I Made Pumpkin Spice Whiskey From Scratch

Ok, I know I know. Another "pumpkin spiced" . . . thing. But here is the thing. All of the flavours in pumpkin spice (cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg) already pop up as tasting notes in whisk(e)y. I actually really like all of those flavours when they show up. So lets make a whiskey and then give it gentle nudge towards the pumpkin spice flavours. The nudge is there to make sure we get those specific spice notes, but we don't want it to be overwhelming. Ideally it sits right on the edge of not really being able to tell if the spice is a happy accident, or "wait, is this is spiced whiskey or not?". We will also be using REAL ACTUAL pumpkin. Shocking, I know! More Info On Angel Yeasts Products: https://en.angelyeast.com/products/di... A good place to buy Angel Products In New Zealand: https://www.yeast.nz/ Pumpkin Spice Mix (much better if you grind/crush/micro plane them fresh) 1 part Ground cinnamon 1/4 part nutmeg 1/4 part ground ginger 1/4 part ground clove Whiskey Mash Grist / Grain Recipe 12 kg / 26.5 lb Ale Malt: https://www.homebrewing.org/2-Row--Pa... 1.5 kg / 3.3 lb Dark Crystal Malt: https://www.homebrewing.org/Crystal-1... 1 kg / 2.2 lb Quick Oats: https://www.homebrewing.org/Flaked-Oa... 0.5 kg / 1.2 lb Chock Malt: https://www.homebrewing.org/Chocolate... Mash: I started with 30 l / 8 gal of strike water. If you can, use more! My strike water temp was 70c. You should ideally use a strike water temp calculatore to find the ideal temp for your conditions. There is one on chasethecraft.com. Mash temp was 62 c / 144 Mash time was 1.5 hours Oven Roasted Pumpkin: Skin and dice the pumpkin, I used crown and butter nut. But use what you can find. Toss with a small amount of melted butter or oil. Oven roast at 180c / 355f until beginning to get soft all the way through. Drizzle with maple syrup and continue roasting until cooked through and beginning to brown. If adding the pumpkin spice sprinkle it over the pumpkin 5 min before roasting is done. Process: Mash in making sure to stir well and avoid dough balls. Once all the grain is mashed in add 4 kg / 8.8 lb of pumpkin (not spiced) Mash for 1.5 hours Mash out and sparge untill your desired volume / OG is reached. I sparged to 65 L and 1.062. Cool to 25 c / 77 f Pitch 25 g of Angel Yeast WA18 Ferment at 25 c until primary fermentation is complete and the wash is starting to sour. Strip at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the wash. Add the low wines back to the remaining wash add 2 kg / 4.4 lb of spiced pumpkin and distill I used 2 bubble plates If you are able to do so safely add more spiced pumpkin into the vapour path. Make lenient cuts for the heads (we will distill these again) Collect tails until you notice any hint of wet dog / we cardboard. Re-distill the borderline hearts with . . . .. more spiced pumpkin. Combine all the "keepers" from both spirit runs and proof down to 58% abv and age on 50% charred US white oak and 50% toasted (not charred) French oak. Time Stamps: 0:00 Just Hear Me Out 1:35 Mashing Madness 3:00 Spooooky Pumpkin . . . ? 6:11 Feed The Beasties 7:52 Strip! 8:34 Down To Business 09:14 Fresh Grind 9:30 Double Bubble 10:52 Recycling 12:42 Well, how is it?