Pot stills have been around for centuries. The old-fashioned word for pot still, “alambic” or “alembic,” is an Arab word from the ancient Greeks, who got the word from the Egyptians. So stills go way way back.
 
Until the early 1800s, all stills were pot stills. They started out as ceramic pots used by alchemists. Nowadays, the best pot stills are made out of copper. Pot stills allow craft distillers to concentrate their efforts (and their talent) on one small batch at a time.
 
We now have three pot stills at the St George distillery, all made by Arnold Holstein in Germany.

DON’T BE FOOLED!
There are many more pot stills than there are distillers using craft methods. Here's a photo of the pot stills at a well-reputed Scotch malt whiskey distillery: a technician controls the stills from his computer panel. There's no way for him to taste the product as it's being made. This is not a craft method.

If you’re interested in the history of distillation and how this all works, here are a few good sites to check out:
http://www.essentialspirits.com/history.asp
http://www.copper-alembic.com/distillation_history.php?lang=en
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distilled_beverage