Rectification Column

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We are only planning on producing traditional whiskey recipes. Meaning malted barley must be included since barley is the only grain with sufficient quantities of amylase enzymes. It is these enzymes that break up the starch molecules in corn, rye and other grains into small sugar molecules which yeast can then metabolize into alcohol.

CAUTION: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OPEN AMPOULES WITHOUT FIRST READING THE INSTRUCTION BELOW.  IF NOT OPENED PROPERLY, THE AMPOULE COULD CAUSE SERIOUS INJURY.

An ampoule is a small glass vial commonly used to hold liquids in a laboratory setting and typically is sealed shut. Ampoules also are used to hold beauty products, medicine or other delicate liquids. They are flame sealed shut to protect the contents from exposure to air, bacteria and debris or dirt that could contaminate the contents. Opening an ampoule should be done with caution to prevent breaking the glass incorrectly or spilling the contents.

Instructions

1. Place a clean, folded tissue or towel over the top of the ampoule to keep the glass clean and protect your fingers in case the glass breaks unevenly, causing a jagged edge.
2. Place your index finger on one side of the ampoule top over the tissue. Place your thumb on the other side of the ampoule over the tissue.
3. Face the blue dot away from you (score facing away). If the ampoule has a gold band the score is 360′ and the orientation does not matter.
4. Use even and firm pressure to bend and break open the ampoule at the neck.
5. Face away from you and others when breaking in case the glass does not break evenly and a glass chip falls.
6. Pour out contents through a fine strainer.
7. Do not reuse the ampoule. Discard it in a manner in which it will not cause injury.

WARNING: FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE FOREGOING INSTRUCTIONS COULD RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY. DO NOT DRINK DIRECTLY FROM THE AMPOULE . DO NOT DRINK THE CONTENTS OF THE AMPOULE WITHOUT FIRST POURING THE CONTENTS THROUGH A FINE STRAINER.
Our new ampoule filling machine!

The appreciation for small batch spirits and craft distilling are on the rise. For this seminar Cacao Prieto’s master distillers will offer a step-by-step demonstration of the art of distilling using their state-of-art copper still in the Cacao Prieto Distillery in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The 4 hour long workshop’s focus on the creativity, the hard science and the working aspects of the distiller’s craft make this the perfect seminar for both the home hobbyist and the cocktail enthusiast looking to expand their knowledge and understanding of craft distilling. Followed by a tasting event next door at Botanica Cocktail bar.

With Daniel Preston, CEO and Founder of Cacao Prieto; Dr. Randal Murphy, PhD. Chemist, Cacao Prieto; Jan Chelminski, Head of Operations, Cacao Prieto; and Alex Clark, Mixologist and Brand Ambassador, Cacao Prieto

Must be 21 or older – please be prepared to present a valid photo ID.

Don Rafael Cacao Rum

Winner Double Gold Medal San Francisco Spirits Competition 2012
USA, New York | (750)mL
Deep notes of incredibly pure cacao absolutely jump out of the glass. The chocolate flavors on the palate are accentuated by hints of coffee and the rum base comes bursting through keeping everything very lively and light. For the serious drinker and chocolate lover.

Click here to purchase Don Rafael Cacao Rum online from AstorWines.com.

Don Estaban Cacao Liqueur

90 Points Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2012
USA, New York | (750)ml
Wonderfully complex and unique with bright notes of dark chocolate with supporting notes of toffee, vanilla bean, and toasted marshmallow with a hint of pepper.

Click here to purchase Don Estaban online from AstorWines.com. Tasting notes from Astor Wines: “A local, organic liqueur made from single origin heirloom cacao from 100yr old family owned plantations in the Dominican Republic. A harmonious nose of chocolate and sugar cane greet the nose and follow on the palate with a hint of sweetness and citrus. Very smooth, and an excellent digestif or addition to your best cocktails “

By Ana Sofia Pelaez / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

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Daniel Prieto Preston, an aerospace engineer and inventor, started and sold a company that specialized in neon sign electrodes, then developed satellite guided parachutes used by the U.S. military.

When he was done with that, in 2009, he turned his attention to something decidedly different and very challenging: making organic “beans to bar” chocolate.

“There’s an expression in chocolate: Every step is the most important step,” Preston says over the steady roar of machines at Cacao Prieto, his shiny 7,000-square-foot factory in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Cacao Prieto produces chocolate and liquors using cacao farmed on land that Preston’s family has owned outside Nagua in the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic for more than a century.

“The biggest surprise is just how much I like being a farmer,” says Preston, who is in his early 40s and lives in Red Hook.

“As a mechanical and aerospace engineer who grew up in the concrete jungle, I never imagined just how much science is involved in a self-sustaining farm.”

The farm was settled in 1900 by Preston’s great-grandfather Don Esteban Santos Prieto Casas, but the family’s original land holdings shrank during years of political upheaval.

Preston, born and raised in New York by a Dominican father and an Eastern European mother, had rarely visited there since childhood. But thanks to Cacao Prieto and his monthly trips to the D.R., he says he “has a huge family again.”

He was captivated by the traditional organic cultivation of cacao he discovered there and now oversees a 2,000-hectare expansion and the planting of 2 million cacao trees.

In the process, he took note of the “sweatings,” a pungent alcoholic wash produced by the traditional fermentation of cacao seeds.

“A couple of thousand years of recorded history and science on fermented foods and none of it was being applied to cacao,” he says, sounding like the man of science he is.

Using different yeasts to create new flavor profiles and armed with what he says is the first rum distillery license granted in New York City since prohibition, Cacao Prieto has transformed this wash into a line of smoothly sweet cacao rums and liqueurs named for members of his family.

Their gorgeously remodeled, red-brick, state-of-the-art factory on Conover St. now can produce up to 200,000 bottles a year in addition to hand-crafted chocolates and bark bars.

Master chocolatier Damion Badalamenti transforms the freshly churned batches of their singular dark chocolate into spherical bonbons, in both traditional flavors like almond praline and provocative flavors like spiced rum, absinthe and gold leaf.True to his past, Preston himself invented or redesigned the machines to meet the unique demands of artisanal chocolate manufacturing. The factory is set to open an on-site retail store and begin offering factory tours Friday, just in time for Easter.

The way Preston sees it, with his company the area has come full circle.

“In the mid-1800s, [Red Hook] was the main port of the Dutch West India Corporation, so all the cacao that was being taken from the West Indies would come through here as a stopover on the way to the famous chocolate companies in Europe,” he says.

“There was a story that this was the preferred route for sailors because they just ate chocolate and married mermaids.”

Written By: Silvina Sterin Pensel para EDLP  |  El Diario

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Muchos en el vecindario lo tildan de héroe; una suerte de redentor que le cambió la cara a esta zona de Brooklyn donde una enorme construcción en la esquina de las calles Conover y Coffey permaneció abandonada durante 22 años. Es él quien con una mezcla de agallas, confianza en el área y sobre todo en sí mismo, logró que este complejo de edificios de 1846 diera un giro de 180 grados convirtiéndolo en la fábrica de chocolate Cacao Prieto; una de las joyitas de Red Hook. “Siempre me encantó este barrio y no solamente trabajo aquí, vivo en el último piso”, dice Daniel Prieto, el hombre detrás de la idea y de casi todo en esta dulce iniciativa que, –a partir de este fin de semana– abre sus puertas al público en la que será la primera tienda de Cacao Prieto.

Quienes traspasen las altísimas puertas serán recibidos por un profundo perfume a cacao y se encontrarán viviendo en carne propia la experiencia de ensueño de aquellos afortunados que visitaron el reino de Willy Wonka –en cada recoveco posible del lugar hay grandes containers con distintas clases de granos o chocolate fundiéndose en sofisticadas maquinarias o barras aún en estado virgen a las que el Master Chocolatier de la fábrica, Damion Badalamenti intervendrá pronto con frutas y las más variadas nueces.

En marcado contraste con el film de Tim Burton donde el memorable personaje encarnado por Johnny Depp vivía en la más sola de las soledades y añoraba a su padre ausente, Daniel, trabaja todos los días con su papá –el dominicano Juan Prieto– y ha hecho de su emporio una aventura familiar cuyos comienzos pueden rastrearse precisamente en la República Dominicana donde sus antepasados han plantado cacao desde hace más de un siglo.

Durante su infancia, Daniel solía pasar temporadas en aquella tierra que su padre dejó escapando de Rafael Trujillo. Pero sus viajes se fueron haciendo menos frecuentes en su adultez. Fue un impulso el que lo reencontraría con sus orígenes. “Hace ya unos años decidí regresar para ver a una tía mía muy viejita. Quería despedirme de ella y del lugar, pero en realidad fue en ese viaje que me enamoré perdidamente de Nagua, la región donde están nuestras plantaciones”. Allí fue donde se topó con los árboles de cacao. “Me quedé maravillado con los colores de esos granos que crecían, sin mucho orden aparente, por todas partes en el árbol, hasta en su tronco. Es algo increíble, como salido de un libro de cuentos para chicos”, agrega. También allí descubrió que su familia en la isla era sumamente extendida. “Seguían presentándome primos y primas y gente que me recibía con muchísima calidez. Enseguida supe qué iba a hacer cuando regresara a Nueva York”.

En la actualidad Daniel, 42, viaja para allá al menos una vez al mes y se queda durante varios días en los que aprovecha para monitorear las más de 2,000 hectáreas de las que salen los granos de cacao –absolutamente orgánicos– que luego viajaran en barco hasta el puerto de Elizabeth, Nueva Jersey para, desde allí, salir hacia el destino final, la fábrica de Red Hook. “La República Dominicana y Brooklyn son las dos puntas del ovillo”, señala, “y nosotros estamos involucrados de principio a fin. Controlamos todo, desde el grano hasta la barra de chocolate que luego disfruta el público”.

Un poco inventor, un poco científico e intelectualmente inquieto, este hombre de mirada serena pero inquisidora, guarda cierto parecido físico a Steve Jobs cuya biografía está leyendo, y como él, es brillante. “Desde chico me interesó la ciencia y siempre fui hábil con mis manos. A los 12″, cuenta, “me aburría tanto en el colegio que me permitieron ingresar a la Universidad. Fui a la de Long Island, a NYU y al MIT pero no terminé ninguna carrera”. Lo que aprendió le bastó para convertirse en ingeniero aeroespacial y con sólo 42 años ya ha fundado y vendido exitosamente dos compañías cuyos productos –desde focos especiales a paracaídas– son utilizados por agencias como la NASA y los Navy Seals. Acostumbrado a la reacción de asombro que genera en sus interlocutores, Daniel se apura a clarificar que, de alguna forma, estos excéntricos y variados emprendimientos previos no hicieron más que brindarle las herramientas necesarias para poder estar donde se encuentra hoy.

“Todo me ha servido para Cacao Prieto. Si miras las máquinas, todas o las he hecho yo o las he refaccionado”, apunta, mientras señala los aparatos de distintas dimensiones –los hay desde súper pequeños hasta masivos– que se usan para producir el chocolate y para destilar ron, otro de los productos que se elaboran en la fábrica.

Los envoltorios de las barras –piezas de arte en sí mismas ilustradas por una artista local y por su novia colombiana– describen la historia de los Prieto que arranca en España de la mano de su bisabuelo Don Esteban; pero para quien quiera el relato completo aquí está Daniel, en su fábrica, orgulloso de narrarla.

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The food business has even more startups than the tech business: Every new restaurant, coffee cart, farm, dairy, and butcher shop is a story of micro-entrepreneurship. (In the case of restaurateurs who think very small, the advantages are clear.) The model is pretty straightforward: Come up with the idea, find the space, get the money, find your ingredients (preferably local and/or organic), sell your value-added product. But a new breed of owners are flipping the equation.

The most interesting large-scale food entrepreneurs are those who are building huge supply chains from scratch, and creating vertically integrated concerns that span the globe from farmer to consumer. They’re finding the ingredients and building the farms with millions of dollars worth of capital, then opening retail locations that will sell what they grow. The idea of growing a crop and then shepherding it through various processes and countries all the way to the final consumer is hardly new, of course. But it’s not generally how people start. It’s hard enough opening up a single restaurant or coffee shop; it seems crazy to try to do that while also creating dozens of other operations at the same time, especially when the failure of just one of them could doom the whole shebang.

Usually people in the food business try to nail down one aspect before moving on to the next. Steakhouse chain Le Relais de Venise, for instance, was founded by Paul Gineste de Saurs to provide an outlet for his family’s Château de Saurs winery, but only after the family had already mastered the wine-making part.

If you’re a Broadway and Hollywood star with money and a dream, however, there’s no need to go slow. Hugh Jackman’s Laughing Man Coffee & Tea does everything from growing coffee beans in Ethiopia to serving up a flat-white coffee (made with the same beans, naturally) on Duane Street in Tribeca, all while trying to build a business that will eventually generate substantial sums for educational charities. Jackman told Grub Street back in October that he hopes Laughing Man can grow into a brand as big as Newman’s Own, all started with a trip to a coffee farm in Ethiopia.

Maybe the most ambitious project to take this approach is Cacao Prieto, from Daniel Preston, an inventor who served as the CTO and CEO of Atair Aerospace until 2008. At its core, Cacao Prieto might appear to just be a chocolate company that started when Preston set up Brooklyn Cacao, which is devoted to designing, building, buying, refurbishing, fixing, selling, and generally dealing with the machinery needed to turn cacao beans into chocolate. Preston also set up a huge copper still to make what might be called the world’s first farm-to-bottle cacao-based rum. (You can buy it from Astor Wines, in fact.)

But while he was working on Prieto, Preston also set up Cacao Biotechnologies, a company that explores the antioxidant capabilities of cacao; and a farm in the Dominican Republic called Project Coralina that Preston thinks will revolutionize cacao farming in that country. (The country currently only produces 1.4 percent of the world’s cacao.) The whole operation is so massive, in fact, that it has nearly $10 million in equity holdings — $5 million of which was raised from outside investors — and has a formal filing with the SEC.

By growing their own raw ingredients from scratch, control-freak owners also cut out third-party purveyors. They have total command of their product’s quality from the very beginning, meaning they won’t have to worry about fluctuations affecting their supply.

Of course, to start a hugely ambitious project like Laughing Man or Cacao Prieto, it helps if you’re a millionaire aerospace executive, or one of the world’s most well-paid movie stars. But there’s something in the air right now, a feeling that with money cheap, it’s a good time to gamble. Banks like to play it safe in this industry, but there are lots of equity investors out there with the idea that there’s a small chance of hitting biotech gold. Which means the timing could be just right for a certain kind of food entrepreneur, the kind who thinks way big. Rather than building a business slowly with debt capital, they can build it fast with other people’s equity.

The risk-reward scenario on these kinds of projects is obviously much grander in scale than it is for the person who hopes to open a coffee shop in Brooklyn. Failure means potentially burning through tens of millions of other people’s dollars, and possibly ruining part of another country’s ecosystem. But success means a whole business built on a very solid foundation. Instead of the Chipotle model — building the successful business, then seeking to use size to influence more responsible farming practices — the sorts of businesses that are literally built from the ground-up can dictate their own supply initiatives from the get-go. If they’re successful, they might help change the way that food businesses get started — and help save the world while they’re at it.