Meet “Big Butt Sally”
The heart of any distillery is obviously the still. Ours is named Big Butt Sally and she is a 220 gallon copper double diamond moonshine still crafted by hand by “The Colonel” of the Sovereign Arkansas Republic.
When ordering Sally, Jason sent a hefty envelope of cash to a P.O. Box in Arkansas since the Colonel doesn’t believe in the federal government’s authority to issue zip codes and as such has no physical address. Our leap of faith paid off around a year later when Sally was finally delivered to us here at Tripp and promptly put to work.
Sally’s peculiar shape, slower running speed, and pure copper construction are meant to help facilitate a chemical reaction inside the still between the copper and sulfur, which is produced during fermentation. Sulfur has an unpleasant bitter taste, so Sally absorbs as much of it as possible during our distilling runs to produce the purest possible spirit. This prolonged reaction along with the cool coastal air, temperature and humidity profiles in Pacifica are comparable to Scotland, allowing our barrels to mature the spirits gracefully.
Using a “manual” system like Sally puts an extra degree of complexity and risk into the distilling process. Most large scale distilleries use an automated system for their runs which while much simpler and safer, tends to produce a more boring product. While Sally may have her quirks she lets us make high quality, unique products that are a little bit different each time.