Inside a Copper Pot Still

Copper does more than hold shape and heat evenly. It reacts with sulphur compounds produced during fermentation and strips them out, which is a large part of why pot-distilled spirits taste cleaner than the fermented wash they start from.

A pot still is a batch process, not a continuous one: fermented agave wash goes in, heat is applied, and vapour is collected and condensed in careful cuts, heads, hearts and tails, with only the heart of the run making it into the bottle.

It is slower than continuous distillation, and that is the point: working batch by batch, with the cuts made by palate, keeps the character of each batch in the bottle.