"Paul Arthur" > wrote in message
om...
> On 2010-12-21, Spamlet > wrote:
>
>> "john robinson" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>> Does anyone have any information about making a simple *distilling*
>>> apparatus that they can share? My friend is thinking of trying to
>>> distil some ginger beer.
>>
>> A problem with distilling is that if 'successfully' done, one ends
>> up with alcohol and no flavour, so you would not get ginger spirit
>> from your still. The flavour in gin is added afterwards, and that in
>> whisky comes from the barrels it is aged in.
>
> Sorry, that's just wrong. Raw whisky has plenty of flavour; some of
> the flavours come from the barrel, but others (like the peatiness in
> some Scotch) is there from the get-go. You only get no flavour if you
> distill it several times (a column still does this internally, while
> with a pot still you would have to do multiple runs).
>
> As for gin...gin is made in several ways. "The flavour is added
> afterwards" is a good description of compounding, which is the least
> popular. London gin is the most popular type of gin and is required by
> law to be produced in a more traditional manner, where the flavour is
> added before the final distillation.
>
>

I believed or read that the difference was that compounding means "dump it
in" whereas distilled means more like infused with vapor of