Alcohol Distillation and the Art of Blending
Alcohol Distillation and Blending
Distillation is the process by which alcoholic beverages are made stronger. Here, their alcohol content can be increased by heating the mixture until its temperature separates ethyl alcohol from water molecules, producing vapor with increased concentrations of ethanol (proof). This basic principle has led to the production of a wide array of spirits worldwide – such as whiskey, gin, vodka etc.
Most spirits are made by fermenting grain, fruit or potatoes into fermented bases and then subjecting it to various distillation processes that gradually increase ethanol concentration while decreasing water. As water has a lower boiling point than alcohol does when evaporated at higher temperatures, alcohol will evaporate first from the mixture as its boiling point drops below that of water.
Due to water’s different vaporizability from alcohol, alcohol vapor can be separated from it at the point where saturation, or azeotropicity occurs – all with low pressure and high reflux ratio, thus creating higher final alcohol concentration.
Each spirit contains different levels of congeners, the byproducts of distillation that influence flavor. A distiller may choose to retain certain congeners depending on the style of spirit they’re producing; pot stills separate congeners by time, while column stills sort them by position.