An exciting result

Recently I entered some of my distilling efforts into the 10th Stillmaster National competition and was absolutely delighted with the results. There were about 600 entries in the competition with around 100 in the hotly contested whisky class.

My Malt Whisky was awarded a Gold Medal and judged best in class.

This was made in small batches using my 10 L Portuguese copper alembic still and aged in oak barrels that had been soaked in sherry prior to filling.

It was aged for 9 months in a 1L cask - which equates to about 10 years in a 225 L barrel by calculation of surface area.

I also make Vodka to use as an extraction base for fruit schnapps and Lemoncello, and as it was here I entered some of that too - and was astounded to win a Gold Medal for that too - as well as another "Best in class".

I drip my vodka through a 1 metre column of activated carbon and I think that helps a lot.

Vignette likes the occasional Fallen Angel and we recently found it hard to get some Advokaat, so I made some and whilst I was at it knocked together some Cherry Brandy to go with it.  There was still some of that lying around so I entered that too, and it also took a Gold Medal!

With a silver medal for both my Butterscotch Schnapps and my Bourbon I am a very happy man.

A small surprise in the paddock

Beautiful day today and we walked down to move the alpacas into a new paddock.

Unusually there was one missing from the group - our oldest, Merlot. Thinking the worst we cautiously looked over the rise in the paddock and found we had a new cria!

She was only an hour or so old when we found her and the name we are thinking of for her is "Lily".

She is still very unsteady on her feet and not too good at finding the teat yet, so after a quick cuddle they were left to sort things out for themselves.

Alpaca Shearing

On Sunday 3rd of February it was time to shear our 7 alpacas and trim the 4 cria. They had no idea what was ahead of them...

First, select your alpaca - in this case "Harry" a 14 month old male (castrated 3 weeks ago, but that is another story...)

 

Wrangle him into a corner and get a halter on...

 

 

Then manhandle him to the shearing table...

 



A strap goes across the middle of the alpaca to hold him down whilst the table flips through 90 degrees.

 

Then the legs get tied and secured...

 

 

Stretched out and ready to go!

 

 

 

I give them a pedicure whilst the shearers get to work. I also give them an injection of vaccine after the clip.

 

 

The shearing starts with the legs, neck and belly being done. This part of the clip could be used for felting, but ours is sold for roof insulation. The buyer takes it, chops it and sprays into roof spaces. It has better insulation properties than sheeps wool and he gets a premium for alpaca...

 

 

The "blanket" comes off the middle of the animal and is the best fibre. This will go to a specialist mill for washing, carding and spinning onto cones.

 

 

This is Harry's first full shear. He had a light clip 12 months ago to stop the ends of the fibres twisting and making a kind of alpaca dreadlock and picking up burrs and rubbish. The fibre is about 100-120mm long.

 

 

Once half the alpaca is done, they are flipped over and the other half can be clipped.

 

 

It looks tough on the alpaca, but they are pretty relaxed and it is over fairly quickly. They are surprisingly skinny under all that fleece...

 

 

A trendy haircut...

 

and show off for the camera...

 

 

A quick tidy up of the tail and nether regions...

 

Before the teeth are checked and filed as neccessary...

 

 

The strap goes across the middle again whilst the legs are released...

 

 

before the table is flipped and Harry gets to rejoin his mates.

 

 

So that is it - until next year...

 

So - a few of the others:

 

Baron-before

 

 

And after - he seems quite proud of his new look!

 

Julia - has great Peruvian blood lines

 

 

She took to a halter quite well

 

 

Wasn't so keen on going to the table

 

 

But once it was over and she was back with her cria Caramel all was well with the world.

 

 

Merlot is the Matriarch of all. All 9 except Baron are daughters or grandchildren

 



 

Happy, well adjusted cria.

 

All the while, Mack patrolled the perimeter and made sure everything happened as it was supposed to.