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.
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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. 😎
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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?? 🤔
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Distilled comes with fantastic trays to house all your components! This was a really nice surprise.
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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!
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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.
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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 🥃