Whiskey, gin, or vodka distilling starts with fermented alcohol which starts its life as a wash. Although many spirits share similar ingredients and processes, each requires specific alcoholic distillation techniques in order to achieve signature flavors. Distillation requires selecting congeners (aldehydes, acids, esters) carefully in order to extract these signature flavors without eliminating those you don’t want.
After fermentation is complete, wash is taken to a still where it’s heated to turn alcohol in to vapor form. From there it travels upwards through its Swan Neck/Lyne Arm into a condenser where it returns back into liquid form – this ratio determines both product purity and energy requirements. It’s referred to as the Reflux Ratio.
Distillation continues until a desired proof is reached, at which point it’s time for blending, an often artful process that depends on experience, scent and taste, intuition and experience. Each distillery decides when and how much of the distillate should be cut back depending on taste, experience and intuition of their distiller – this decision being called the art of blending – which also determines when cuts should be made on run portions to be kept and which can be let go as part of this art form. Depending on what type of still it uses timing will do this, while for column stills position will do just this job.”
