Distilleries and brewers
Vanilla that macerates the same way every time
In a spirit, vanilla has time on its side. Weeks of maceration will pull almost everything a bean has to give, which changes what is worth paying for.
What decides in your trade
Appearance is not what you are buying
A long supple pod costs more because it looks good in a jar. Once it has sat three weeks in alcohol, nobody sees it. Cuts and shorts carry comparable aromatic material at a lower cost per kilo, and this is the single easiest saving a craft producer can make.
Alcohol strength changes what comes out
A high-proof maceration pulls different compounds from a lower one, and pulls them faster. The dose that works in a 60% base will read differently at 40%. This is a process variable, not a supplier one, but it decides the quantity you order.
Batch to batch consistency, again
A spirit is judged against the last bottle a customer drank. A grade committed to a range for vanillin lets you keep a recipe fixed across a year of production, which matters more than a peak figure on one lot.
Spent beans still have value
After maceration, beans retain material that some producers reuse, dry and grind, or resell. Worth knowing before you treat them as waste, and worth factoring into your real cost per litre.
What we supply for this use
Volumes
Craft distilleries and brewers typically order between 5 and 50 kg, once or twice a year, sized on a production plan rather than on a season. Larger liqueur producers move into the hundreds of kilos.
Questions we get asked
Should I buy gourmet grade for maceration?
Rarely. Gourmet is priced on appearance, which is irrelevant once the pod is in alcohol. Cuts, shorts and drier grades give comparable results in a maceration at a lower cost per kilo.
How long should vanilla macerate?
It depends on your alcohol strength, the temperature and the profile you are after, and producers differ widely. What we can tell you is which grade suits a long maceration and which is wasted on one.
Can I get the same profile next year?
Within a range, yes. Vanilla is agricultural, so two harvests differ. We commit to a range and provide a certificate of analysis per lot, which lets you adjust the dose rather than discover the change in the bottle.