Distilled: A Spirited Strategy Game, Highly-Thematic Euro Game, Strie for The Title of Master Distiller, 30 Minute Play Time, for 1 to 5 Players, Ages 14 and up

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With two sets of goals (public and private) and also the bottle set collection and the different regions and signature recipes and trying to remember the scoring on your upgrade cards, I felt there were a lot of little things that could easily get lost in the mix, especially as you're trying to get your head round how distilling works. The game has a lot of other aspects like the vessel you age your spirits in to the bottle you sell them off in each giving a certain bonus to you. On the flip side there is a first game guide which will take each player through a few turns to get them into it, in much the same vein as Wingspans Quick Start guide. Sell Phase – Players can add bottle their spirits, score spirit points, receive money and gain a label bonus. Premium Ingredients which will go towards making your spirits and are the same types as the basic ingredients, except these are worth money and points if they’re used in your recipes.

Don’t get me wrong, I am far past the ‘iron liver Dan’ days of my youth and waking up in car show room entry ways holding on to half eaten cheesecake slices. Choose whether to age your spirits to enhance their flavor, or immediately bottle them to sell it for quick profit. Nothing is quite like the sigh of relief that players feel when they don’t pull out the one grain they distilled and can make shōchū instead of moonshine. Spending an entire round to pull together everything you need to make a big point scorer, only to see it turn to vodka all because of a bad draw can be really frustrating.

I have found that in rounds six and seven, sometimes players have so much money they can’t spend it all. Use cards to purchase new ingredients and invest in upgrades to your distillery, all while eventually distilling the spirit and sending it to the warehouse. There’s a barrel-shaped pyramid (yes, I know that makes no sense) of goal cards to achieve during the seven rounds the game lasts. Although I have known many people over the years that have collected interesting bottles, for a game about distilling, it seems a little mismatched. It would have been so easy for the designer to create a simple game wrapped in the theme of spirit brewing.

And considering this is the first foray into the world of game design for this team, they have done an outstanding job. The backstory for the distillery owners also provided my group with a few laughs as they slipped into character.

After seven rounds you'll score end game points for your private bonus cards, money, certain upgrade cards and your bottle collection.