The Home Distiller's Guide to Spirits: Reviving the Art of Home Distilling

The Home Distiller's Guide to Spirits brings artisanal alcohol out of its dark moonshine past into its exciting present. This comprehensive guide to the home still is an ideal introduction for beginners and a practical resource for producing distillers. With more than 50 original recipes, it features easy-to-follow advice and step-by-step photography and direction on bottling, canning, and cultures.

Topics include:

• Brief history of moonshine, how it was developed and why
• Overview of the techniques and distilling terms
• Description of equipment needed and how to source it
• A guide to the different stills available and their uses
• List of materials and how to find them, and how to obtain a license
• Step-by-step guide to make basic alcohol with an easy first recipe
• Description of the types of alcohol that can be distilled at home
• Profiles of individual distillers and list of suppliers and resources
• Troubleshooting and safety.

The Home Distiller's Guide to Spirits covers the five categories of home-distilled spirits:

• Vodka, the easiest to start with -- How to make, store and favor
• Whisky -- Creating the perfect mash; aging whisky
• Rum -- Choosing ingredients, bottling and storing
• Gin -- Botanicals; compounding and storing
• Flavored and fruit-based: Choosing favor combinations, plus recipes.

The Home Distiller's Guide to Spirits is an ideal resource for anyone dreaming of home distilling, or planning to enter the business.

Steve Coomes is a freelance food, spirits, and travel writer. He writes for restaurant and consumer magazines and is a restaurant blogger, radio show and podcast host, and the author of Country Ham: A Southern Tradition of Hogs, Salt and Smoke. He lives in Goshen in Kentucky, one state with a rapidly growing network of home distillers.