Kristine Hui, a graduate of the Brewing and Brewery Operations Diploma program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, was the first Canadian contestant on U.S.-based Discovery TV show Moonshiners: Master Distiller.
The show, now in its sixth season, follows America’s top distillers competing against each other to create the best handcrafted spirits to win the title of master distiller.
Hui was asked to come to set in 10 days, a year after she had submitted her audition tape.
“It was very interesting because I had never been to Tennessee before. It was a bit of a culture shock actually, but I did learn some interesting backwoods distilling techniques from the other contestants,” she said.
Read the bead, as Hui learned, involves shaking the beverage in a jar. How quickly bubbles disappear is how to gauge alcohol percentage.
“I struggled a lot because professional distillers are actually at a disadvantage in the show. In a professional setting, when you’re measuring the alcohol percentage you use tools like a hydrometer, but they didn’t let us use any tools. They just told me you need to learn to read the bead.”
She brought malted barley on the show and prepared the time-consuming process of extracting liquid from grains.
“Because I did a lot of brewing with malted barley in the KPU brewing program, I got used to using malted barley. So I thought I should stick to what I know and bring malted barley onto the show,” Hui explained.
“But that ended up being a huge mistake because this is a show about backwoods distilling, and the other contestants just brought molasses or table sugar, and all they had to do was add some warm water to it and it was ready to use.”
Hui’s interest in brewing stems from a childhood interest in making things and enjoying cooking. Her dad suggested she try the KPU brewing program, and it was the first time she started to make alcohol, naturally progressing from brewing to distilling.
“Brewing is the basis for distilling. You have to do a brewing process before you can do the distilling process. So, the KPU brewing program was a really great foundation for me,” Hui said.
Following her distilling interest, Hui ended up working in the United Kingdom for two years, including the Borders Distillery in Scotland and the Shakespeare Distillery in England – at which she won a silver medal at the 2021 International Wine and Spirits Competition.
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