: Montanya's New Still
We know we’re not alone when we say that spring of 2020 offered us a wild ride! From closing the public facing parts of the business to figuring how to support our staff during the coronavirus outbreak, it has required a continual state of adaptation.
New Montanya still (left) and fermentation tank, made by Bridgetown Brew Systems in Portland, Oregon, shortly before shipping.
It’s been nice, however, to sometimes catch glimpses of “life after coronavirus”—reminders that we will get through this and there are plenty of good things to come. We got one last week when our new still arrived from Bridgetown Brew Systems in Portland, Oregon. As you can see, she’s a beauty!
You might notice that she looks a little different than our old stills, which were hand built for us in Portugal. We still love Bellatrix and Bellisima, as we like to call them, and they aren’t going anywhere. But we’ve been looking to expand production, and when the makers of our traditional, alembic stills weren’t able to meet our size requirements, we set out looking for an alternative.
Luckily our new friends in Portland were able to maintain many of the characteristics we love—a copper pot, for example—while allowing for increased capacity. Their work is incredible, and will help us increase production as we grow distribution. Here’s a look at delivery day:
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We’re calling her Bella Chiara, and here are a few of the things that make her special:
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The New still is a 500 gallon copper still, compared to the two 100-gallon stills we have been using. The maker was able to maintain a 100% copper pot and build us a custom lentil head (not sure what that is? Check out this explanation of rum distillation). This allows the new distilling process to resemble our old distilling process as closely as possible while still increasing capacity.
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On our current system, we produce about 100 bottles a day on each still. The new still will allow us to make 3,200 bottles a week. Both systems paired up allow us to handle tremendous growth.
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You may have noticed that this new beauty is fitted with a stainless steel on the outside—that’s a steam jacket, which will heat the still (our current stills are heated over a direct flame). This will reduce the heat-up time from an hour and a half to 30-40 minutes.
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The new condenser will use, in the words of our distiller, WAY less water (and you know how we love efficiency, especially as it relates to resource use and environmental sustainability).
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We will be able to electronically measure and adjust temperatures, though that doesn’t mean we’ll be removing the human element from distilling—it’s an art form as much as a science, and one we intend to keep.
It won’t be long until we get to start setting things up and testing her out. We look forward to the day that we get to raise a toast—together, shoulder to shoulder, in person—with rum distilled in our new still!
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