A Few Thoughts On Distillation

Sometimes I let my mind wander on a subject and this time it is distillation. There are two main types of distillation – the column still and the pot still. In the 21st century the hybrid still has also become popular with artisan distilleries. These stills all produce different styles of whiskey. I will not say any of them are better, just different. It is the talent of the distiller that determines whether they are making good whiskey or not.

The pot still is the original form of distillation. It takes more talent to make good whiskey as the distiller has to know when to make the cuts from the heads and tails to get the flavor profile they are looking for. Most distillers then double distill their whiskey and they can clean up this product of unwanted alcohols and such. I have had many excellent whiskeys made on pot stills, but I have also had some that are not so good. Some of the best distillers with pot stills are Steve Bashore at the George Washington Mount Vernon distillery and Lee Kennedy at Leiper’s Fork Distillery. They have truly mastered the art of distillation with a pot still. It is more expensive to make pot still whiskey due to the economy of scale. It is batched whiskey since a limited amount can be made at any one time. This limitation is why the big distilleries have moved on to column stills.

The column still is a continuous distillation process. You don’t have heads and tails per se as the alcohol is pulled off the still at a certain level at a continuous rate. Beer goes in at the top of the still and heat is applied to the bottom of the still. There are many plates in the column that can be three stories high with reflux plates at the top of the column. The alcohol is pulled off the still at a certain level, determined by the distiller and either condensed to put into a pot still doubler, or passed through a pot still thumper. A Thumper has water in the still and the vapors pass through the water before passing out of the thumper to be condensed, cleaning up the vapors. There are heads and tails in the second distillation but as a whole, this is a continuous process that allows a lot of whiskey to be made in an economical manner. The whiskey tends to be cleaner of esters and other unwanted byproducts as the result of the process.

Finally there are hybrid stills. These stills are a pot still with a small column on top of the pot. In theory, it is combining two distillations in one process. This is still a batch distillation like a pot still. The distiller has to clean the still between batches, but many distilleries that use the hybrid still only single distill. These stills are popular with smaller, artisan distillers. There are many excellent whiskeys being made with hybrid stills.

There are other factors to consider with distillation. The distillation proof is a critical consideration. The higher that you distill a beer, the less flavor from the grains and fermentation are left in the whiskey. Most distilleries are distilling at 135 -140 proof, but Woodford Reserve goes as high as 158 or 159 proof with their triple distillation process. In the 19th century, many distilleries were distilling as low as 120 proof. Another factor is the amount of copper in the stills. Copper reacts with the vapors and removes sulfur from the beer—sulfur will give whiskey a skunky flavor. Many distilleries have copper stills that are completely made of copper, but many distilleries are using stainless steel for a large part of their column. Some are even using 100% stainless steel and adding copper pieces to the trays of the column.

These are a few of my thoughts on distillation. The next time you’re sipping your favorite spirit give a nod to the skill of the distiller in using their still type. Cheers.

A Few More Thoughts On Distilling