We use an old-fashioned copper pot to hand-distill very small amounts of complex and rich spirits.

This is the way it was done for centuries. Then Aeneas Coffey, during the industrial revolution, patented the continuous-process column still (1831).

Distilling with craft methods takes a lot more time. Craftsmen use small pot stills. They make their spirits batch by batch and focus their skills & talents on a tiny amount of product. Using craft methods means they use their hands and their taste buds and their sense of smell. That's why their product is good, or even great.

Column stills, which make almost all of the spirits you see behind your favorite bar, distill continuously (the distilling material goes in one end and the spirit comes out the other). Column stills look a lot like oil refineries: 50 to 75 feet tall and capable of producing thousands of gallons a day.

Column stills can produce good spirits, such as Maker’s Mark whiskies.

But it’s the pot still that allows the intervention of individual human talent. Truly great spirits are made on small-batch pot stills, using craft methods.

Can I do this at home?