"I'm happy I found you guys, and I owe it all to Alli.

I started experimenting (and it was probably a failure) with distilling when I was 13, and I've played with it, off and on, all my life. I'm a potstiller trying to wring all the flavor out of everything I do, which includes a lot of ""fruit of opportunity"", where someone says, ""I've got 3 trees loaded with yellow plums - can you do anything with that?"" I love what I call the ""rough European folk brandies"", like slivovitz, kirschwasser, calvados, grappa, mirabelle and lots of eaux-de-vie that I've never heard names for. I also do whiskeys and whiskys, and love strong dark (or at least dark-flavored) rums. Oh. And gin. I like to make and drink gin.

I run a keg-based potstill with most of a 6-quart pressure cooker on top, so I can open up a ~8"" manhole to clean, de-scorch, or just shovel out spent grape pomace. The still head is just plain vanilla copper plumbing, a 2"" riser and a 3/4"" over 1/2"" Liebig.

I'm a moderator on the Yahoo Distillers and New Distillers groups, and this seems like a nice friendly place. I'm also impressed with your legalization effort."

I'm glad you are with us too. I'm new but well seasoned.