Interview with Alfred van Acker from Acker & Go Distillery

Tell me a bit about your background! Where have you started as a distiller? Did you have any experience before iStill?

I have a background as a double bass player, so I used to play in the musical world, like at the Ballet of Flanders for example. I was living abroad as well, but after my divorce I came back to Belgium and wanted to start something new. My great-grandfather had a distillery in Lochristi and I had the intention to restart it. I was looking for some stills to buy and that’s when I found iStill. It was a very new company. I started the distillery at the end of 2016 and in 2017 I purchased a still from you. First, I made my gin elsewhere, but then I wanted to really do the job myself. I bought a 100 liter new generation iStill, so it was one of the first units of the new model. I'm very pleased about it. It's a wonderful piece of equipment. It's very versatile.

I am glad it suits your needs! Are you making only gin with it or have a more diversified portfolio?

I make gins, of course, because at that time it was the hype of the gin, but I also make some genever, which is very close to it. I do everything myself, from the fermentation to the distilling. I do a lot of fruit related spirits as well, like a kirsch or a calva, using some apples, pears and depending on the result, I put the product in a barrel or leave it clean. Rum, of course, we have to make rum. People are asking for rum. Whiskey as well, but the whiskey is an investment because you have to distill it and then you have to leave it alone for a few years. Although it is worth it, because people are taking you seriously when you make whiskey. Then you are seen as a big man with expertise. There is also a lot of expertise needed for other spirits, so it is very strange, but anyway. I make a kind of mezcal, based on agave syrup and a lot of liquors as well, like fruit liquors.

All of this you are making with that single 100 liter unit?

Yes, everything with the 100.

Do you also have an Extractor for the fruits?

Yes, I have that as well. I also had to buy another still because of the Belgian regulations, so actually that came first and then I could purchase an iStill.

Is it a traditional copper still?

Yes. When I was considering the iStill there was no option for an agitator, so I needed something else as well. Now I regret it, because the new iStill models already have that. Anyway, I'm still dreaming about buying another, bigger one, with some decent add-ons for the fermentation. That would be nice. It is an adventure, and a really fun one to take on. I'm working a lot with local ingredients, using as many botanicals locally as possible.

That sounds great, then you can really make your product unique to the area. What kind of botanicals are these?

Mainly plants and berries that grow around my home or in the region and have a lot of exciting flavour. With iStill I can extract them in different possible ways. It is so amazing what I can do with it, there are so many possibilities.

Indeed. Especially with the wide product range you have. You always have something new to try. What is the quantity that you are producing on a monthly or yearly scale?

Hmm I don’t actually know. I mainly distill in the spring and autumn, so it is a seasonal operation.

How many bottles do you sell a year?

I guess it is around 3000 if I count everything.

Where do you sell these bottles?

Mostly to bars and on the market around the church tower. In the summertime I do some markets here and there, craft product markets, as they call them. I have a stand there and it is always a success. I now have a store as well, a hardware store in the city where I live, and the people come especially to our place to buy the gins. It is a store dedicated to our products so it is really nice to have that opportunity to sell our products in our own store.

Locally produced, locally sold! So you don’t operate a webshop for longer distance orders?

We had a webshop during Corona, but after the pandemic it faded away.

Can you keep up with the demand with your 100? Aren’t you missing the extra sales that could be online?

Yes, the demand and my output with the machine matches perfectly. I make a lot of bottles upfront and when I see that the shelves are getting empty, I simply make some more.

Well-managed business! I want to ask you about your experience with iStill now. Is the machine living up to your expectations prior purchasing? Are you satisfied with this decision?

I'm very satisfied. I always tell my wife that it is wonderful. It is so easy to operate and the taste is great. The product that comes out of it is really full of flavour and that's what it is all about. You always get a very soft alcohol out of it and I hear other people saying that some alcohols are very aggressive in the mouth, but here it is very soft and nice. It is actually because you have all the control over the cuts, so probably that adds to it a lot.

Exactly. You have experience in working with a copper still at your distillery. How is the contrast between the two technologies?

Actually, I am not using the copper still with the same intensity as the iStill. It has to be included in the process based on Belgian law and I comply with that, but I am not using it for more than what is necessary, so I cannot really compare them.

I understand. Why would you use it if you have an iStill anyway, right? Earlier you mentioned that you want to follow your great-grandfather’s footsteps with opening a distillery. He must have used something like your traditional copper still. Are you able to recreate his recipes on the iStill, using a completely different approach?

Unfortunately, we do not have any records of his recipes from back in the day. I only have his alcohol meter from 1879. That is the only thing that’s left from his distillery. And the history of course with some stories. They were drinking the hot alcohol, as it was coming out of the stills. Crazy times.

Crazy times indeed. It is great that you have taken the same role as he had more than a 100 years ago though. He must have been proud. Bringing the conversation back to iStill, do you have any feedback for us? Things you would like us to work on in the near future?

I like the evolution of how you guys are putting it all together and that you think it all over. You are not afraid to rethink the iStill and that's a major plus. Always trying to improve things even when they are working fine, just to see if you can do something better. I am planning to redo the practical course, because I imagine it has changed a lot since I did it many years ago and I am curious about the new things added. Also, it is good to refresh everything.

Exactly. We have new equipment since you were here and the course material is always changing a little bit, so it could be useful. Do you have any proud moments, maybe some awards to share from your distilling journey?

I do not have any awards, because you also have to pay to be included in the competitions and I am not investing in them. The real awards I get are from my clients. My customers are very proud to buy a bottle from me. It is amazing that I can make spirits and people are actually buying my products. That's an award in itself.

Yeah, I guess if you have recurring customers, that's the best compliment, right? They're coming back and they want more, then you know you did your job right. What is the bestseller product?

The bestseller is the Gybergh 42. It is a genever based on lavender, hyssop and elderberries. I use both the flowers and the berries, so you have a nice smell and a great strong taste as well. That’s my best style. Also, there is a wooded version of it. I make a difference between wooded, in which case the wood is in the spirit, and the barrel, when the spirit is the wood. There is a big difference between them in taste.

You experimented a lot with various techniques as I see.

I cannot stop experimenting! The only obstacle is the law, because they say don’t do this and don’t do that, it is very strict. Feels like they are looking over my shoulder with a magnifier to see what I am doing, but I just keep experimenting because it is fun.

What are your future plans with experimenting and distilling?

I would like to buy a bigger one, like the 250 or 500 liters. I need a bigger space and also a smaller still for the experimentation. That's the plan, but I have only 16 or 18 square meters, where I do the fermentation. I have two stills, the copper still and the iStill. I do the bottling as well in that little area. It used to be a garage for one car.

Wow and you even have a separate fermenter in that space?

Yes, I ferment in a separate tank.

I guess not many people can fit inside the garage then, it is a one man operation. Do

you have employees?

It’s just me and my wife. I am mostly spending my time in the distillery.

It is your full time job then, right?

More than full time.

Do you spend on marketing or rely on word-of-mouth only?

For the moment, it is reduced to that. I used to go out in the first couple of years, I went to restaurants and did the marketing just to sell to add revenue. Nowadays people and organizations are coming to me and they say, “hey Alfred, just make me one gin” - and I make a recipe especially for them. Every recipe is unique, so it stays with me, but they are the only ones that I make that recipe for. It is not like I make a mainstream gin and then I add some stuff. The whole product is completely exclusive and it is much appreciated.

Sounds like you can get some great deals out of that. Do you want to add anything else to the end of this interview?

No, it is just fun. I love the instrument.

That’s a nice word for it!

For me it is an instrument. I come from a musical background, so I have to play with it. It is more than a tool, it is an instrument.