Alcohol Distillation and Its Impact on Craft Cocktails

Alcohol distillation is what sets spirits apart from beer, wine and non-distilled alcoholic beverages such as hard cider, mead or sake. Distillation gives these spirits their distinctive flavors: gin, vodka, whiskey and rum are only examples.

Cooking is an art, and making craft cocktails requires precise execution to achieve its desired result. Everything from selecting flavorful and fresh ingredients, selecting glassware and garnishes and artistically layering your creation must be done perfectly in order for it to meet its full potential.

Distillation of ethyl alcohol is an ancient tradition with roots across the globe. Distillation was commonplace by 800 BC in China, Romans may have used it, and in Mesopotamia balms and essences made using distillation were created for cosmetic, medicinal, spiritual and cosmetic uses – even Queen Cleopatra was an early advocate of distillation – she wrote an extensive description in her perfumery book detailing this practice!

Stills are large vessels in which vapors are heated before passing through a condenser to be condensed and collected for further distillation; this process is known as reflux distillation and necessary in achieving high final-product concentration levels.

Fumes from the remaining vapor are expelled as fumes; these are known as heads. Heads contain many unpleasant tasting and even toxic substances such as methanol, acetaldehyde (the culprit of hangovers), and acetone. Furthermore, some distilleries retain small quantities of esters for aromatic value in products like bourbon, rye or cognac.