Most people know that distillers make heads and tails cuts when they’re making whiskey, which separates the good parts of the spirit from the poisonous and/or unappealingly flavored portions. But have you ever wondered what distillers actually do with the unused heads and tails?
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READ THE STORYFirst, know that there’s no single, agreed-upon moment to make heads and tails cuts. Distillers make cuts differently depending on their equipment and the style of whiskey they’re making.
Ultimately, though, most distillers are left with some portion of volatile, methanol-containing heads, and funky, vegetal-tasting tails. Some distilleries discard the whiskey heads and tails but many municipalities require onsite remediation before dumping them down the drain.
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Many other distilleries recycle the whiskey heads and tails by adding them to the next batch of fermenting mash. In addition to funky, solventy stuff we don’t want to drink, there’s plenty of desirable ethanol mixed into the heads and tails, so re-distilling them allows distilleries to maximize yield. Some distillers also find this improves the flavor of the final product, particularly if the tails are recycled (a common practice at Scotch distilleries).
But distilleries that don’t want to recycle their heads aren’t out of options altogether. I’ve seen craft distilleries fill spray bottles with heads to use as a sanitizer, burn heads in their tasting room for heat, or even use heads to (carefully!) flame weed their gardens.
