How to Create Unique Flavors Through Distillation

Distillation can be used to create unique flavors through distillation, but doing it successfully takes skill and time. A distiller’s job is not simply to produce 96% ABV ethanol; rather, their job involves controlling the concentration and removal of esters and congeners during distillation to achieve quality spirits.

Distillation is an invaluable biotechnology that allows us to isolate and concentrate natural flavor and fragrance compounds from plant material. It works when liquid mixtures contain liquids with different boiling points; more volatile components will vaporize first and become separated out as distillate, while less volatile components remain behind in liquid form (known as Raoult’s law).

Early distillation methods in alchemy and chemistry utilized capillary filtration. This involved placing several cups or bowls atop a stepped support, with cloth wetting on each step, to capture clear liquid dripping down through capillary action into lower bowls filled with clear liquid that then flowed through cloth into subsequent lower bowls via capillary action before being filtered back down through capillary action into an even lower one for purification purposes.

Distillation requires starting with raw material such as grains, grapes or agave. Once combined with yeast and turned into a sugary liquid, yeast consumes the sugars that it finds and turns them into alcohol – or ethanol – through fermentation. Next comes distillation to separate this ethanol from water and other components (known as fractions) found either within the raw material itself or created by yeast activity.