Distilling 101: How Whiskey Is Actually Made - Eater

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EaterEater logoDistilling 101: How Whiskey Is Actually Made

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Distilling 101: How Whiskey Is Actually Madeby Heather Greene

Via All Straight Up Coverage [E]

Jan 4, 2016, 6:30 PM UTC

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Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesPart OfEater Drinkssee all

This is Straight Up, a column by whiskey expert and author Heather Greene. Today, Greene breaks down how exactly whiskey is made.

Unless you’ve been living without the internet, you surely know that Star Wars season is upon us. If you are lucky enough to live in Manchester, England, check out the replica of Chalmun’s Spaceport Cantina, the “no-droids allowed” drinking hole located in the pirate city of Mos Eisley on the barren planet of Tatooine. In the film, a bevy of copper pipes run along the ceiling and more pipes run along the wall. Because Tatooine is a dry planet, my best guess is that distilled spirits would have been the most popular libation there: They could have thrown any old sugary, starchy substance into a pot with water and yeast to ferment and later distill.Distillation would have spread across the Star Wars universe like it spread throughout the continents on Earth, either for health reasons, sanitary reasons, or pure enjoyment. (I imagine all three would be needed on a place like the Death Star.) On Earth, we can pinpoint the arrival of distillation somewhere between the years 1 AD and 3 AD, but no one can be sure. But what exactly is distillation?

What Is Distillation?

Distillation is the process by which a liquid is heated to create a vapor and then condensed back into a liquid again. The whole idea is inspired by nature: Puddle water turns into invisible vapor after a day of hot sun. A cool evening reverses the process, and droplets of water form on blades of grass. “Might heating a liquid with fire then do the same thing?,” asked our ancestors. “Would holding something cold over the warm vapor would make it liquid again?” The birth of distillation hides in those questions. Throw in some nice smelling herbs and make a perfume out of the condensed vapors. Take some fermented liquid and make alcohol — even better.

While we may never know who exactly was the first to discover distillation — scholars have been guessing at this for at least a century — we do know that the alchemic practice is ancient. Aristotle at the very least explained the first prerequisite of distillation, evaporation, in his Meteorologica, where he wrote that seawater could be made pure by evaporation.

As for the condensation part, my favorite theory revolves around distillation happening in kitchens from around the first to third centuries AD. In other words, women were quite possibly the first alchemists. Whiskey scholar Fred Minnick, in his book Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish Whiskey, suggests that alchemist Maria Hebrea probably made the first still by connecting two hollow vessels with a tube. Liquid would have been heated in the first vessel to create aromatic vapors in a roundish container, cooled, and then diverted through a tube to a second vessel, or a receiver.

What’s amazing is that this basic architecture — a bulbous bottom with an arm extending from the top to collect vapors and then divert them to a second vessel — is still widely used today. These pot stills, along with another kind of still called a column or continuous still (and sometimes even a combination of the two) form the backbone of distillery operations worldwide. Without them, you’ve only got beer.

Suntory Liquors distillery in Hakushu, Japan. Photo: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

Pot Stills: A Primer

Most whiskey made in pot stills is either double distilled or triple distilled. Each time a whiskey is heated, condensed, and collected, we call that a distillation. Do it twice and call it a double distillation. Do it three times... you get the idea. The first distillation separates the alcohol — as well as other lower-boiling-point substances in the fermented liquid — sitting at the bottom of what’s called the wash still (the fermented liquid at this point is actually called the “wash.”) Alcohol vaporizes at 173°F, so the liquid collected will be higher in alcoholic strength as well. The contents will froth and bubble, pulling all sorts of molecules and vapors out of the liquid. The resulting distillate is called a “low wine,” and is diverted and distilled again in a “spirit still” to increase the alcoholic strength as well as build more flavor.

Generally speaking (though not always), the more times a spirit is distilled, the lighter and purer the final product is. Wood-aging can override the lightness of a spirit, though. For this reason, I enjoy a young single malt Scotch whisky: It delivers many aromatic elements born out of both fermentation and distillation without being smothered by woody characters. Some of those notes out of the distillation are apples, pears, lemon, and banana. You’ll hear whiskey geeks refer to notes like that as “esters,” which are a class of often-fragrant organic compounds.

Five Distillers You Should Know

Meet the brains behind some of your favorite whiskies, the folks who tweak the stills, innovate products, and ensure quality behind some of the world's most beloved brands. They're often out hosting events and tastings too, so say hello next time they're in your town.

Jimmy Russell, Master DistillerWild Turkey Range, Russell's ReserveFor over 61 years, Jimmy Russell has been making whiskey. As such, he's the longest-tenured active master distiller in the world. The most famous brand he's behind — Wild Turkey — you've probably tasted, so check out his Russell's Reserve six-year-old small batch Kentucky straight rye whiskey. Russell, along with his son, hand selects casks to marry and bottle. The whiskey is distilled at a lower proof than most bourbons in Kentucky, which means that during final bottling, less water is needed to bring the proof down, as is often customary.Still style: Column

Nicole Austin, Master DistillerKing's County DistilleryChemical engineer turned master distiller Nicole Austin has made waves in the craft bourbon industry for her undeniably fine-tuned nose, which has helped catapult Kings County Distillery as one of craft whiskey's leading producers over the past decade. While you're in bed on Saturday mornings, she's popping bungs off casks, tasting and nosing their contents so that by the time you get to the tasting room in the evening, there's plenty on offer.Still style: Pot

Dr. Bill Lumsden, Head of Distilling & Whisky CreationGlenmorangieGlenmorangie master distiller Dr. Bill Lumsden, a biochemist by training, combines the art and science of whisky-making to create amazing variants like the Glenmorangie Signet, an expression with so much complexity and wonder you'll marvel how it's only created with three ingredients: water, yeast, and barley. Still style: Pot

Mike Miyamoto, Master DistillerSuntoryTrace the elegance, finesse, and popularity of Japanese whiskies to the mastery of a variety of stills. Master distiller Mike Miyamoto continually fine-tunes all parts of the whisky-making process to subtly improve the taste of his whisky over time. "If the Yamazaki you hold in your hand tastes the same in ten years, we have failed," he told me.Still style: Pot and Column

Jeff Arnett, Master DistillerJack Daniel'sJack Daniel's is a powerhouse, there's no denying that — it's the top-selling American whiskey in the world. The man getting a new generation excited about the magic of Tennessee whiskey is Jeff Arnett, the seventh man to hold the title of master distiller at the iconic Lynchburg distillery. He considers his role as a "steward" of the brand, ensuring consistency and authenticity, so when he's not out singing Jack's praises (the Single Barrel is his personal favorite), he's making sure the giant copper stills are all doing just fine, the way they have been for decades.Still style: Column

The shape, size, and material of a pot still influences whiskey flavor. Glenmorangie’s stills reach 26 feet high, while Macallan’s stills are rather squat. Because various elements within a liquid volatilize (become a gas) at different temperatures, like alcohol (173°F) and water (212°F), distillers can tweak the temperature and distillation times to influence what’s called the ABV (alcohol by volume). The size of the pot still also influences which aromatic molecules volatilize and make it up and over the still’s swan neck. The very lightest, lithe esters weave up 26 feet swan necks at Glenmorangie; some of the heavier molecular compounds can make their way over the neck of the Macallan’s.

Distillers monitor the distillate coming off the spirit still, collecting the most flavorful of the liquid, called the “heart.” Other parts of the distillate, called the “heads” and “tails,” refer respectively to the first and last moments of the distillate coming off the still. Those are re-distilled or discarded, as they contain undesirable molecular compounds that don’t make for tasty whiskey. Where these “cuts” take place depends mostly upon the distiller’s taste and the still used.

Pot stills are made of copper, a material that interacts with molecules to enhance the distillate profile, especially sulfuric compounds that are created when yeast metabolizes during fermentation.

In general, pot stills create more robust distillates and often retain more raw ingredient flavor than other types of stills, which I’ll get to in a minute. They are the more folksy and clunky of the two popular still types — they have to be charged (filled), emptied, and cleaned between batches. Very few distillers use open flame to heat pot stills, the rest use steam jackets or internal coils.

The Continuous Still

Much of the whiskey you love is distilled in what’s called a continuous still. You might see it referred to as a “Coffey still,” named after the gentleman Aeneas Coffey who created and patented the still in 1831. Like pot stills, these can range in sizes and material. I’ve seen some reach a couple stories high.

Column stills operate with the same goal as the pot still: to coax the different aromatic vapors, all containing different boiling points, out of a wash, and then to condense that again. Here’s how they work: Steam passes up through the bottom of the column to meet the wash, which is poured from the top. Perforated plates lie flat along the length of the column and capture husks, seeds, and other grain remnants (if there are any) as the starchy liquid falls. The steam at the bottom is very hot and becomes cooler as it rises, vaporizing the alcohols and flavors as it meets the falling wash. The wash, with its alcohols removed, falls to the bottom of the still and create more steam. Because the alcohol volatilizes at a lower temperature, the cooler temperatures toward the top, where the aromatic spirit condenses, will contain more alcohol than water.

Their size, design, and efficiency means that continuous stills can operate 24/7, producing massive amounts of distillate. You’ll hear this type of distillation referred to as “fractional distillation,” which refers to the different fractions (compounds) that are trapped along different points within the floors of the column still. The easiest way to picture the internal structure of a column still is to imagine many pot stills linked together, one on top of the other. The more floors within a column still, the purer — or “rectified” — the distillate will be.

As for the crazy maze of tubes and shapes that sat behind the bar in Mos Eisley, I’ve been unable to determine whether or not it’s merely a beverage dispenser or actually some sort of distilling apparatus. Indeed, there are tubes running along the ceiling which would indicate the transport of liquid, however, the perforated holes on the outside the hanging metal containers wouldn’t contain anything in a liquid state. All Star Wars fans are encouraged to send their best guesses to @heathermgreene — may the drink be with you.

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