Still Life: The Machines Behind the Whiskey

At the heart of every distillery stands the still—a centuries-old invention that transforms raw ingredients into something far greater. By selectively boiling and condensing vapors, stills extract the essence of whiskey, refining its character and strength. The science is well understood, the methods perfected, yet there’s still an undeniable magic in the process.

But what exactly is a still? And how does its design shape our beloved spirits?

From Perfume to Whiskey

The existence of a still can be traced back to 2000 BC by Babylonians in Mesopotamia, when they were used to make perfumes and medicinal disinfectants using flowers and plants. They were initially made from glass and ceramics, the most sturdy materials of the time.

The use of stills moved into the Mediterranean Basin and employed to purify drinking water in Ancient Greece around 100 AD. As migration and population spread moved further west during the second half of the first millennium, they became more and more popular, as they became integral to producing ingredients for use in religious ceremonies.

Finally, monks traveling from Europe to Scotland and Ireland between 1000-1200 AD figured out how to use a still to make alcohol. Lacking the grapes of the continent they had previously used for making wine, they turned to fermenting grain mash – and lo, the first distillation of modern whiskey came to be. 

Size – and Material – Matters

As use of the still evolved, so did its design. Its shape, size, and material became more important as science refined the process of distillation. Whiskey makers discovered that larger stills with taller necks lead to more reflux, the process in which the vapor rising from the boiling wash condenses back into liquid, essentially purifying the alcohol and resulting in a lighter, more refined spirit. On the opposite side, smaller stills with wide necks allow for more concentrated flavors and richer character due to less vapor reflux.

A drawing of an alembic from a medieval manuscript

During the Medieval period, alchemists introduced the now traditional copper stills while searching for the "Quintessence," a fifth element beyond Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. Instead, they discovered "firewater," an early form of distilled alcohol, using an instrument called the alembic, one of the earliest types of distillation stills. With a boiling vessel (often a small copper pot), dome-shaped top, and condenser, the alembic design was eventually perfected with copper and its use spread to Rome, where it was used for more than medicinal or alchemical purposes.

Today, copper remains the ideal material for stills due to its heat conductivity, ability to enhance flavor through ester formation, and antibacterial properties that remove toxic sulfides. Its malleability also allows for precise shaping, making it essential for crafting high-quality spirits with a smooth texture and refined aroma. 

Whiskey Alchemy

Before we dive into specific types of stills, it’s important to remember how distillation works! No matter the size, shape, or type of still used, the general process has changed very little over the centuries, and uses the same ingredients: quality water and malted grain. Grains may be rye, wheat, corn, barley, rice, or others, and they are mixed with water and heated to form mash. You may have heard bourbon distillers reference the importance of their limestone water, which plays a similar purification role to the natural copper process that makes it perfect for stills. Limestone water is naturally filtered to remove iron, which would negatively interact with oak barrels, and imbued with important minerals that are consumed by the yeast during fermentation. Brother Justus Whiskey Company uses water from the Mississippi River, which travels over limestone bedrock to the Twin Cities, so our water works the same way!

Yeast is added to the mash to begin fermentation, and the resulting liquid from that process is called wash. The wash is what goes into a still and steam heated to separate the alcohol vapors from other components, and that vapor is what is then condensed into a liquid.

The components of the wash can be separated because they have different boiling points, and alcohol’s is lower than water. So, by carefully controlling the heat, the alcohol can be separated, collected, cooled, and returned to liquid at a higher percentage of alcohol.

Pot, Column, Hybrid, Oh My!

Different stills make different types of whiskey, and over the centuries, we’ve seen a multitude of iterations on the single theme. The most popular types of stills are the Pot and Column still, and within each of those are many varieties customized to specific distilleries, types of whiskeys, or preference. The size of the still correlates to how much alcohol it will produce, with stills ranging from 5-gallon capacities for home distillers, all the way up to 2,500 gallons at distilleries used by commercial whiskey distillers!

Photo Credit: The Whiskey Advocate

Pot Still

Pot stills are the oldest type of modern still, dating from the 8th century. Remaining in use today, pot stills require a “batch-by-batch process,” in which the distillery feeds new wash in with each use, often referred to as “discontinuous distillation.” The wash is added to the pot still, which is steam heated, so the vapors rise through a neck and arm, out to a cold-water condenser to be cooled, and the distillate collected right off the pot. Often, the distillate is distilled through a second time to achieve the desired alcohol percentage. But what the pot still lacks in efficiency, it makes up for in flavor. By retaining more concentrated flavor than a column still (don’t worry, we’ll get to that one next!), the spirit comes out with a richer, more complex taste. 

By law, single malt Scotch must be made on pot stills, like the one shown here; popular brands like Glenfiddich, Balvenie, and the Macallan use this method. Cognac must also be produced on a pot still.

Photo Credit: The Whiskey Advocate

Column Still

The Column Still, also known as a continuous or continuous column still, is the most popular type of modern still, even though more complex than the pot still. Developed in the early 19th century, the column still was immediately leaps and bounds ahead of the pot still in terms of efficiency, which allowed distillers to make a lot of alcohol, inexpensively, and at higher proof levels, thus keeping up with the demand for whiskey.

The wash is steam heated from below, causing it to evaporate and rise through the still. Metal plates within the columns collect the vapors as they condense, stripping the water and other unwanted compounds, and sending the alcoholic vapor to the top to be condensed into a spirit. This process can run continuously, without the need to constantly clean and refill, because of the series of stacked plates in the column.

Column stills produce liquids that are milder in flavor, with a silkier mouthfeel than its pot still cousin, but they’re also capable of producing exceptionally full-bodied, complex, choice spirits, like whiskey. The ability to select vapors from the series of plates allows a distiller to have precise control of flavor profiles, since the cuts – the heads, hearts, and tails – are more automatic and consistent. Most American distilleries use a column still, especially those producing bourbon.

Hybrid and Others

Ultimately, whichever type of still a distiller chooses boils down (no pun intended) to the type of reflux needed to create the desired flavor profile. Pot stills create a passive reflux, while column stills can be more controlled with plates and valves. Many modern distilleries operate with a pot-column hybrid still, which can look like a pot still with a column attached to it. The plates can be turned on or off, depending on the quality of spirit they want to produce. Many Irish whiskeys that were originally produced on pot stills now employ a hybrid method, like Jameson.

Other types of stills used today include the Alembic Still, very similar to the same Alembic used by Medieval chemists; a Coffey still, a type of continuous column still; a Reflux still, used to identify and transport higher boiling point components; a Lomond still, similar to a hybrid still in its employ of both a pot still and three perforated plates that operated independently to control reflux; and even a solar still that uses the heat of the sun to evaporate and purify water.

The Stills of Brother Justus

Any of three stills are responsible for your favorite Brother Justus American Single Malt Whiskey, and sometimes even more than one! From our humble beginnings on a 5-gallon, we now operate three at our distillery: Bill, Brigid, and Bruno.

Bill The Still

Bill: The O.G.

Bill the Still shares a namesake with our distillery, though his moniker comes from Brother Justus’ birth name, William “Bill” Trettel. Bill is a 100-gallon copper still that is primarily used for redistilling heads that come off the two larger stills, which allows us to reduce waste and dial into flavors in unexpected ways. We also use Bill as a pilot for small-batch experiments and line extensions, like our cocktail-room exclusive products.

Brigid, our first 1,000-gallon still

Brigid: The Grand Dame

Brigid the Still is named for St. Brigid of Kildare, patroness of many things, including Ireland, dairy farmers, midwives, blacksmiths – like Brother Justus – and one of the patron saints of beer! One of St. Brigid’s many miracles includes during water into beer, providing enough for 18 churches from a single barrel – that’s our kind of miracle.

Our still Brigid is the first of two 1,000-gallon stills we purchased for our Northeast Minneapolis distillery. She’s responsible for producing our “workhorse” recipe, the majority recipe for all of our whiskeys. We released the first of Brigid’s yield as a special, limited edition bottling called Brigid’s First Batch, with tasting notes of ripe stone fruit and spice. Brigid’s First Batch took 3rd place for Best Minnesota Whiskey at the 2023 International Whisky Competition, and can still be found on some shelves out in the world…

Bruno, our newest 1,000-gallon still

Bruno: The New Addition

Bruno the Still arrived at the distillery in 2023, the second of our 1,000-gallon stills. Bruno is named in honor of St. Bruno of Cologne, the founder of the Carthusian order of monks – most famously known for their production of the highly-sought after Green Chartreuse. Bruno is used to redistill raw make from three different recipes, allowing us to double our output, and then some. 

Brigid and Bruno were both custom-built with 6-plate columns, copying Bill, to achieve the desired levels of separation needed to craft our whiskeys. Most distillers making American Single Malt use 4-plate columns, but having the extra column surface area and height that 6 plates provides purposefully allows us to be more selective with the flavors we collect once the vapors are steam heated. Brigid and Bruno are also hybrid stills, and be used either in column or pot-still mode so we can capture the efficiency of a column still and the complex spirit from a pot still.

At Brother Justus, we mash and create our distiller’s beer, then let it ferment for approximately 5-7 days. Then, it distills for 2-3 days before going into barrels to begin the aging process; so, from mash to barrel, it takes about two weeks, then ages for another 1-2 years, or longer, depending on the size of the barrel. Running the stills 8 hours per day for those 2-3 days yields approximately 240 proof gallons of alcohol per week, but we’ve produced up to 800 gallons per week in the past. 

Behind Every Great Whiskey is a Great Still

While the distillation method of a certain still is just one of a huge number of variables that affect how a spirit will taste, it’s by far one of the most important. This distillery equipment plays a pivotal role in the production of your favorite drink – without a still, there would be no whiskey! And so, we raise a dram to Bill, Brigid, and Bruno, responsible for creating our favorite drink, Brother Justus American Single Malt Whiskey.

Curious to learn more and see the equipment yourself? Join us for a distillery tour!

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