Tips distilled

Clearing Up Specifics

If you acquire a card during the start of a round with a "Start of Round" ability, you can trigger it immediately.

You cannot distill more than one spirit per round, even if you have the ingredients, because you only have one washback. Any extra ingredients added to the washback add to the recipe's sell value and prestige, as well mitigating the chance of you pulling out the sugars needed for your spirit.

You can trigger any "Once per Distill Phase" abilities anytime during the Distill phase in any order.

After distilling, your spirit may qualify to become more than one spirit (assuming you've learned the recipe and have the correct type of barrel). Don't be afraid to change your mind.

You can only gain a maximum of 15 VP from selling an aged spirit. Any excess flavors contribute to the sell value.

Signature recipes, Vodka, and Moonshine have no tier. They do not count towards goals such as "gain 4 bronze recipe cubes".

The personal goal "Skip the Easy Stuff" (have/tie for the most bronze, silver, or gold tier spirit labels) refers to the highest sum of all bronze, silver, and gold labels. Meaning, if you have one gold label, two silver labels, and one bronze label, you have four labels counting towards this goal.

"Doig Ventilator" and "Malting Floor" can add flavors to non-aged spirits. However, you can only gain the money from these flavor cards, not the points. You only get points from flavors in aged spirits.

For "Color X Glass Bottle" goals, any bottles with the matching region icon, as well as any bottles that have the "Distiller's Region" icon , count towards the goal. The actual region of the distiller character (e.g. Europe, Americas, Asia & Oceania) is not taken into account.

If you fail to make your Signature Spirit, but your Signature Ingredient remains in the washback, it is gone forever.

General Strategy

Because two cards from the recipe are returned to you, you may want to include more sugars than necessary in the mix to increase the chances of getting the spirit you want.

Try to profit from non-aged spirits so you can later afford more valuable recipes.

Always age as early as you can. Try to gain at least four points before you distill an aged spirit, so you can gain some money with a tasting. Hopefully, you should have the cards in your pantry to make a little from Moonshine/Vodka after making an aged spirit.

Any round you fail to distill anything at all is a complete loss. If a distillery upgrade valuable enough to not distill is up early, get it with your first label.

Pay attention to your signature recipe and how valuable it is compared to the other recipes on your flight. It may not be worth as much as others.

Distillery upgrades get their greatest value when they are purchased early. The following upgrades are recommended:

• Doig Ventilator: This allows you to add flavor to every spirit, augmenting the money and points (for aged spirits) you can get.
• Distillery Tour Guide: Great if gained in rounds 1-2 or 6-7, but not in the middle of the game.
• Orchard/Greenhouse/Farmer: Good if you can obtain the one that matches your strategy.
• Modern Mill: If you can use this at least six times, you will save $12.
• Intern Researcher: Almost always pays for itself and gives flexibility to change strategy if you don't get the spirits you want. Can be combined with distiller awards for 2 gold or 3 silver recipes to gain extra points.
• Glassblower/Glassworks: Bottles are a solid source for points per round.
• Tropical Warehouse: You can buy this after you distill your spirit and still benefit. It won't make you more money, but it gets you points.

Character Evaluations

Name	Picture	Home Region	Type	Notes
Gunnhild Hellström		Europe	All-around	More freedom to gain water gives extra money and foreknowledge of upcoming cards. With her, making Aquavit is easy.
Nisha Sakuhar		Asia & Oceania	All-around	Goods from the basic market are cheap and useful in any spirit to mitigate bad luck. Plus, yeast and water have only benefits, not costs. Weak signature recipe.
Sakai Sōtarō		Asia & Oceania	All-around	Gaining $1 per turn has no drawbacks.
Nathan Migizi		Americas	Strategic	Starting with the Whiskey recipe and $4 means you can start aging whiskey on round 2. This should allow you to get two whiskey spirits plus your signature recipe out before the end of the game.
Jacqueline Booker		Americas	Strategic	If you focus on grain-based spirits, the extra water and yeast synergize to gain better value than normal. Don't neglect to make her signature recipe--it gives a whopping 17 points.
Jeong Ji-Na		Asia & Oceania	Strategic	The discounts give a significant advantage in the early game, but whether it pans out in mid- to late-game depends on what cards turn up. Her signature ingredient is weak, so use her signature ingredient in a more valuable recipe.
Fáng Xīn		Asia & Oceania	Fast Starter	Maybe the best starter with $5 and the ability to peek at what cards are coming.
Ruthless Ajani		Americas	Fast Starter	Maybe second best starter with $4 and a discount on bottles, which are solid contributors to spirit value. Bottles can also be traded in for basic ingredients if needed.
The Brown Brothers		Asia & Oceania	Fast Starter	Starting with $4, water, and yeast means it's easy to work your way up the flight list quickly. Weak signature recipe.
Brother Vicente		Europe	Fast Starter	This character's ability to gain more money than usual from sold spirits means you should heavily invest in bottles from the start. Heavily situational and unreliable.
Joana Peri de Sousa		Americas	Fast Starter	More money for spirits that don't need to age means you can start earning big in round one.
Pillar del Fuego Escalante		Americas	Luck Dependent	Winning with this character means depending on aged spirits, which means getting the sugars and barrels you need when you need them. His signature recipe is 19 points!
Guillermo Osorio Romero		Americas	Luck Dependent	It's hard to gain from his ability until the mid-game, when you can afford multiple sugars without difficulty.
Anne McAdam		Europe	Luck Dependent	Only pays off with spirits that are three rounds old or more, which is hard to make happen in a seven-round game.
Angus Douglas		Europe	Luck Dependent	Not a powerful ability, as it only pays off with aged spirits. Mathematically, it increases the average money gained from a flavor card from $1.5 to $2.25. 20 points for his signature recipe.
Etienne d'Eau-Claire		Europe	Luck Dependent	Distillery upgrades are expensive enough that a discount doesn't make much difference. Plus, it depends on whether the upgrades you want are available.
Juliana de la Cruz		Asia & Oceania	Challenging	The ability to gain money sometimes makes her character nearly useless.
Mother Mary Genever		Europe	Challenging	A discount on basic market cards only benefits you depending on what strategy you are playing. Generally considered the weakest character.

Odds of Keeping Sugars Per Number of Cards

This table will help with understanding what your chances are of ending up with the number of sugars you need to distill certain spirits. In other words, it answers the question "if I distill X sugars with Y other ingredients, what are my chances of ending up with a washback with Z sugars?" It should help you to figure out whether to add that extra ingredient or not.

One Sugar

		Chance of ending with 0 sugars	Chance of ending with 1 sugar
# of Other Ingredients	2	50%	50%
	3	40%	60%
	4	33%	67%
	5	29%	71%
	6	25%	75%

Two Sugars

		Chance of ending with 0 sugars	Chance of ending with 1 sugar	Chance of ending with 2 sugars
# of Other Ingredients	2	7%	53%	40%
	3	4%	48%	48%
	4	4%	44%	54%
	5	3%	39%	58%
	6	2%	36%	62%

Three Sugars

		Chance of ending with 0 sugars	Chance of ending with 1 sugar	Chance of ending with 2 sugars	Chance of ending with 3 sugars
# of Other Ingredients	2	0%	11%	53%	36%
	3	0%	9%	50%	41%
	4	0%	8%	46%	46%
	5	0%	5%	44%	51%
	6	0%	4%	41%	55%

Four Sugars

		Chance of ending with 0 sugars	Chance of ending with 1 sugar	Chance of ending with 2 sugars	Chance of ending with 3 sugars	Chance of ending with 4 sugars
# of Other Ingredients	2	0%	0%	14%	53%	33%
	3	0%	0%	10%	50%	40%
	4	0%	0%	9%	49%	42%
	5	0%	0%	8%	46%	46%
	6	0%	0%	6%	44%	50%

Five Sugars

		Chance of ending with 0 sugars	Chance of ending with 1 sugar	Chance of ending with 2 sugars	Chance of ending with 3 sugars	Chance of ending with 4 sugars	Chance of ending with 5 sugars
# of Other Ingredients	2	0%	0%	0%	15%	53%	32%
	3	0%	0%	0%	13%	51%	36%
	4	0%	0%	0%	11%	49%	40%
	5	0%	0%	0%	10%	48%	43%
	6	0%	0%	0%	8%	46%	46%