DISTILLER: FARMER AND HERBALIST
The figure of the master distiller is strongly connected to the still, but the secret of a well-made distillate does not lie exclusively in the way in which the distillation is carried out.
Upon closer inspection, it is the knowledge of the raw materials and their processing that is crucial for intervening on the distillation variables. So a true distiller will have to train in the school of nature and have a bit of the farmer and a bit of the herbalist on his side.
The farmer's attitude will allow him to make the necessary assessments on maturation times and the choice of materials to process, which is essential for distillates obtained from fermentable raw materials (brandies). The knowledge of the herbalist will allow the materials to be worked so that the alcohol can extract all the characteristics of interest. In the case of botanical spirits, to extract the active ingredients of the botanicals, in addition to simple maceration, there are other techniques that can be used such as digestion, infusion, decoction, percolation.
Generally if the tincture you want to prepare is mixed vegetables, these are in the ratio of 1/5 compared to alcohol. The alcohol to be used ranges from 60° to 95°, the maceration time around 8 days for fresh vegetables (leaves, flowers, stems, orange peels, etc.), 15 days for seeds and woody drugs, 30- 35 days for berries, indicative values that may vary based on the type of product you decide to work with and the sensitivity of the operator. So how can we intervene in distillation to enhance the work done with the extraction of the dye? Let's take an example with juniper, since Gin is the king of botanical spirits: Gin is usually obtained by maceration of berries and other botanicals in a hydro-alcoholic solution (London Dry Gin ) for 24 hours, addition of water and distillation. During the distillation phase, as the alcoholic vapors emerge at higher temperatures, the percentage of water they are composed of will be greater and will be able to bring with it the water-soluble fractions and the higher boiling substances.
In the case of juniper, notes that tend to be more balsamic will then be felt because the water can also carry with it part of the essential oils. By stopping to distill the alcoholic vapors at lower temperatures and less close to the boiling point of water, the percentage of alcohol of which the vapors are composed will be greater and the hint of juniper will tend to become lighter, bringing finer aromas. Since Gin is not obtained by fermentation of an alcoholic raw material and subsequent distillation, it would not require cutting off heads and tails because there are no fermentation by-products in the alcohol, but it should never be forgotten that distillation is a separative technique therefore we may be interested in cutting some fractions at the top and bottom to choose the aromatic caliber of our Gin. The infusion times will naturally also influence its characteristics, and the other variables mentioned previously such as the alcohol level of maceration and the quantity of raw material used which the distiller-farmer-herbalist will have to know how to balance well.