It was the end of August 2022. I pre-ordered a game that sat high on my wishlist since I first learned of it; Distilled.
A few months go by, and the hope of it arriving for Christmas 2022 was fading. There were hold ups in production and shipping (of course). I started 2023 with optimism, figuring by my birthday in early February I'd be distilling my own spirits like a pro... but hope faded again. By March and April it seemed like everyone else was receiving their copies of this elusive game, including some others in Canada. Yet, I waited.
FINALLY, last Thursday May 4th (of all wonderful days!!) it finally arrived and found its new home. 😎
I first of all couldn't get over the size of the box. Just a touch bigger than Tapestry. Wow. Decent size. I wonder what's inside?? 🤔
Distilled comes with fantastic trays to house all your components! This was a really nice surprise.
Here's the card draw before unwrapping the decks. Notice the "STOP" paper on the left?? So this double sided sheet of paper I found at the top of the box as I opened it has a pretty neat little trick; Don't throw out the punchboards after punching your components. 😮 It suggests putting all of those empty punchboards underneath the above tray, which sits them at the bottom of the box. These now act as a riser for you and allows everything to side nicely flush in the box when you put the game away. 😃 Cool!! Now that's recycling!
Wonderful rulebooks accompany this beautiful looking game, including a step by step "first taste" book if you prefer. The rulebook is about the size of the Brass Birmingham book. Lots of pictures, and easy to read rules.
Here's some of my trays filled with my components. 😁 Awesome!
**Sadly to report, as I type this on Tuesday May 9th, I have only settled down this past weekend to a half-two handed playthrough to get the idea of the game. This could be a record for me, as when a new game arrives I get right to it. But, sometimes, life gets in the way right? At least it's home now.
What I can say so far is the production quality is fantastic, the strategy is going to be excellent and the rules are pretty smooth from what I can tell so far. Just before stopping on Saturday afternoon, I managed to make a batch of Whiskey to sell (my personal fav) and a nice dark rum as well. 🙂
I can't wait to sit down to learn the solo mode (sometime) this week!!! I will absolutely provide some thoughts as usual. 😉
Play responsibly 🥃