April 2024 Update: Back in the Saddle
Added 2024-04-10 13:29:52 +0000 UTCHere are some quick updates about the course, the denial-of-service attack and a few resources to help you on your beverage development journey.
Now that the Flavour & Beverage Development course is running smoothly and discounts have been emailed out, it is time to get back to making general video content and info sheets. If you didn't receive one and plan to take the course, let me know, as the discount is the amount you've put into Patreon to date. If you are a new patron and plan on taking the course, if you sign up for a yearly membership, I will discount that from the price of the course. If you have questions, let me know.
If you have requests, post them below. I plan to revisit the aged Ginger Ale and finish the carbonated water series with the counter-pressure filling system as well as some additional using ingredients safely videos plus I should probably promote the course with a YouTube video or two. As a patron, I wanted to give everyone early access.
Course Launch DDOS
For those curious, this is what the denial-of-service attack looked like on the day of the beverage course launch. Somebody bought 500,000 requests and targeted them at the edu.artofdrink.com domain right at the hour of release. To me, this is just validation that what I am providing has real value, and someone does not want you to have it.
My guess is that some irked consultant feels their monopoly and excessive development fees are at risk with this information out there. But have no doubt that this DDOS did cause me a week of headaches as the security features used to slow down the attack messed up the site. And it really f*cked up the launch, which I'm a bit disappointed about but some people are jerks, so congrats to the jerk you won that week.
Resources
For those looking for information on flavour compounds, a trade publication called Perfume & Flavorist has lots of free content about working with flavours. So if you are getting into beverage development, this is a good resource.
Book on Beverages
A good free book to see the progress of beverage development up to 1939 is Beverage Manufacture (Non-Alcoholic) by R. Harold Morgan (1939). It is interesting to read the Foreword, written by Leonard Speight (President of the National Union of Mineral Water Manufacturers), as he mentions the paucity of information on the subject, which is the same today as it was yesterday, and the lack of new developments, which he calls a rut.
This is pretty much the exact problem I'm trying to solve just 85 years later, and your support is what allows us to do it.
Course Certificates
The design is done, and now I'm just getting them printed. Once they are here, I'll begin mailing them out to those who complete the course.
Eclipse
Off-topic, but the total solar eclipse was cooler than I thought it would be. My son took this photo, handheld, with an Olympus E-M5 Mk III during totality on the edge of Lake Erie, where we are planting a small vineyard. (Photo Credit: Fionn O'Neil)
That is it for this update; thanks for your support, and if you have questions, please let me know, I'm here to help.
Comments
Wow, this was an interesting read. I guess I'm not surprised this DDOS happened, I'd just like to say I'm grateful for what you put out for us. I found you on a whim when looking into making energy drinks and I've been hooked to your videos since. I have been moving into that direction of making energy drinks of my own to cut down on my personal expenses as these times are rough, would love to see more about them or their different flavors if possible. I'm particularly interested in the flavors Monster uses in their Ultra sugar free line of drinks, Ultra White is my favorite, however I've no idea what they use in their drinks to flavor them that way, but it definitely tastes like lemon and grapefruit to me. A resource/direction or a video with a recipe on these if you can figure out any combination of flavors that come close to it would be amazing. Thanks again for what you do.
temperance
2025-02-21 17:35:34 +0000 UTCThanks Tony, and yes putting the course together was a lot of effort, especially the part where I had to listen to myself talk over and over again during editing. Now I know how my wife feels. And yes, I have plans to make the video, a few people have suggested it as a Patreon only video, and that I can justify. So it is on my shgort list of things to do.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2024-05-21 22:53:30 +0000 UTCGreat work on the soda course. Must have been a mountain of effort involved. In your most recent update video you alluded to the indefinite hiatus of Carbonation video #5 (bottle filling) and that your current plans does not include completing the series due to the cost/benefit analysis. I can well appreciate your position. I also can't help but feel like a fan of a television series where the previous season was left on a cliff hanger and then the series was canceled. Does Timmy make it out of the well? You said "Don't waste your time with these carbonation delivery techniques as they pale in comparison to the next one I'm going to show you..." I have some great tasting sodas thanks to you but can't help but think I'm doing them a disservice by serving them in flatish water. Would it be possible to write a bit about the equipment you were going to share with us on the video so we can perhaps get a better direction? My current counter pressure rig struggles past 32ish PSI and would love to hear of suggestions on a better setup than what I can get at the local brew supply store.
tony williams
2024-05-20 15:12:21 +0000 UTC
