We often describe distilling as a craft or an art—terms that focus on the creativity and hand-crafted facets of the job. However, a major aspect of producing distilled spirits is the importance of consistency.
Outside the rare distillery that openly embraces a winery-style “vintage” approach to its products—actively setting an expectation that products may be different from batch to batch and year to year—consumers expect a company’s products to be the same from one bottle to another. That’s true regardless whether those bottles are from different batches, different crop years, different distillers, or even different distilleries within the company.
One of the essential tools to ensure this level of reliability is the standard operating procedure. SOPs are invaluable documents that detail a variety of essential, regularly repeated tasks around the distillery so that all team members are executing the same steps in the same way.
Inconsistency is built into distilling, which is ultimately reliant on inconsistent agricultural products. Barrels filled with the same spirit and aging on the same rack can turn out dramatically different; one barrel may be much better at three or four years, while the other may surge ahead and be superior at seven or eight years. SOPs help to reduce that kind of variability where possible, keeping the distillery team safe and pulling in the same direction.
SOPs Are the Details
SOPs consist of detailed, step-by-step instructions outlining specific processes.
Depending on the breadth of the operations, a distillery may have a few SOPs or a wide range of them, detailing everything from mashing methods to cleaning the bottling line. These instructions are specific to a given distillery—they’re not widely applicable instructions that focus on theory, but rather equipment-specific processes.
One of the most essential aspects of good SOPs is the level of detail. All the steps in a process should be explained in a way that any operator with a conceptual understanding of the steps involved can successfully follow and execute them. A distiller with a general understanding of clean-in-place procedures, for example, should be able to walk into a distillery with good SOPs and properly clean a vessel according to the distillery’s processes.
While an SOP needs to include specific details, it doesn’t need to include basic details that a qualified operator should already know. For example, an SOP doesn’t need to include details about how to secure hoses or which port on a pump is “in” versus “out.” The operator should be able to figure out how to plug in equipment, though a facility’s specific quirks—for example, when you can’t plug multiple pieces of high-voltage equipment into the same circuit—should be noted.
Instructions need to be concise and clear so that the reader can easily understand them. Complex processes should be broken down into smaller, numbered, or bulleted steps (or sub-steps). Lengthy descriptions that may be several sentences to a paragraph long should be broken down into multiple, digestible bits.
Steps should detail one action to be performed on one piece of equipment, possibly with a measurable result to target. For example, this level of detail shouldn’t be “turn on cooling” or “open the cooling valve.” Instead, it should be “open the valve labeled ‘glycol’ on the right side of the cooker all the way,” or “open the valve marked ‘cold liquor’ until the water outflow stabilizes at 85°F (29°C) on XYZ readout.”
The best way to ensure that level of detail is to actually bring in a qualified operator from outside the company to walk through the SOPs and identify any missing information. Realistically, it’s easier to have existing team members work through a draft SOP, but it’s important to do this with an eye on carefully following the written procedures without relying on any additional knowledge of the system that may not be written down.
Value for Training
While an SOP should be detailed enough for a knowledgeable outside operator to follow, it isn’t a substitute for proper training. However—whether it is printed in a binder or shared online—an SOP can be used as the primary training material when introducing an experienced employee to a new process.
Using the SOPs to train distillery staff members achieves multiple goals. First, it aligns the written material with the practical training that staff members receive. It familiarizes team members with each SOP and its verbiage, so that they are comfortable with the process itself, as well as with the SOP as a backup layer of instructional documentation.
Using the SOP as a framework for training staff also helps to identify any holes in the written content. If trainees have process-related questions that aren’t addressed in the SOP, that information should be flagged for inclusion.
Living Documents
SOPs are living documents that should continue to evolve as the distillery’s methods change and improve.
They should be easily available at or near the location where the work is being performed to provide a quick reference, and the team should review them periodically to ensure that the SOPs remain up to date.
While an SOP may begin as a top-down document that establishes proper procedures as outlined by an owner or manager, it can continue to evolve through a bottom-up approach as distillers accumulate knowledge and time on a task, gradually identifying opportunities for improvement. The more that the development of SOPs is a broad, team-based exercise, the more buy-in that team members will have, as well.
As techniques improve or equipment gets upgraded, SOPs and training need to stay up-to-date. Especially in a new distillery, methods can evolve quickly, leading to multiple approaches practiced by various team members. When the team identifies a change that is more efficient or results in better flavor or a more effective cleaning process, or when new raw materials or cleaning chemicals are introduced, it’s important to re-train the entire team so the changes roll out uniformly.
Key to Consistent Quality
The use of SOPs in conjunction with proper training can help to avoid a situation where multiple individuals have slightly different methods and opinions on the “best” way to execute a task or process.
Where team members diverge from the SOPs, it can lead to product variability and loss of efficiency. A whiskey distillery that has distillers setting fermentations differently or making cut points in different places will experience unplanned variations from barrel to barrel. That may be desirable when initially establishing a product line or when releasing unique one-off products, but it doesn’t help the distillery create a consistent product upon which consumers can rely.
Ignoring SOPs elsewhere in the facility—such as in blending, proofing, or bottling—can also lead to products that are out of the distillery’s target specifications. Veering off from established procedures during some operations, such as those using hot liquor or strong chemicals, can even create health and safety hazards.
While distilling can be a creative process, most tasks require consistency rather than artistry so that products can come out the same way every time. Carefully developed SOPs, paired with thorough training, create repeatability and help a small distillery to consistently hit its mark.