I know that there are many people that believe that pot stills make superior whiskey. I disagree. They make a different style whiskey, but not better whiskey. The proof of this is the fact that Stitzel-Weller made an excellent whiskey using a column still with a thumper doubler. There are many people that believe that Stitzel-Weller made the best whiskey that was ever made. I agree that they made excellent whiskey at Stitzel-Weller, but probably not the best ever made. There are a lot of people making excellent whiskey using a pot still, too.

I think that distillation proof plays an important role in making excellent whiskey. A lower distillation proof allows more flavor from the beer to come through in the final product. That is why vodka is distilled at 190 proof or higher. The definition of vodka is a flavorless, odorless spirit so they take all of the flavor out of the beer. If you want a product without as much flavor from the grains and yeast, then you distill at the legal maximum of 150 proof. 

I believe this is why many people talk about a pot still making a superior whiskey. With a pot still you are making cuts of the heads and tails and it is harder to get to the higher proofs that you can get with a column still. The column still is designed so that the whiskey will come off the still at a set proof without making heads and tails cuts. That is the main reason for double distilling the spirit. It allows you to make these cuts in the pot still and clean up any undesirable flavors in the first distillation. You can set your column to any proof point you want for the first distillation and I believe at Stitzel-Weller, they set it at about 130 proof. This allowed for the flavors of the beer to come through to the second distillation and there was plenty of those flavors in their whiskey.

Many of the column stills being made today are made with stainless steel with either copper added to the plates or copper being used to make the upper plates of the still. A column still made with 100% copper is expensive and wears out more quickly than a stainless steel column. The doublers are usually made of 100% copper. Copper is needed to take Sulphur out of the whiskey. Sulphur is found in the grains and can give your whiskey an unpleasant smell and flavor. 

I like to see a distiller that distills at a lower proof and then uses a lower barrel entry proof in making their whiskey. The distillation proof allows for the grain and yeast flavors to come through in the spirit and the lower barrel entry proof allows for more of the barrel sugars to come through at a younger age. This is my ideal whiskey.

Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller