Step-by-step instructions for running your distillery, from your first batch to your first legacy.

Mash Bill includes this guide inside the app. Open it any time from Ledger → How to play or Settings → How to play — it’s searchable and works offline, and reading it never interrupts your game.

Prices and production times change as the game is balanced, so the app always shows the current numbers.

Your First Release

In Stillhouse, tap Queue mash and choose Traditional. Each queued entry makes one batch; queue more entries to keep production running.
The cooker, fermenter, and still work automatically when grain and space are available. The tutorial’s first batch moves quickly through each stage; normal batches take longer.
When spirit reaches the new-make tank, tap Fill barrel. Choose the tutorial barrel if available, or use a standard barrel. Choose your floor, char, and entry proof, then confirm.
Open Rickhouses to sample your barrel for free and check its age, flavor, and quality. It keeps aging until you bottle or sell it.
Add the barrel to Blending, choose bottling proof, review the label checks, name your release, and bottle. Young spirit can be bottled — it doesn’t need to qualify as Straight Bourbon first.
In Market, fill the beginner order with your first release. Use distributor shelves for passive cash, and queue your next batches.

Mash Recipes & Production

Every batch uses 20 bushels of grain. Traditional uses 15 corn, 2.6 rye, and 2.4 malted barley. Buy grain from Stillhouse → The farmers’ co-op before supplies run out.
Ledger → Stillhouse upgrades unlocks High-Rye, Wheated, and custom mash bills. Once unlocked, recipes appear in Queue mash. Recipe changes apply to new batches; active jobs keep their original recipe.
Custom recipes use 0.1% steps, must total 100%, and need at least 51% corn. Less than 5% malted barley lowers yield. Save a custom recipe before queuing it.
The queue holds up to 20 batches. Cooking reserves a fermenter before it starts. Fermented beer waits for a still, and a still waits if its output won’t fit in the tank. Additional equipment increases throughput once installation finishes.
Column, doubler, and pot still conversions change the output proof of future jobs. Jobs already running keep their locked proof and yield.

Barrels, Floors & Aging

The fill screen shows your empty standard and tutorial barrel counts. If you’re out, buy a new 53-gallon barrel right there or at the farmers’ co-op. Used barrels can’t be refilled as new bourbon barrels.
Entry proof can be 100–125, and char can be #1–#4. The fill screen shows how much spirit you need — a standard barrel filled at 125 proof needs 66.25 proof gallons in the tank.
Bottom floors generally lose less spirit; top floors develop oak flavor faster. The lower and upper middle floors unlock after the two-floor upgrade finishes. A masonry or climate-controlled house changes how its floors behave.
Barrels age at different rates depending on your distillery’s vintage — Craft, Regional, or Heritage. A barrel keeps the vintage rate it was filled with, even if your distillery advances later.
Sampling is free and reveals flavor, quality, and traits. Peak is a flavor window, separate from legal age. Waiting past peak can reduce quality, and the angel’s share slowly reduces volume. Review sampled barrels regularly.
Rotate selected barrels to change floors within their own rickhouse. Each move has a small cost, and barrels keep their aging progress.
Finishing cooperage unlocks secondary casks — stout, port, sherry, and toasted oak. Buy a finish cask, open a barrel’s details, and choose a finish and duration. A barrel being finished can’t be bottled until it completes.

Blending, Bottle Labels & Names

Select one barrel for a single release, or combine several in Blending. Set a bottling proof between 80 and the blend’s current proof. Lower proof adds water, which changes bottle yield and quality.
The label review explains which classes your blend qualifies for:

Label class	Requirement
Straight Bourbon	Every source at least 2 years old, and unfinished
Bottled-in-Bond	Straight requirements, plus at least 4 years, exactly 100 proof, one distilling season, and one distillery
Small Batch	2–12 source barrels
Single Barrel	Exactly one source barrel
Barrel Proof	No added water

Finishing changes which label classes are available. Always follow the app’s label checks before bottling.
Rename your distillery in Ledger → Settings → Your distillery’s name (1–40 characters). The name appears in the app and on new label previews; bottled releases keep the branding they were bottled with. You can also name each release before bottling.
Bottling uses up the selected barrel contents and makes whole 750 ml bottles. Review the bottle count, age statement, and label classes before confirming.

Selling, Orders & Reputation

Market orders need enough stock from a qualifying release; the app lists any unmet requirements. Fulfilling an order earns cash and reputation. The order board refreshes every 2 hours.
Distributor shelves sell listed bottles automatically, even while you’re away. Their price is locked when you list. Shelves earn cash; orders and competition medals earn reputation. Buy more distributor contracts in Stillhouse upgrades.
The Limestone Awards judge entries every 3 hours. Each entry costs one bottle plus an entry fee. Choose a release whose flavor fits the judging profile — you can enter up to three releases per judging period.
Reputation unlocks distillery tiers and better selling opportunities.
Need cash sooner? Sell new-make spirit from Stillhouse → Bulk sale, sell selected aged barrels from Rickhouses, or sell surplus grain at the co-op, which shows its buyback price for each grain.

Grain Contracts & Spending Caps

Ledger → Grain contracts sets up automatic purchases for each grain. A contract triggers when stock is at or below its reorder point, then buys whole bushels to reach its target — using your cash and staying within its spending cap.
Spending caps reset every 12 real hours, measured from that contract’s start. Unused budget doesn’t carry over. Each contract card shows stock, remaining budget, a reset countdown, and the reason it’s waiting.
The full reorder must fit within the remaining cap — contracts don’t make smaller partial purchases. If a reorder fits the full cap but not what remains, it waits for the reset. Tap Edit contract to raise the cap and resume sooner; editing keeps track of what’s already been spent that period.
If the next purchase costs more than the full cap, waiting won’t fix it: raise the cap or lower the target. If it’s waiting for cash, sell spirit or bottles — contracts also reconsider as distributor income comes in.
Set each reorder point high enough for your next batch. Traditional needs 15 bushels of corn, so with a 10-bushel trigger, 12 bushels in stock is too little to cook but too much to trigger a purchase. Set corn’s reorder point to at least 15 for Traditional.

Equipment, Construction & Rickhouses

Buy equipment in Ledger → Stillhouse upgrades and buildings in Property & rickhouses. You pay up front, and a countdown shows when the purchase becomes usable. Construction continues while you’re offline.
Basic equipment installs fastest; new stills and conversions take longer; floor and climate upgrades take longer still, and new rickhouses take the longest.
Existing equipment and floors stay usable during upgrades. New capacity is unavailable until work finishes, and you can’t place another order for the same equipment — or upgrade the same house again — while work is pending.
Property & rickhouses can add two middle floors or upgrade a house to masonry or climate-controlled. Climate upgrades preserve each barrel’s current age, volume, and proof, then apply the new conditions from completion onward.
Empty rickhouses can be sold for part of their invested cost. Keep at least one house, bottle or sell every barrel inside first, and finish any pending upgrades. The confirmation shows the proceeds before you sell.

When Production Seems Stuck

Problem	What to do
Out of grain	Check every grain the recipe needs, including malted barley. Buy at the co-op, or check each grain contract’s waiting reason.
No free fermenter	Let fermentation and distillation clear space, or order another fermenter. A fermenter may be reserved for cooking or holding beer that’s waiting for a still.
Tank full	Fill barrels or use Bulk sale. A still reserves space for its whole output before it starts, so a nearly full tank can block a run.
No empty barrels	Buy standard barrels from the fill screen or the co-op.
No rick slots	Choose another floor, empty some slots, or build more capacity. Pending floors and buildings don’t count yet.
Queue empty	Add batches with Queue mash — production doesn’t repeat a recipe on its own.

If you can’t fund any recipe, the co-op may offer a helping hand in Stillhouse: it advances the missing grain for one batch as debt. Future income repays co-op debt before adding to your spendable cash.

Offline Progress, Summaries & Saves

Your distillery keeps working while the app is closed. When you return, it catches up production, barrel aging, distributor sales, contracts, judging, and construction using the resources you had available.
After at least five minutes away, a return summary records what changed. Read earlier summaries in Ledger → Past summaries. Barrels can keep aging without reaching a new milestone, so a zero milestone count doesn’t mean aging stopped.
Turn on Local reminders in Settings to hear about barrel milestones, orders, judging, or possible production stalls. Reminders are optional, and their timing depends on your current saved plans.
Progress saves automatically on your iPhone. Settings → Export save creates a backup you can keep in Files or move to another device. Import save replaces the current distillery, and a pre-import backup is available afterward.
Moving your device clock backward pauses progress until it catches up. Settings → Resync clock resumes from the current time without granting extra progress. You never need an account or an internet connection to play.

Pass It Down & Start a New Generation

Pass It Down unlocks at 50,000 reputation earned in the current generation. Review what resets before confirming — you receive Legacy points that improve future generations.
You keep your distillery name, unlocked recipes, medals, generation archives, and Legacy bonuses. You may keep one eligible barrel in the Founder’s Cellar, where it continues aging.
These reset: money, current reputation, debt, buildings, pending construction, staff, grain, spirit, other barrels, bottles, shelves, and current jobs and orders.
Passing it down is optional — keep running your current distillery as long as you like.

How to Use Mash Bill