[Seagram logo.]
[Close-up of schematics of old distillation equipment in book.] Distillation is the separation and extraction of liquids by evaporation and condensation. It's an ancient process based on a fairly simple principle. But while the designers of these stills had little control over the quality of their finished product, we are very much in control today. And not only thanks to modern technology. [View of modern distillery control room and operators.] The skills and experience of the stillman make an equal contribution. This is the tail box or the spirit safe, where the fresh distillate emerges from the still for the first time. It is about sixty-five percent alcohol and pungent with the aroma of its origins, the essence of the golden grain. [View of grain being harvested.]
[View of distillery control room and operators.] Modern distillation looks like a highly technological process but, in fact, it allows more human control over the final product than ever before. Canadian whisky is distilled in column stills, up to five stories high. [View of column still.] They are tall because a column still is, in a way, many stills one on top of the other, making it very effective. [View from inside of column still.] Mash enters at the top of this column and descends through a series of perforated plates through which hot steam rises. On each level, the process going on is just like a simple distillation. [View of a laboratory-scale distillation process in a rotary evaporator.] Alcohol, which has a lower boiling point than water, evaporates first when the mash is heated. As the alcohol vapours rise they are drawn off into a condenser and cooled, condensing back into a clear liquid. The water and the mash are left behind. The whisky that results from the first distillation has many of the strong flavouring elements called congeners that were created during fermentation. The so-called heads and tails, the first and the last parts of the rum respectively contain more of these elements that the distiller desires, that is where control comes in. [Operator samples the first distillation.] The skilled stillman can detect the change by smell and divert the flow to a separate tank taking only the best part of the rum.
[Schematic of aldehydes, esters and fusel oils]. These congeners fall into three categories. The aldehydes and esters make up the heads and the fusel oils are the tails. Since these all have different boiling points they evaporate at different temperatures and can be separated very accurately during the distillation process. It is this kind of control that makes for better whisky. [Operator smells and visually inspects distillate.] The stillman relies on his experience and his nose to know when to cut, because when it comes to flavour the human senses are more sensitive than the most sophisticated technology.
[Laboratory operators perform quality control on a range of raw distillates]. It takes a trained palette and nose to determine the potential of the raw young distillate. Expert blenders now make decisions that will influence the destiny of each whisky. The journey to maturity is just beginning. Many years of ageing in the barrel lie ahead. These men will decide which whisky goes into which barrel, choices, which will mould the character of the whisky. [View of stacks of barrels.] [Operators fill barrels with whisky.] A rye based distillate with good flavouring potential for example might be put into a new fresh charred barrel. While a lighter corn based distillate might go to an older mature barrel mellowed by years of absorbing other flavours. The type of barrel, the grains used in making the mash, the barrels placed on the racks of the maturing house, all this will be recorded. Its next destination, into the maturing house, where time and the wood will do their work. [External view of Seagram distillery with stacks of barrels.] Time and the mysteries of ageing.