By Zymurgy Bob
Making Fine Spirits is a book for the rankest beginning potstiller who is interested in learning to make naturally-flavored "brown" spirits, whiskeys (and also whiskeys), brandies, and rums. It will guide him (and her, if she's interested) through the questions that need to be answered, and the decisions that need to be made to start the new distiller on the way to creating that first amber drop of ambrosia.
You'll learn distillation lore, which dangers are real, and which are bogus. You'll learn how to build a small but useful coffeepot still in a day, without soldering, and the next day you'll learn how to make a respectable brandy from the cheapest grocery store wine in that still.
You'll build on your experiences with the coffeepot still to construct a 5-gallon potstill, and then a 15-gallon potstill. Making Fine Spirits is also a book for the advanced potstiller as well. You'll design and ferment washes, and distill them while making the cuts to get only the finest spirit, and you'll pick the appropriate aging chemistry to enhance even further the quality and complexity of what you've made. And after you've done all that, you'll realize that your spirits have become as good as, or most commonly, better than, what you are used to drinking. At that point, you'll start buying the odd very-high-end spirit, just to see what they did and plot to copy it. At that point you can truly say you are making fine spirits.
