On Food and Cooking

still, an elongated chamber developed by
French and British distillers during the
Industrial Revolution. In a column still, the
starting wine or beer is fed into the column
from the top, and the column is heated from
the bottom with steam. The bottom of the
column is therefore the hottest region, the top
the coolest. Methanol and other low-boiling
substances remain vaporized throughout all
but the very top of the column, while fusel
oils and other aromatics with high boiling
points will condense on collection plates at
hotter positions toward the bottom of the
column, and alcohol will condense — and can
be collected — at an intermediate point. The
advantage of the column still is that it can be
operated continuously and without the
necessity of close monitoring; the
disadvantage is that it offers less opportunity
than the pot still for the distiller to control the
composition of the distillate. When two or
more columns are run together in series,