The History of Distilled Spirits
The Discovery of Distillation High
concentrations of alcohol are toxic to all
living things, including the yeasts that
produce it. Brewing yeasts can’t tolerate more
than about 20%. So stronger drink can only be
made by physically concentrating the alcohol
in fermented liquids. The key to discovering
distilled alcohol would have been two
observations: that the vapors of a heated
liquid can be recaptured by condensing them
on a cool surface, and that the vapors of
heated wine or beer are more strongly
alcoholic than the original liquid.
The practice of distillation itself appears to
be very old. There’s evidence that the
Mesopotamians were concentrating the
essential oils of aromatic plants more than
5,000 years ago, using a simple heated pot and
a lid onto which vapors condensed and could
be collected. And Aristotle noted in the 4th
century BCE in his Meteorology that “Sea