Alexandria Copper Still
What makes us different from other distilleries? This is a question I often get asked in the tasting room or during a tour of the distillery. The answer is quite simple – our still. We are currently the only operating distillery in the US that uses an Alexandria Still. The Alexandria Still was designed by Mike Boyich who brings generations of brandy distilling and a keen knowledge of engineering together in his design. What makes the Alexandria still different is the use of on-steam distillation. Typical stills use either heat jackets or coils driven by oil or steam along with columns full of bubble plates. These types of stills are inspired by the patent stills or continuous column stills of the early 1800s that increased the efficiency of alcohol separation by utilizing the surface area to enhance reflux (simultaneous condensation of water and evaporation of alcohol). The Alexandria heats a water bath that generates steam that is injected into the low wines being distilled. The partial distillation that results is both efficient and flavorful.
There are two main reasons I chose to use Mike’s Alexandria Still. First, I wanted to produce the most flavorful and pure spirit I possibly could. Second, I wanted to do it in a small efficient batch-style method. It turns out that the Alexandria Still accomplishes both. I can complete a run in 3-4 hours start to finish and for whiskey or brandy and only need to conduct one distillation to yield a highly flavorful but polished finished product. Therefore, our still can yield an output of a still roughly 3 times its actual capacity (70 gallons) in the same amount of time. And I would argue our final product is smoother and more flavorful. I think our customers would agree given the most common remark is how smooth our spirits taste. This smoothness is the result of our small batch pot still method on the Alexandria Still coupled with the on-steam distillation which yields absolutely no harsh flavors from scorching or heating too rapidly. For a distillery aimed at producing the highest quality products with the greatest possible flavor, there is no better choice than an Alexandria Still. I hope to buy a couple more in the future to turn out even more amazing spirits.
Cheers
