Have you ever seen the inside of a distillery? The gigantic equipment within them seems almost alien in nature; what’s going on inside those massive copper and stainless steel vats? In this post, we’re going to go into detail about what distillation is, including questions like what is a distillery, what do distilleries do, what is a distillery tour, and how do I find a distillery near me? In our comprehensive guide, we’ll also go over the differences among distilleries, breweries, and wineries. 

Grab a glass of your favorite spirit and hang tight, we’ve got a lot to cover!

What Is Distillation?

Much like water can be distilled, so can alcohol. The distillation of liquids requires that the liquid be boiled into a gas and then recondensed into liquid. This process is easily visualized for something like water, right? We’ve all seen a pot of boiling water and observed the effects near the stove on cold windows and countertops.

During the evaporation and condensing phases of distillation, impurities are removed and the liquids are concentrated. Plus, this distillation process can be run multiple times. Alcohol distillation follows the same basic principle, but there are many more components in a glass of pre-distilled alcohol that get removed at different stages in the distillation process.

The goal of distilling alcohol is fairly simple: convert a low ABV (alcohol by volume) liquid into a high-proof, high-ABV liquid. However, the process by which this is accomplished is far more complicated than you might realize. As mentioned above, there’s more than just water and ethyl alcohol in the “wash” (the fermented precursor to distilled spirits).

The complication and “fun” of distilling arise from trying different washes and experimenting with the number of and temperatures used in the distillation process. We’ll go into more detail about this later on; just keep in mind that this is how different spirits are made (and how two bourbons can taste so different).

The History of Modern Distilleries

Alchemical & Medical Origins

It might be hard to believe, but the idea for the distillation of alcohol actually began with alchemists. These were groups of early scientists that tend to get a bad reputation. However, if anything were to redeem them, it would be this critical discovery that we’re discussing today: distilling spirits.

However, the distillation of alcohol wasn’t a brand new idea to the alchemists of the 9th century. In fact, the earliest documented “alchemist,” Maria the Jewess, was recorded to have used a three-armed pot still (Tribikos) to distill alcohol-based medicines. After all, the use of high-proof alcohol as recreational didn’t happen until after the 1500s.

We see the first true alembic pot still in the 8th century as Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan, an Arabic alchemist, arrives on the scene. This pot still was much more effective than the three-armed pot still and was able to produce distilled alcohol much more efficiently. Jabir’s method was further refined by Muhammed ibn Zakaryia Razi in the 9th century, but, still, his efforts were only for science and medicine.

Distilled Spirits as Recreation

We start to see strong alcoholic beverages being used widely as recreational substances by 1618. One of the first recorded instances that mentions recreational distilled spirits is within John Taylor’s The Pennyles Pilgrimage. Within these pages, Taylor mentions “aqua vitae,” life water – likely a reference to clear distilled alcohol which had, for centuries, been solely medicinal in nature. After this point in history, distillation became a repeatable process that would be taught across the world – thanks to trade and the transfer of cultures that was soon to follow.

Understandably, as news of this new method for creating alcohol spread, more and more adjustments and tweaks were made to its process. The design for the coiled cooling tube within an alembic still pot began with Avicenna in the 11th century and was the most efficient way to distill alcohol until Paracelsus began using a water bath around 1526 – this prevented the flask from heating up too much and cracking due to sudden changes in temperature.

This design was further improved by a chemist in Germany in 1771. Christian Ehrenfried Weigel invented the Liebig condenser, named so because Justus von Liebig improved upon it. This critical piece of equipment is highly effective in cooling down or heating up other liquids or gasses that are run through the inner tube.

Many years passed, over which time small improvements and regional changes were made to the distillation process. However, our modern, commercial “distillers” didn’t come about until the early 19th century. Robert Stein and Aeneas Coffey were responsible for this revolution, called the “continuous still” or “column still.”

And, as you can imagine, once an optimized, continuous method of distilling high-value, high-proof alcohols was conceived, the industrialized implications were massive. Soon after this invention, the commercial distilling we know today became popular.

What Is a Distillery?

The term “distillery” usually refers to the whole building of operations where a certain spirit or group of spirits is produced. These large buildings are factory-like in appearance and can be several stories tall, due to the ability to use very tall column stills to distill washes.

Distilleries may or may not produce their own fermented wash, but the main purpose of the equipment within a distillery is to distill and concentrate the alcohol within the wash. Each distillery owner will have their own specific methods for distilling. 

Large companies like Jack Daniels or Absolut will have fine-tuned their process exactly so that each batch is the same – making for a reliable, dependable product.

Distilleries vs Wineries

Distilleries differ greatly from wineries, as you could imagine. As we’ve covered, the job of a distillery is to distill and concentrate alcohol. Wineries, on the other hand, grow, collect, and ferment grapes into wine. For wineries, the process stops with fermentation, barreling, and aging.

It’s important to note that some wineries may produce or sell some of their fermented wine (or leftover pulp, stems, skins, and seeds) to distilleries as a wash for distillation. This would produce brandy or grappa. However, most wineries don’t have the equipment needed for both operations.

Distilleries vs Breweries

Breweries, also called beerhouses, are another type of facility that can produce alcohol, and they also differ greatly from distilleries. Again, breweries focus on producing that first, initial fermented beverage. A brewery may produce beer from a variety of grains, like barley, wheat, corn, or rice.

What Is a “Craft” Distillery?

“An independently-owned distillery with maximum annual sales of 52,000 cases where the product is PHYSICALLY distilled and bottled on-site.”

• The American Distilling Institute

Just like craft breweries, which have been becoming extremely popular within the past decade, craft distilleries offer a unique experience for those interested in spirits. Craft distilleries are basically small-scale distillation operations – their size greatly differs from something like a Jim Beam distillery. This also means that the batches are smaller – and the distillers who make them can do more experimentation from batch to batch.

For these reasons, visiting and drinking liquors from craft distilleries creates a whole new experience for the avid spirit drinker.

What Do Distilleries Do?

How Do Distilleries Work?

At their core, distilleries actually do a simple task: concentrating alcoholic beverages and removing impurities that affect the final flavor. However, the apparatus used to accomplish this may vary, and the methods each distillery uses can vary from the next. There are two main types of distillers that a distillery may use: the alembic or pot distiller and the column or continuous distiller.

While both distillers yield similar end results, there are some pretty obvious differences between the two.

How Do Pot Stills Work?

Pot stills are extremely iconic-looking; the first portion is a bulbous kettle with a giant arm arising from the top. These pots either sit over a fire or have integrated heat sources and usually have a drain that allows waste to be removed from the very bottom of the pot, too.

The arm that extrudes from the top of the still travels to a condenser. This is where the alcohol vapors transform from gaseous to liquid form. During the first distillation, this will be collected to be run through the pot still again and again until the desired finished product is obtained.

Pot stills can be controlled by temperature, and the different fractions are pulled off one at a time, unlike in the next method we’ll see. Pot stills can also only run one batch at a time and must be cleaned thoroughly after each batch. It generally takes two or more passes for a batch to reach the right proof for bottling.

This type of still might be more inefficient than column stills, but they work best for certain spirits. You’ll see the pot still shine in the following places: a single malt scotch whiskey distillery, a cognac distillery, a rum distillery, or a mezcal distillery.

How Do Column Stills Work?

This is the type of distillation that most large distilling companies use. Column stills are much more efficient – both in the amount of space they take up and how precisely they can separate congeners from the heart. These stills can also more highly concentrate ethyl alcohol; after multiple distillations, ABV can reach up to 96%.

There are two zones of the column distiller. The bottom portion, which will make up more than half of the still, is where steam and wash intermingle. As fresh wash enters the still, it is cascaded down a series of stepped plates. Within this portion of the still, the wash is surrounded by very hot steam, usually in the range of 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

As the wash is heated, ethanol (the alcohol we know and love) is forced to evaporate and turn into a vapor, rising up the column. Since water evaporates at a higher temperature than ethanol, the transfer of heat from water to ethanol will cause the water to cool, condensing back down into the still to be reheated. 

The separated ethanol (and some other compounds called congeners) will rise past everything into the top of the still, where it will be transported to a separate still for condensing. Most column stills have a graduated outflow where different temperatures of condensed wash will be piped out separately – this forms the different “fractions” that will then be chosen from to create a final product.

These column stills are incredibly efficient because there can be a constant, continuous flow of wash into the still. There’s no need to separate volume into batches and there’s no downtime waiting for the still to come to temperature.

You’ll find the column still shines and is used frequently at a vodka distillery, whiskey distillery, or gin distillery.

Hybrid Stills

It’s not always a one-or-the-other decision, though. Some distilleries adopt pieces from both the pot still and the column still methods to form their own hybrid still model. At the end of the day, the process remains the same: heating an alcohol solution to vaporize the alcohols and congeners at different rates so that certain fractions can be pulled off and bottled.

What Happens to All of the “Unwanted” Fractions?

Each distillery’s process will differ, but many places send their unwanted fractions, also known as stillage, to farms or simply dump them as wastewater. The chemicals aren’t harmful, but they have little utility. Stillage also tends to be chunky, so it can be a concern for wastewater treatment plants. Some distillery waste experts will recommend separating the liquid from the solid stillage so that the different components can be disposed of properly.

Why Is Copper Used in Distilleries?

If you’ve ever been to or seen pictures of the inside of distilleries, you’ll notice that there is a lot of stainless steel and copper used. Stainless steel is used for obvious reasons (it’s easy to keep clean and it doesn’t degrade quickly), but you might not know why copper is such a common distillery material.

This is a source of divisiveness among distillers, and either material is suitable for distilling. However, copper is often preferred over stainless steel due to its natural antibacterial properties and its ability to remove sulfur from the wash. Copper is also the traditional choice, as it has been used successfully for centuries as the processes for distilling alcohol evolved.

Copper is also a very malleable material that is easy to form into tubes and curves. The downsides to copper are that it has become very expensive in the past 50 years. Some distilleries invest in copper for all of these reasons, and, as a bonus, copper is better at transferring heat than stainless steel. So, there are definitely many reasons why copper is a great choice for building a still.

However, stainless steel was invented in the early 1900s and opened the door to creating stills requiring less maintenance and that could withstand higher pressures. Stainless steel columns could also now have windows so that the distilling process could be observed. However, there were still some downsides to this material. Only fuel alcohol producers prefer to use all-stainless steel apparatuses.

You can insert copper plates into a stainless steel still – and this is what most distilleries opt to do. It cuts down on the cost and maintenance of the equipment, all while gaining the effects of the antibacterial, sulfur-reducing properties of copper. Some refined palettes will be able to taste the effect that the copper leaves on the alcohol, but it’s a tradeoff for the reduction of sulfites.

What Kinds of Spirits Can Distilleries Produce?

There are many different kinds of distilled spirits, all of which we will cover in more detail in separate blogs. Here is a list of the spirits that you might find on your local package store’s shelves:

• Aquavit
• Brandy
• Gin
• Cognac
• Liqueurs & Cordials
• Rum
• Schnapps
• Tequila (Mezcal)
• Whiskey (Bourbon, Tennessee, Scotch, Irish, Japanese, Canadian)
• Vodka
• Absinthe
• Genever
• Sherry
• Ouzo
  

Each of these different spirits uses a different starting product, like grapes, wheat, corn, rye, and more. As with all alcoholic beverages, distilled spirits need to start with a sugary base that will be fermented. This fermentation can happen in a variety of locations and it can be finished in other containers to give the beverage added flavor.

Finally, the distillation process itself can affect how a spirit is classified. The number of distillations, the temperatures used, and even the apparatus used to distill can all affect the final product. However, for now, just know that these different types of spirits vary greatly in their production methods.

What Is a Distillery Tour?

If all of this information is intriguing to you, you just might be the perfect person to experience a distillery tour. These are exciting trips into a distillery to see the inner workings and procedures that a specific distiller uses to create their spirits. You can find distilleries near you and contact them to see if they do tours; sometimes, they’ll have tour dates listed right on their websites.

Best Practices for Distillery Tours

As you tour different distilleries, use the knowledge you have to determine how they’re processing their spirits to impact the final flavor and smell. Do they use a lot of copper? What kind of still are they using; is it a hybrid still? How long are they aging their products, if at all? How many distillations are they using and what fractions are they pulling for the final product?

All of this knowledge will make your next distillery tour much more interesting.

Why Should I Support a Local or “Craft” Distillery?

Big-name distilleries don’t focus on those small-batch, unique spirits that local, craft distilleries can focus on. This can make for a unique tasting experience, especially if you know your stuff! Furthermore, supporting local businesses is a great way to support your local economy. Your next question is probably “how do I find a distillery near me?”

How Do I Find a Distillery Near Me?

If we’ve piqued your interest, you may be wondering, “how do I find a distillery near me?” Luckily, local distilleries will usually send products to your local liquor store, so you can browse there to pick up names. Or, you can use our site, Distillery Nearby, to search for distilleries nearby in your area.

How Do I Use Distillery Nearby to Find a Distillery Near Me?

Here at Distillery Nearby, we’ve created a one-stop shop for all things distilling. Instead of sifting through search results from a query like “distillery near me,” you can search our database of local distilleries and find those that are closest to you! This will save you time so that you can focus more on the fun things – like visiting a distillery on a distillery tour!

Glossary: Distillation Terms

ABV: alcohol by volume, a volumetric measure of how much ethyl alcohol is in the final spirit.

Alembic, pot still: a large, kettle-shaped container where the wash gets heated up. This method is old and produces more flavorful spirits.

Column distilling: also known as “continuous distilling,” mash or wash is constantly flowing through the column and being heated to a precise temperature. This invention brought us modern distillation.

Condenser: the secondary part of a pot still that cools and condenses the alcohol vapors into liquid form.

Congeners: compounds that evaporate during the distilling process that can affect the final flavor of the distilled spirit. Ex: tannins, fusel alcohols, methanol, and esters)

Craft: this refers to any type of operation or product that is created by “smaller” distilleries. These craft distilleries are often local-based operations.

Cutting: a part of the distilling process that removes congeners. This requires careful temperature control.

Distiller: the person who is in charge of distilling spirits.

Distillery: the operation or building, including the stills, where spirits are distilled.

Ethyl alcohol, ethanol: the compound in spirits that makes them alcoholic. The chemical formula is C2H6O.

Feedstock: another term for “wash” or “mash” – the precursor to distilled spirits.

Fractions: the separate parts of the basic distilling cycle. The stages are “fores, head, heart, and tail.” The heart is the fraction that makes up the majority of a bottle of spirits.

Fusel alcohol, fuselol: a byproduct (congener) of ethyl alcohol fermentation. Distilling removes many of these, but some are intentionally left in the spirit because of the flavors they impart.

Methanol: a byproduct (congener) of ethyl alcohol fermentation. The chemical formula is CH3OH.

Pot distilling: also known as alembic distilling, this is an older method of distilling spirits that involves a short container looking much like a kettle.

Proof: another way to measure the ethyl alcohol content of a spirit. The proof is always double the ABV content. For example, a 40% ABV spirit is 80 proof.

Still: the large equipment that is used to distill spirits. There are two kinds of stills used today: continuous (column) stills and alembic (pot) still.

Stillage: the waste, including water, mashed grains or fruits, and unwanted congeners leftover from a distillation.

Tannins: a natural-colored, water-soluble compound (congener) that tastes bitter. Tannins are most common in wines and teas but can be present in spirits – especially darker ones.

Wash: the primary fermented liquid or “mash” that gets distilled into spirits.