This article originally appeared on FoodPrint. In 2008, Melkon Khosrovian had been successfully making spirits for about four years when he hit a roadblock. He and his wife had transitioned from amateur home infusers to bonafide distillery owners in 2004, with the opening of their Monrovia, California Greenbar Distillery, and their recipes and methods were locked in solid. But during a three month period in early 2008, batch after batch of flavored vodkas such as grapefruit honey or celery peppercorn, turned out poorly. "We kept making the same thing, with the same ingredients, but one ingredient was overwhelmingly dominant each time," he says. "We couldn't figure out what was going on."