The copper alembic still is the oldest and most elegant tool in distilling. The word "alembic" comes from the Arabic al-anbiq, and the design — a copper pot, a domed head, and a condenser — has barely changed in a thousand years, because it simply works.
You gently heat the wash in the boiler. Alcohol and the aromatic compounds boil off below the temperature of water, rise as vapor, travel through the head and down the condenser, and drip out as finished spirit, essential oil, or hydrosol. The whole craft is in patience and in making clean "cuts" between the heads, hearts and tails of the run.
Copper isn't decoration. As vapor rises, copper chemically binds the sulfur compounds thrown off during fermentation — the same compounds that make a poorly made spirit taste of rotten egg and struck match. Stainless steel can't do this. That single fact is why nearly every fine whiskey and brandy on earth touches copper somewhere on its journey. Every still we carry is heavy, food-safe, lead-free copper with tin-silver soldered seams.
Far more than moonshine. A copper alembic will produce whiskey, bourbon, rum, brandy, gin and vodka, and it is equally at home distilling lavender and rose essential oils, botanical hydrosols, rosewater and clean distilled water. It is the most versatile vessel in the craft.