Welcome to the world of Distilled Spirits. There are many different types of distilled spirits made from things like cacti, wine, oat meal mush, apples, corn, barley and rye and also rice. The common element between all of these beverages is "distillation". To make a distilled beverage you must first make a fermented liquid and than boil it. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water so it will turn to steam before the water is hot enough. The person making the distilled spirit will than capture the steam, cool it down and let it turn back into a liquid. They may distill it many times before they get it to the right stage of purity.

The equipment used to do this can be very simple (Reminder: distilling spirits in the United States is against the law.) or very complex. Moonshiners used to use car radiators to cool the steam back into liquid. In other parts of the world where it is not against the law to make distilled spirits as a hobby, you can buy small hobby size units. Of course the major players in the distilled spirits business use the large industrial size.

There are many different types of distilled spirits, far to many to remember, but there are a few very important ones which I will want you to learn about.