About the
Hopefully,
the existence of this site and contents will show that the majority of
hobby distillers are dedicated people who mean no harm to others
or themselves. It may even help in convincing world legislators
that certain laws need to be reviewed and modified to allow us to pursue our
hobby without persecution. One can only hope.
This site is my poor attempt at providing several things:
I originally started this collection on my home computer because I discovered that much of what used to be "free" Internet information, is rapidly disappearing. Since then I have realised there is a need for a resource where like-minded people can view data pertinent to distilling, thereby furthering their own education and enjoyment of the art of home hobbyist spirits production.
I firmly believe that knowledge is priceless, and only by sharing knowledge can mankind move forward. Yet all around there are organisations determined to put a price on knowledge. Don't get me wrong, I have no objection to anyone earning a living by writing, as I too am a budding author, but if one book or one article is the sum total of a writer's output, then they will starve.
Let's face it. The majority of books being published today about distilling are really only an introduction to the field, and quite often serve as an advertising tool or 'front entrance' to promote somebody's business. Some are not much more than a rehash of material that's been around for centuries!. Why then must the public pay to have access to this advertising? Other forms of ads. are, and have always been, free to the viewer. Why is this any different?
"Oh, because we need to cover the cost of publishing" I hear you say. Well isn't that a business expense, just the same as the cost of advertising your business? Surely you include that expense in the price structuring of your wares? No matter how you put it, there's a cost involved in getting the message to the consumer. That's part and parcel of business, and writing is in most cases a business, whether it's books, weekly columns, report or whatever, we would like some return for our efforts.
I believe the main purpose of writing is to communicate with people whom you can't converse with face-to-face, to convey ideas and innovations to a larger audience. If I place a book or an article on this site, it exposes the author to a worldwide targeted potential market (hobby distillers) who might never have heard of them! Surely this can only be good, free advertising for their future writings and/or business!
I administer this site as a non-profit service to a niche public. Please note the lack of distracting, flashing nonsense in these pages. I get no monetary reward for putting other writer's material up for viewing. I bear the maintenance costs of the site, and ask only that author's weigh up the benefits of free worldwide exposure against the few book copies they might have sold. Who's to say that they won't sell them anyhow? I have often bought a book after reading it at a real library, just because I thought it was worth possessing! Surely I'm not alone there! Remember, these are distillers we're talking about here. They like to have information at their fingertips.
Where possible, permission to display material is sought and confirmed. I don't see that what I and this site are providing is a 'breach of copyright'. I see it as providing free advertising and promotion to writers and businesses alike. So authors, I encourage you to submit your material for inclusion in these pages. Maybe you will fast-track to a better turnover, maybe not. I make no guarantees, other than I will endeavour to include your material if it's suitable to the hobby of home distilling spirits . If you take issue with this, then email me and I'm sure we can come to some arrangement.
Slainte! (Gaelic for 'Cheers!')
regards Harry
About the
Hi! My name is Howard (Harry) Jackson
and I am an Australian. My internet handle is Harry, Nosmoking, or Nosmo,
or just plain Nos. I don't mind what you call me, just don't call me 'late
for dinner' ;-). I'm 50 years of age and an avid admirer of Scotch
whisky.
I finished high school after year 10 (Junior in those days) and started my working life as an apprentice baker. Four years later I had a tradesman's ticket and a desire to see how the "other half" lived. Then followed a long list of roles, jobs, professions, hobbies, pastimes and such that piqued my interest at one time or another. The first of these was marriage. Then fatherhood. WOW! Talk about a culture shock! Two marriages and ten (yes 10) kids later, it's still fascinating! To put it in aussie speak, "Yer wouldn't be dead fer quids!" Anyhow, because bakers work mostly at night, I found I had a considerable amount of daylight time to use (I only slept 4 hours a day, still do).
So I took up my first hobby, Greyhound Racing (dogs, not buses). I spent some time as an Owner/Trainer andI did well enough at it to take out a professional trainer's licence and train other people's animals for a share of the prizemoney. Then I went in all the way and started breeding, rearing and breaking in young greyhounds for sale. This was a mistake. That game is horrifically expensive and heartbreaking. Only one dog in a hundred is good enough for quality races, and less than one in a thousand is smart enough to wear the mantle of 'Champion'.
So, back to the bakeries, this time as a foreman (leading hand) then as a production manager. About this time I bought a truck and started carrying fertilizer for the cane farmers in north Queensland. Through them I got to learn a lot about sugar and 'grappa' (most of the farmers wre expatriate Italians). That's when I decided to try my hand at distilling as a hobby. Here I am 20 years later, still pursuing my hobby and still breathing, so I haven't poisoned myself and I'm a walking testament to the fact that most of the 'dire consequences' type warnings one hears about home distilling are utter rubbish! Conglomerates and governments will say anything to keep you from finding out the truth, that you can make your own booze for a couple of dollars when they want you to pay them 10, 20, 50 times as much.
But I digress. When I turned 35 I got interested in the new-fangled filing machine, the computer. I purchases a Tandy Color Computer II (Coco) for the astronomical sum of $600, fully 2 weeks wages then. It had a whopping 64kb (not a typo) of hard wired memory, no hard drive and it used my TV as a screen. Two colours, green and black, man what I couldn't do with that thing! From that moment on I was hooked. After 5 years with various computers, I knew enough to realise what I wanted to do, and I took 3 years off work to go back to college full time under adult education.
I enrolled in the brand new Business & Information Technology course that Wide Bay TAFE were offering. After 6 months they offered me a job as a tutor while I completed my studies. This I accepted and I couldn't believe mu eyes when I got my first pay. $26 per hour for an unqualified tutor? Damn! The best I'd ever earned as a baker was $9 an hour.
Three years later I got my diploma, and started a small business custom building computers for home and small office use. This went well for a while. Then I took on a partner. This was mistake number two. Six months later I walked away from the business and left my so-called partner to continue dipping into the cash reserves for his personal usage. I heard later that he went broke rapidly and blamed it all on me. Go figure.
Today I'm a married man playing the role of homemaker, with 5 kids still at school, a working wife, 1 siamese cat, 3 malteze dogs, a rented house, an old Datsun Bluebird car, a sideline business of computer repairs, website development & design, recently a groups moderator on Yahoo and in my spare time (????) a budding writer. I've had a book on the go now for several years about how to make Scottish style whisky at home. Whenever I get it finished, I'll post it here on this site. There's a lot more I could tell you about me but that would take a book of it's own. Maybe that will be my next project when some of the kids are grown up.
Slainte!
regards Harry