Introduction
Today, exactly 10 years ago, we started iStill. The goal we set ourselves? To make it easier to become a successful craft distiller. How? By designing and marketing an amazing new distilling technology. By introducing the iStill University educational facilities. And via our recipe development support. Let us dive in deeper and see how we fared and what’s around the corner …
But there is more. What’s next for iStill? And how do we celebrate our 10 year anniversary with you? We’ll end this iStill Blog post with a new initiative and a gift. An initiative to further empower the craft distilling industry and a gift in the form of a discount to our customers.
A gift to our customers? Oh, what the heck, let’s start with that!
iStill’s 10 year anniversary gift to our customers!
Anyone that bought an iStill Mini up until today, and that wants to buy our production stills, get’s their iStill Mini investment as a discount. That’s for new orders placed (signed Purchase Agreement and first installment payed) as of today and until July 31st 2023.
For example, if you bought an iStill Mini in 2021 for EUR 5.000,-, you can now purchase an iStill 250, 500, 1000, 2000, or 5000 with a 5k discount. If you place an order before July 31st. Happy anniversary to us all!
Okay, so, with the order all f*cked up (thanks Veronika) let’s try to put some sense back into this blog post. Let’s talk about technologies, universities, and recipes. What did we spend our time on, the last decade?
New distillation technology
When our CEO and Founder Odin started his personal journey into distilling, almost 14 years ago, he couldn’t but notice the outdated technology craft distillers had to rely on. Technology that lacked process control, was very expensive, and inefficient in energy and manpower usage. The resulting craft distilled spirits were both difficult and expensive to produce, and often of merely mediocre quality.
iStill’s Liquid Management technology replaced the existing Cooling Management technology. We added automation, industrial quality computers, process control, and robotization. Up to this day we get told how our new technology revolutionized distilling. Craft distillers can now reliably reproduce their recipes, while saving 70% on energy and manpower input.
And while we brought innovations to the craft distilling industry, we got something back: you, our customers. The measure of our success can be found in our numbers. Or maybe we should say: your numbers. Over the last decade over 1,200 craft distillers choose to work with iStill. In just one decade we produced over 3,000 iStills. You have honored our efforts to innovate by making us the biggest provider of craft distilling equipment in the world. Thank you!
For more reading, please see: https://istill.com/
iStill University
A tool is only as good as the man or woman that uses it. Introducing new and amazing technology revealed another bottle-neck in the craft distilling industry: a lack of scientifically correct and – more important – applicable knowledge. People simply didn’t know how to make spirits, it was that basic yet essential! Craft distillers – before we hit the market – either bought in product from Big Alcohol and slapped a label on it or attempted to apply the anecdotical information others used to make their whiskey or rum.
The iStill University is the world’s leading craft distilling educational facility. Instead of handing you a procedure, we thoroughly train you in the use of our various toolkits. We don’t want you to reproduce the standard operating procedures that others used before you, instead we want you to understand how distilling really works, and apply what you learned to create your own unique spirits!
Has the iStill University achieved its goal by brining scientifically valid knowledge to the craft distilling industry industry? Have we been able to bring information that is easily applicable to the craft? You generously seem to think we did. You rate our distilling courses with an amazing 9.8 out of 10. And – so far – a whopping 1,200 distillers has chosen to be educated and trained by us. Again, thank you!
For more information, please see: https://istill.com/istill-university
iStill Recipe Development
With the production of craft distilled spirits covered via new technology and education, many felt the next challenge was recipe development. Recipe development precedes large scale production. It is the creative part that comes with a very hard stop: the moment the craft distiller freezes his recipe development and brings it to the market.
Freezing a recipe is a daunting decision. Is it good enough? Can we win medals with it? Will the consumers like it? Who can help us out here? Using iStill’s knowledge seemed like a logical choice for many of our customers and – given the amount of medals and awards you won – we have been able to help you make a difference.
In the last decade we had the privilege to develop around 450 recipes for you. Our recipe development department is the biggest in the industry. And not by a small margin. We’d like to thank you all for using our expertise and making it count!
For more information, please see: https://istill.com/halloffame
New initiative: CDS23!
You all know our frustration with existing tradeshows. They are self-serving to the extend that they promote that you: 1. Purchase with outdated equipment suppliers (that sponsor those events); 2. Hire ill-informed consultants (that organize these tradeshows for their personal benefits); 3. Believe non-scientific, anecdotical stories (that steer you towards outdated equipment and the “need” for ill-informed consultancy).
As we don’t need tradeshows that suck the industry dry and prevent it from developing into the vibrant market place it could and should be, we support a new initiative: The Craft Distillers Seminar 2023. Or CDS23 in short. What it is? A seminar by and for craft distillers, that focusses on the further professionalization of the craft distilling industry. How? By sharing knowledge and experiences, and by providing a network organization where craft distillers can meet, discuss, and work with a global distribution network. See you all in Amsterdam coming November!
For more information, please see: https://www.craftdistillersseminar.com/
iStill’s 10 year anniversary gift to our customers!
Let’s repeat how we want to celebrate our anniversary together with you, our customer.
Anyone that bought an iStill Mini up until today, and that wants to buy our production stills, get’s their iStill Mini investment as a discount. That’s for new orders placed (signed Purchase Agreement and first installment payed) as of today and until July 31st 2023.
For example, if you bought an iStill Mini in 2021 for EUR 5.000,-, you can now purchase an iStill 250, 500, 1000, 2000, or 5000 with a 5k discount. If you place an order before July 31st. Happy anniversary to us all!
The iStill Blog 