iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Inspired by Royals legend Freddy Patek, one of the shortest MLB players of all time, and some of my own childhood baggage, I wrote a story about bullying, baseball, and being short in the early 90s. It was published by The Sport Scribe! thesportscribe.com/fallen-limbs/

thesportscribe.com

Fallen Limbs - The SportScribe

He understands why kids target him. At fourteen years old, he’s among the shortest in his freshman class. Not just short. Thin like a sapling. Classmates have wrists thicker than his stick legs. And t...

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Haven’t played since 1996 probably, but these two cards always seemed like an unfair advantage.

Magic the Gathering card called Maze of Ith from The Dark series, 1994.

Magic the Gathering card called Nevinyrral’s Disk from 4th edition, 1995.

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

OK, late to the party on this, and it’s a classic movie rather than book, but: Dead Poets Anxiety

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

So there’s this annual raft race at the Regatta Festival in Kinsale. Owner of the brewery made a raft and I volunteered to row with four employees. Halfway through the harbor, it split in two and the other guys fell in the water. So me and the Viking distiller from Iceland kept on paddling…

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Even if they don’t have it this year, it was nice to see the Mets while in town. This was taken during the ten minutes when they had a lead.

Citi Field, as seen from section 419 on the third-base line.

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

You can add brandy to the list of diverse products Blacks Brewing & Distilling offers. My dad drank the super cheap stuff when I was growing up, so I was awfully surprised how good brandy could be when we bottled it this week. Very limited run, but it’s a treat if you are so inclined.

Picture of bottles filled with Irish brandy from Blacks Brewing & Distilling in Kinsale, Ireland.

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

It’s taken many years and much effort, but finally I’ve published something. No seriously, the short story is actually called Something.

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Sometimes working in a brewery/distillery means sampling cutting edge whiskey and craft beer, sometimes it means the Icelandic distiller brings in fermented shark and it would be disrespectful not to try it (yes, it was as gross as it sounds).

Photo of a plastic container of fermented shark on top of a whiskey barrel.

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Shout out to Jopen Brewery for this gem, my favorite of their extensive barrel-aged stuff (love the smoke!). Their Haarlem location is wonderful as well. Awesome high-ceiling bar with lots of big tables and a fantastic food menu. No better end to a long day of tulips! #Jopen

A picture of an empty bottle of Jopen Brewery’s Eat, Sleep, Peat, Repeat imperial stout.

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

This is kinda exciting. Fine, it’s just one inning, but the velocity is at pre-Tommy John levels. Can we give Max Meyer a pass for last season?

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Broken wing mishap at the distillery today. Don’t worry, good as new now.

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Shoutout to Casey’s Bar in Clonakilty for some solid bespoke urinal/unique keg recycling crossover…

Keg unrinals at Casey’s Bar in Clonakilty, Cork, Ireland.

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

My, this was longer than I had intended. Guess that’s enough for now. Maybe one day we could discuss the history of Irish whiskey and how it was shaped by an 18th-Century British tax. Until then, hope at least one person enjoys this... 36/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

One final cool fact: the color of whiskey is solely the byproduct of these barrels. The oak is charred on the inside and, based on how charred, determines how light or dark brown it gets. 35/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

The angel’s share accounts for the discrepancy in price between very-aged whiskey and the minimum three-year version. As you can imagine, what starts on day one as a full barrel is very-much not full after, say, 18 years. Thus, the $400 or so difference. 34/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

One downside to using wood: all the expanding and contracting in the varying temperatures creates evaporation. We lose 2 - 2 1/2% of the contents each year due to what the business calls “the angels share.” 33/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

When it’s cold, the whiskey tends to seep into the wood. When it’s warm (sort of) the whiskey comes out. This constant seeping and bleeding allows the liquid to impart all the flavors. 32/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

So why do these wood vessels influence the flavor so much? Well, in bonded warehouses, there are no temperature controls. Which means they are cold in the winter and warm in the summer (OK, fine, not so warm in the summer in Ireland). 31/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Other kinds of barrels used for aging: brandy (gentle oak and floral notes), rum (tropical fruit), sherry (dried fruit, raisins, nuts, and chocolate), port (dark fruits and spices), and in some rare cases mezcal (coffee, tobacco, smoke, and earth). 30/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

So most Irish Whiskey is aged in old bourbon barrels that were first used in America. These are said to add flavors like honey and coconut to the final product. 29/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Virgin oak casks are most common in the U.S., where they’re legally required for making bourbon, a whiskey whose mash needs to be mostly corn. Since the barrels can’t be used again for bourbon, they’re sold to places like Ireland that don’t have that rule. 28/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

The other reason aging is a big deal: the barrel you use has serious effects on the flavor. Fresh oak barrels (called virgin oak) are said to impart caramel, vanilla, and baking spice flavors, for example. 27/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Small distillers have to pick a bonded warehouse for aging. It’s how the government collects taxes. But I like to think of it as a way for them to ensure the quality of the world-renowned Irish Whiskey name. They at least make sure it’s aged for the minimum three-year period legally required. 26/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

So anyway, aging whiskey is a big deal. That process occurs in oak barrels and rules about aging differ around the world. In Ireland, you can’t just age whiskey wherever you feel like it. Throughout Ireland, there are actually government-sponsored facilities called bonded warehouses. 25/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Incidentally, you might have heard the term “triple distilled.” That just means that three stills have been used in the process like I described. The alternative would be to use a column still instead which works continuously and not in batches. Big whiskey producers use them more often. 24/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

At 20% ABV, the liquid is now a spirit. So it makes sense that the final two stills used are called the Spirit Stills. Again, we kind of just repeat the process until we’re left with a clear liquid that is 63.5% ABV. We call it “new make,” but really it’s just whiskey that hasn’t been aged yet. 23/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

We send the 20% clear alcohol into a collection tank. After a while, the hydrometer tells distillers that the alcohol level is falling under 20%. Which means they need to stop collecting and return the rest of the liquid to the still. We’ll repeat the process until we have a full tank. 22/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

The hydrometer is important. Have you heard stories of people going blind from drinking moonshine? (Or in Ireland they call it poteen?) Well, that’s not just a myth. The first stuff that comes out is sort of toxic. When the hydrometer reads 20%, the methanol is gone and it’s safe to collect. 21/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

At a colder temperature, the steam turns back into liquid form, a now-clear liquid with a higher concentration of alcohol. It goes through a pipe which leads to something called the vault. The vault has a thermometer thingy inside that is called a hydrometer. It measures the level of alcohol. 20/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

So the alcohol turns into a steam or vapor. And it travels up the narrower tube of the still. This section is called the Lyne Arm. It keeps traveling higher until it reaches the top of a long pole. That’s where the cooling condenser is located. 19/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

So we put a fermentor full of wash into the first still. Because we’re adding wash, we call it the Wash Still. We turn the temperature up to 92 degrees C (197 F). At that temperature, the alcohol will boil but the water will not. 18/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

What do stills do? Really, the whole thing is just a big science experiment. The idea is to draw the alcohol out of the wash. And that is possible because alcohol has a lower boiling point than water does. 17/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Now we’re ready for distilling! If you’ve never seen one, this is what a whiskey still looks like. Fun fact: in Ireland, it is customary to name stills after women. This one is named after Anne Bonny, a beloved 18th Century pirate born in Kinsale. 16/

Bonny, a whiskey still at Blacks Brewing & Distilling.

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Fermentation usually lasts three to seven days. In the case of whiskey making, it will be the longer end of that spectrum. And essentially, what you’re left with after seven days is just strong beer (8 to 12% ABV) without hops. We don’t call it beer though. It’s called whiskey wash. 15/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

…and before you know it, the stopper will blow right off the top of your fermentor, beer will explode all over the clothes in your closet, and your wife’s anger will be renewed every time she walks into her brewery-smelling bedroom for the next month or so. Live and learn! 14/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

The other byproduct, incidentally, carbon dioxide, is a gas. It builds up quickly in the early days of the fermentation. Many home brewers, including me, learn the hard way about how powerful it can be. If you don’t have an appropriate blow-off tube, pressure will build and build… 13/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I don’t tell people this on tours I give (seems like it would be a buzz kill), but yes, beer - and whiskey before it’s distilled - is essentially yeast excrement. 12/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Simple sugar is the favorite (only) food for yeast. If you keep the conditions inside the tank ideal, it will keep eating. Like anything else that eats, waste is created. In the case of yeast, its natural byproducts are carbon dioxide and alcohol. 11/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Fermentation is a natural process. We introduce distiller’s yeast, a microscopic organism, to the wort. And, in a high-oxygen environment, at about room temperature, the yeast will propagate in the liquid. Meaning it reproduces exponentially. Then, once the oxygen runs out, it’s feast time. 10/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Whiskey will go through a distillation process, so its wort doesn’t need to boil. And also unlike beer, we won’t add any hops. Instead, the wort is cooled down, oxygen is added, and we transfer the mixture to a different gigantic vessel called the fermentor. 9/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Mashing takes about an hour. Once the grains are ejected, in a process called lautering, what you’re left with is a sugary liquid called wort. If you’re making beer, it would be boiled in a kettle with hops being added at various stages. But this is where the process of making whiskey veers off. 8/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

The crushed grains are then moved to a big tank. And in that tank is a whole lot of hot water (65C or 150F). At that temperature, enzymes in the grains are activated, and the starches are converted into simple sugars. It’s a process called mashing. And so the tank is called the mash tun. 7/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Once your grain bill is all sorted, the husks are cracked open by something called a grist mill. They’re not so much ground up like coffee. The brewer just needs the inside of the grain to be exposed. I pulled a random video of what that looks like: m.youtube.com/watch?v=kZnu... 6/

m.youtube.com

Short Video of My First Use of The Barley Crusher Grain Mill

YouTube video by JakeCpuNut

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Malting barley is a whole industry. It can be used to make beer, whiskey, foods, and feed for livestock. Most distilleries don’t malt their barley themselves, but send it to a specialized facility just for that purpose. 5/

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Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

If you’ve ever seen the term Single Malt Irish Whiskey, that means that only malted barley is used. It’s often more expensive than a blend because to malt barley requires an extra step, and thus costs more. 4/

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