In that game—a game where I produced vodka four times—I lost by 40 points despite doing a decent job of trying to mitigate a bad card draw. In the game, you have inherited an abandoned distillery from a distant relative, and are now tasked with bringing your family’s business back to its former glory!

Over the seven turns of the game, players will distill together sugars, water, yeast, and alcohol to concoct the spirits of choice to earn money and Spirit Points. Basic ingredients can be purchased from the base basic market and premium ingredients, items and upgrades can be purchase from the main market. The way the goals are displayed and figuring out your “path” through them is really fun and adds a nice twist to the gameplay.

The game is fantastic for newer players while those with more experience may enjoy the mixture of economic maximization and thematic draping. Distilled puts you in the shoes of someone who has inherited an old abandon distillery and are tasked with bringing it back to the prosperous business it used to be. The push your luck element adds a wonderful twist to the game and tension when you are revealing the top and bottom cards. If they were simply discarded, then that would likely tip my thoughts on this game way over in the opposite direction. Beyond the minor issues I have already discussed, there’s one more caveat I need to mention: the playtime.

I thought this mechanic was so interesting when I played the game, it really felt like the actual process. Normally, your goal should be to NOT make moonshine or vodka, since those recipes score you almost no points. The way the goals are displayed and figuring out your "path" through them is really fun and adds a nice twist to the gameplay.The hype for me began when I met the designer and owner of Paverson Games, Dave Beck, at GAMA Expo 2022. Something I really appreciate in this game is that you can always make something, (providing you’ve got the basics) it may not necessarily be the thing you want, but I’d rather take something over nothing any day and it’s still going to net you some money at the very least. As you are making your spirits you can sell them for cash to get more ingredients or the aforementioned upgrades. Distilled, from Paverson Games and designer Dave Beck, is a board game about another of these alcoholic alchemies – distilling. When you distil in the aptly named distil phase, you'll be adding ingredients to your washback to try and make a successful concoction.