Bob Dillon of Dismal Harmony Refines Flavors with Creative Flair

Bigger world events have a way of bringing clarity and focus to individual goals, and for Bob Dillon of Dismal Harmony, the COVID pandemic gave him just the push he needed to change careers and explore the technical and creative side of craft distilling. Now, from his outpost in Morristown, New Jersey, he’s focused on both serving boundary-pushing cocktails and creating the spirits to make them possible. A recent Best in Show award for his Vidisha’s Masala liqueur from the American Craft Spirits Association’s 2025 competition is proof that his focus on finding new flavor expressions (within the confines set out by the TBB) is paying dividends.

In this episode, Dillon and host Sydney Jones discuss:

• the challenges in opening a craft distillery
• balancing technical precision and artistic creativity across a range of spirits
• building a high-end tasting room with a refined cocktail program to support the distillery’s business plan
• distillery techniques for achieving great results with challenging ingredients
• working up to the edge of the TTB’s generally recognized as safe (GRAS) ingredients list
  

And more.

G&D Chillers: G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.