Stills

The most basic still consists of three parts: a vessel in which to boil a liquid; a lid that has a tube, or “beak,” that runs from the top of the vessel slanting downward to channel vapor away from the boiler and help the vapor to condense; and a vessel for catching the condensing vapor as it drips. (The word “distill” comes from the Latin destillare, meaning “to drip.”) American colonists made distilled spirits with small pot stills. They bartered their whiskeys freely until a tax on whiskey was imposed in 1791. The tax triggered the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, which was quelled by President Washington.