Bubbling stills, dark wooden barrels, colorful glass bottles. The process of alcohol creation evokes a lot of fantastic imagery and is in many ways a modern form of alchemy as much as a science. I’ve always found this process fascinating (even if I don’t drink all that much), so Paverson’s Distilled was immediately intriguing to me. Exhaustively researched and well-made, the first edition was a Kickstarter success and helped make Paverson’s name in the hobby world. Now a part of Flat River Games, a Second Edition has been released and I got the chance to check it out! So let’s see what rich notes and funky flavors that come with every game of Distilled.
What’s In The Box?
“Civilization begins with distillation”― William Faulkner
- 333 cards (56 x 87mm)
- 187 cardboard tokens
- 68 mini cards (41 x 63mm)
- 43 wooden tokens
- 20 large tasting flight cards
- 5 player boards
- 5 dual-layered recipe boards
- 5 large player reference cards
- 3 main game boards
- 2 rulebooks
- 3 removable source trays with lids and box organizer designed by Game Trayz
From the moment you open up the Distilled rulebook, you can tell that the people at Paverson have done their research in making the game as authentic as possible. Part of the reason that the game is SO big and SO detailed is the attention that was paid to showing off every aspect of a modern distillery while also capturing the unique cultural aspects that go into making spirits around the world.
The contents and pieces themselves are incredibly well made (of course any game using Game Trayz is going to have some quality work). I especially appreciate the all of the pieces have grooves and slots to place them into and it’s very natural to move your spirits from still to shelf. There’s also some very pleasing graphic design for each of the spirit labels that gives you a great snapshot of the vibe each one has. The art of the humans is a little weird, being halfway between cartoony and realistic, but they did a good job including a wider array of distillers as representatives of different traditions.
How’s It Play (Solo)?
“Here’s to alcohol, the rose colored glasses of life.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned
Distilled is played over seven rounds, with each round split up into phases that replicate the production process. For a solo game, the gameplay doesn’t change too much and I’ll not where it does differ when it comes up. Setup is pretty straightforward, though like many similar game it takes a LOT of time to get everything laid out perfectly where it needs to go. There’s a lot of moving parts and options in Distilled, and luckily the layout is fairly logical once you see it all done.
The Market phase is where you as a distiller purchase new items, ingredients, or upgrades for your distillery OR learn new recipes. The Basic Market is where the simple ingredients (yeast, water, etc.) and items (glass bottles and metal barrels) can be purchased and is always the same and fairly cheap. The Premium market is much more interesting with a selection of fun and powerful options that change every round and give you plenty of ways to make your distillation work special. Every spirit uses yeast and water and one of the sugars (grain, plant, or fruit). Every spirit gets distilled into a barrel and then either aged or put in a bottle. So at minimum you’ll be keeping these basic things in stock all seven rounds.
Distiller Upgrades are one of my favorite things you can buy during the game as they really help give you the sense that you’re managing a proper business and reveal more of the game’s sly sense of humor. I’m a particular fan of the “Hipster Distiller” and the Drone Security. Equal parts well-researched and silly, they also add plenty of ways to make you more money or make your production process more efficient.
The Distil phase is, for me, the most interesting part of the game. Having acquired the necessary ingredients for your chosen spirit, you now have to actually make it. To do this, you put water, yeast, and a sugar into your “washback,” then an alcohol will be added based on how much sugar you included. Then the cards are shuffled together and the top and bottom cards are removed, revealed, and put in your pantry for later. The remaining cards are the ones that you need to fill recipes: if you have ingredients and a barrel that match a recipe you know then ding ding ding! You have a spirit! Vodka and moonshine are basic and only need one of each basic ingredient, while more complex spirits like Whisk(e)y need two grain sugars, a wooden barrel, and you can’t use any fruit sugar. You then can claim that spirit’s label (if there is one) and make the spirit for either bottling or aging. It’s a really fun way to not just add some push-your-luck to the game but also replicate the sometimes volatile chemistry that goes into the creation of alcohol.
The Sell Phase is how you make your money, with some spirits going to sale immediately (vodka, moonshine) and others needing one or more rounds of aging before sale (brandy, rum). Aging a spirit is shaped by the barrel its placed in and introduces a flavor card to play, and the more you age a spirit the more flavors you add to the spirit. More flavors, more money. The end of the round has everyone do clean up, check to see if you’ve fulfilled one of the awards, and optionally hold a tasting in your distillery, which allow you to spend and receive SP if you didn’t sell any spirits that rounds.
Once you have the gameplay down you can start using different “tasting flights.” These bring in the broader range of spirits and represent a more international approach to your distilling or even a focus on aged or unaged spirits. Each one also pairs with certain geographic regions and their representative identities, creating a fun way to mix-and-match and add challenge.
The solo play of the game is almost identical to the regular play, though there are a few interesting tweaks. It gets rid of the distillery goals and prizes of the normal game (which rely heavily on competition between players) and replaces them with a diamond of goals that you lay out to start that you work through as you go through the seven rounds of the game.
At the end of the market round, you discard a B card from the deck and based on the chart on its back remove certain cards from the Premium market. Your goal is to fulfill a goal from each row of the cards with the removed items acting as your “opponent” taking away options. It’s not the most in-depth solo mode, but it’s a very relaxed method of play for when you want to immerse yourself in the game’s thematic elements.
The Verdict?
“Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough.”― Mark Twain
Distilled is a game aimed at a very specific kind of person and that person is me. I love the science of distillation and brewing, the cultural origins and significance of different spirits around the world, and the assorted ways it can be elevated from simple chemistry into a true art form. So from square one I was all about this game and I think anyone else interested in this process will get the very most out of it. Beyond that, it’s also a deeply impressive merging of game design with theming thanks to the extensive research and attention to detail on the part of its creators. Every choice, down to the semi-random nature of the distilling, reflects the real process. The complexity of the game simply adds to the sheer replayability on offer here.
Unfortunately I think the game’s biggest strength is also a bit of a weakness. As cool as it all is, the theme and game are so intertwined it does require a higher level of buy-in than less faithful games. This is NOT a game you would bring to a bar. It’s something you should savor and enjoy over the course of an evening. For people without a strong interest in distillation, or with only a casual interest in alcohol, the borderline educational nature could easily be a turn off. But I think this IS a title aimed at the enthusiast and to them I cannot recommend Distilled highly enough.
You can grab a copy of Distilled from the Paverson Games shop, Amazon, or your FLGS at an MSRP of $79.99. Various add-ons are available through Paverson’s store including the Africa & Middle East Expansion ($20.00), The Cask Strength Expansion ($15), Playmat ($15), and metal coins ($25). And be sure to check out Luthier, now on Kickstarter from Paverson.
Images via Paverson Games and 20th Century Fox
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