The Complete Whiskey Course: Pot Still Distillation

Editor’s Note: We’ve teamed up with whiskey industry expert Robin Robinson, best known for his one-man show The Story of Whiskey, to bring you an occasional video series on whiskey topics. 

This is a short primer in how a pot still is used to make whiskey. The art of distillation has been traced back as far as the Egyptians and is now practiced in practically every country in the world. It spread through the ancient Arabic and Persian kingdoms before finding its way into Europe in the 8th and 9th Centuries where it was then gradually used to make alcoholic beverages. Not until the art was brought to Ireland and Scotland was it used to turn beer into whiskey