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History of Alcohol Distillation

The process of distillation (from the Latin 'de-stillare' for 'drip or trickle down") is theseparation of a liquid by evaporation and condensation. The simplest example of this iswhen steam from a kettle becomes deposited as drops of distilled water on a cold

surface. Distillation is used to separate liquids from non-volatile solids, as in theseparation of alcoholic liquors from fermented materials, or in the separation of two

or more liquids having different boiling points, as in the separation of gasoline, kerosene and lubricating

oil from crude oil. Other industrial applications include the desalination of seawater.

As far back as the fourth century B.C. Aristotle suggested the possibility of spiritdistillation when he wrote: "Seawater can be made potable by distillation as welland wine and other liquids can be submitted to the same process. It is an age -oldprocess which may have began as early as 2000 BC. Some say that the first use ofdistillation occurred in China, Egypt, or Mesopotamia for medicinal purposes aswell as to create balms, essences, and perfumes. About 1810 B.C. inMesopotamia, the perfumery of King Zimrilim employed this method to make

hundreds of litres of balms, essences and incense from cedar, cypress, ginger andmyrrh every month. These were used to embalm the dead and for spiritual, medicinal and cosmeticpurposes. Queen Cleopatra knew about distillation and is thought to have given an account of theprocess in a text which is now lost. In the first century, a Greek physician Pedanius Dioscurides mademention of this process after he noticed the condensation on the lid of a vessel in which some mercurywas being heated.

Historians state the alembic was probably invented around AD 200 - 300 by Maria the Jewess, or Zsimoof Panoplies an Egyptian alchemist and his sister Theosebeia, who invented many types of stills andreflux condensers. Others state that during the eighth or ninth century Arab alchemists devised thealembic in an effort to obtain finer essences for perfumes while other Arab alchemists used the alembicin an effort to convert base metal into gold. "Ambix is a Greek word defined as a vase with a smallopening. The vase was part of the distillation equipment. Initia lly, the Arabs changed the word Ambixto Ambic and named the distillation equipment Al Ambic. This was later changed to alembic in

Europe.

Distillation of Wines

Civilizations in almost every part of the world developed some form of alcoholic

beverage very early in their history. The Chinese were distilling a beverage fromrice by 800 BC. The Romans apparently produced a distilled beverage, althoughno references are found in writings before AD100. Production of distilled spiritswas reported in Britain before the Roman conquest. Portugal, Spain, France andthe rest of Western Europe probably produced distilled spirits but this was

limited until the 8th century, after contact with the Arabs.

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The use of the alembic as a way of obtaining alcohol is attributed to Ibn Yasid. This discovery wasprobably made after the 10th century. The first use of alcohol was for medicinal purposes and forprolonging life expectancy - it was referred to as spirited water a healing elixir. The first distilledsprits were made from sugar-based materials, primarily grapes and honey to make grape brandy and

distilled mead.

A major change in distillation came with the invention of a coiled cooling pipe in the 11th century.Avicenna invented a coiled pipe which allowed the plant vapour and stream to cool down more

effectively than previous distillers that used a straight cooling pipe.

Through the Turkish invasions of Europe during the 14th and15th centuries in the name of Allah, the Turks left behind many of theircustoms, traditions and secrets in the countries they crossed. Amongthese secrets was distillation. The al -ambiq or alembic, and themaking of al -koh`l or alcohol soon became known throughout theChristian world. As knowledge of the process spread throughout Europethe discovery of distillation grew to include its effects on liquid and while

the dream to make gold by the alchemists with the alembic remained just a dream, sprits werediscovered and named acqua vitae, or eau de vie meaning water of life'. The spirits or water of life"were used for their therapeutic qualities. Early pharmaceutical observations bestowed healing powersto spirits as they induced a feeling of relaxation and well being. From here it soon became the norm touse beverages made from spirits at social gatherings leading to the endless varieties of spirits on themarket today, whether it be Palinka from Hungry, Schnapps from Germany, Grappa from Italy, Eau deVie and Cognac from France, Whisky from Scotland and Ireland, Aguardente from Portugal, Tequila fromMexico, Rum from Barbados and the Caribbean or Vodka from Poland and Russia, they are all Aqua

Vitae or water of life.

The alembic gradually improved. In 1526, Paracelsus used a water bath(called balneum Mariae by the alchemists) for the first t ime. It prevented theflask from cracking while heating up, and stabilised the liquid's temperature.The vapour cooling system was also improved. The tube was run through

vessels of cold water. In 1771, the German chemist Christian EhrenfriedWeigel invented an apparatus later wrongly named the Liebig condenser, the forerunner of thecondensing equipment of today. In it, the tube leading the distillate out of the still was inside another

one flowing with water.

The many pot stills available such as the alembic changed their shape and evolved depending on thecountry that used the distillation equipment and of course the capacity of the still depended on thepurpose of the distillation. The traditional Portuguese alembic has a very rounded onion shape as earlierdistillers believed that the more rounded shape favoured the return of water vapours into the pot thus

obtaining higher quality aguardente.

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