Experiment № 1 · Released
Valence Vodka
Clean by design. Collected from the controlled center of an advanced separation process.
The full storyRapid City · South Dakota
Clean by design
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A working distillery · An experimental laboratory
Clean by design · Rapid City, South Dakota
Follow the process
01 · Select
Every finished product begins with the quality of its raw material. We select and evaluate the spirit before it ever enters the purification system.
02 · Separate
Different compounds behave differently under changing temperature and pressure. Plate by plate, the column takes advantage of those differences — separating more precisely than a single pass ever could.
03 · The cut
Light compounds travel with the vapor and leave from the top. Heavy compounds stay with the liquid and leave from the bottom. Between the cut lines, we collect only the controlled center.
04 · Measure
The run is monitored, sampled, and adjusted — operating data, analytical measurement, and human judgment on every batch.
05 · Bottle
Every bottle begins as an experiment. This one is Batch № VA-001.
Every bottle begins as an experiment.
Experiment № 1 · Released
Clean by design. Collected from the controlled center of an advanced separation process.
The full storyExperiment № 2 · In development
Can the interactions of wood, oxygen, heat, and time be understood — and intentionally controlled?
Hypothesis stageExperiment № 3 · In development
Botanicals, fruit, grain, and wood — flavor depends on how ingredients are treated, not just chosen.
Hypothesis stageAdvanced separation, explained without the lecture. Light compounds out the top, heavy out the bottom — we keep the clean center.
Explore the processGuided experiments you can run at home with household items and a bottle of Valence. Change one variable. Observe.
Enter the labBatch № VA-001 is in the wild. Find a bottle, scan the code, and see exactly how it was made.
Find a bottleSpirits, reconsidered
Most spirits begin with the same familiar tools: fermentation, heat, distillation, barrels, and time. Chemistry Distilling begins with those traditions — then asks,what else is possible? We are not rejecting tradition. We are studying it, testing it, and building on it.
Temperatures, pressures, densities — the process is monitored and adjusted with data.
Every idea becomes a hypothesis. Every batch becomes an experiment.
Instruments tell us a spirit is clean. People tell us it is good.
The Chemistry Lab
Guided experiments anyone can perform at home with household items and a bottle of Valence. Change one variable at a time. Observe the results. That's the whole method.
One vodka, three temperatures, three noticeably different drinks.
30 minutes (plus 2 hours of chilling) · easyEXPERIMENT #002Water isn't cheating — it's an instrument. Find the proof where flavor opens up.
20 minutes · easyEXPERIMENT #003Same vodka, three glasses, three different noses. Geometry is flavor.
15 minutes · easyFrom the laboratory notebook
We tasted the same vodka across the whole range from freezer-cold to room temperature. The freezer lost. So did the shelf.
ENTRY #026 · CONCLUDEDWe filtered the same spirit five different ways and tasted blind. Filtration is a real tool — and an easy one to overuse.
ENTRY #018 · ONGOINGPulling a vacuum over spirit and oak changes the pace of extraction — but extraction was never the hard part. This one is still running.
Track your experiments, log tasting notes, and earn your place in the lab.
Become a Citizen Scientist