The Alaskan Bootlegger's Bible by Leon Kania ISBN 0-9674524-0-6 Pub 2001, 172pg, US$22 (+ postage ?) Available from http://www.happymountain.net, or email leonk@ptialaska.net This book is easy reading & humorous. It is a "no-frills" approach to wine and beer making, with a wide range of recipes. It has good explanations, without getting into the theory. Shows how to make much of the ancillary equipment needed, including cappers, a malt drier, and converting a keg for use. It also goes into pot & basic reflux still design & operation.

Mike Nixon and Mike McCaw have produced a great new book "The Compleat Distiller" (Dec01), available from http://www.amphora-society.com. This is an extremely comprehensive reference, covering many different still designs & operation. It has a lot of information on construction, as well as great explanations of the theory of distilling. If you're only after one book, make this the one. Its available either electronically (US$12.50), or hardcover (US$25). ISBN 0-473-08135-0

Making pure corn whiskey - a professional guide for amateur and micro distillers" from http://www.home-distilling.com I would likewise put "Making Pure Corn Whisky" up near the top of the list to buy. Ian has a great knowledge and understanding of the distilling process, and has explained it very clearly and in a straight-forward style. Instructions for building the still are well explained, with many photos to help. He has only suggested a heat input of 750W with the particular design, however I reckon it could easily handle 1500W (and hence half the distilling time) if the column were increased up to a 2" diameter.

Practical Distiller by Leonard Monzert, circa 1889 reprinted by Lindsay Publications, Inc. US$8.95 The Author Leonard Monzert was a professional distiller and rectifier. This is a valuable reference book for any small distiller or anyone interested in a view from the American pre-prohibition era. Monzert's book is simply and concisely written to include the basic construction and operation of both pot and column stills. The 1889 writing of this book is an important aspect of this publication as well. In distillation history the coffey continuous column patent still had just come into use. It's greater capacity and economy dominated the traditional pot still for the first time in industrial production. This new still give's birth to the first blended whiskey. The excitement towards modern distillation is palpable in this treastie from the golden age of industrialism. Monzert's work contains many traditional formulas, including several that are for various reasons, no longer in production. One is "Red Ratafia" liqueur a cordial made of red cherries, black cherries, raspberries, strawberries, brown sugar, neutral spirits, cinnamon, mace and cloves. Another is "Absinthe Suisse" made with long wormwood, short wormwood, green anise, long fennel, star anise, corriander, hyssop and neutral spirits. Instructions included for essences and botanical extraction are as valuable today, as when they were first written. Also of interest is a diagram of the poteen still used by the "Irish peasantry". The greatest value of this book is that it gives a complete manual overview of alcohol production. This enables any small producer to perform tasks by hand until more proper equipment can be afforded.

Distillation of Alcohol & De-Naturing by F.B. Wright, circa 1918 reprinted by Lindsay Publications, Inc. US$14.95 This is the first alcohol reference book written after "The Free Alcohol Act of 1906" which for the first time allowed tax free production of de-natured alcohol for fuel and industrial use. This change in governmental regulation, allowed the large agricultural sector of the economy to become self-reliant by making it's own fuel. All internal combustion engines of this era ran on alcohol. This technology was crucial to a segmented nation without a national highway system. There is a great inclusion of governmental regulations of the era and it is contrasted to contemporary farm alcohol production programs of Germany & France. Large beverage alcohol chapters are filled with a great variety of still pictures and technical drawings. Many of the still drawings are given as teaching examples and become superceded by more contemporary designs. For example: "Gillaume's inclined column still" was used for molasses distillation and is more forgiving of solids and boil overs than vertical designs. Many entire factory layouts are included in addition to mere still designs. Raw adjunct ingredient processing of potatoes and beets are shown in detail, along with the standard grain and fruit juice. This work is a pre-prohibition "how to book" to build your own still or distillery, it is much more than a simple formula book. It no doubt, helped many family farms gain additional use from scarce resources.

This book is now available as a FREE download at http://www.distillationgroup.com/distillation/H002/H002.pdf

Manufacture Of Whiskey Brandy & Cordials by Irving Hirsch, circa 1937 reprinted by Lindsay Publications, Inc. $9.95 The author Irving Hirsch, LL.B. LL.M. was a Chemical Engineer and Technical Consultant. This book contains a great deal of information in all aspects of alcohol production in great detail. There are many formulas for spirits, herbal extracts and cordials.

The formula chapters include: Rye whiskey, Apple Jack, Pear Brandy, Slivowitz, Fruit Brandy,Rum, Gin, Aneseed, Benedictine, Blackberry Brandy, Coffee Liquor, Kimmel, Lindburg Bitters, Maraschino Liquor, Orange Liquor, Peppermint Liquor, Rum Liquor, Raspberry Liquor, Stomach Bitters, Vermouth, Walnut Liquor, Absinthe Cordial, Apricot Cordial, Chartreuse, Creme de Cherry, Creme de Cocoa. True to his era, the author believes that single malt whiskey is too strongly flavored to drink straight and should be "improved" by being blended with column distilled spirits. He also intimated that, the time is close at hand when chemical science will make the aging of non-neutral distilled spirits unnessary. However, he redeems himself many times over, with a plethora of flavor corrective and maturation accelerating techniques. Several of Hirsch's inventions are noted in industrial microbiology texts through the late 1950's. This book has a great deal of practical information found nowhere else. It leaves the reader wondering when and why we stopped trying brave new beverage distillation techniques.

All three of these book are available in paperback for US$33.85 per set + S/H at
Outterson, LLC 7747 Woodstone Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45244
Tel 513-474-3521 Fax 513-474-9384
Web fermentationbiz.com
e-mail beerwine@eos.net
or technical bookstores

Home Distillation Handbook by Ola Norrman. Either download a pdf file from the site http://www.home-distillation.com/, then pay US$5 for the password), or buy a printed version. ISBN 91-970694-5-0. Its OK, but is very heavy on promoting their range of flavouring & yeasts. I don't believe it has enough detail, however it does give good instructions on how to build the "Labmaster" reflux still (see my photos page).

Spirits Unlimited by Peter J. Wheeler & R. Malcolm Willmott, for NZ$20 (approx US$10). ISBN 0473-03752-1. The special anniversary edition (Jan 2000) now covers equipment, fermentation, distillation, treating & flavouring the spirit, making whisky, essential oils, and still design. Particularly good is the trouble shooting guide. This book was the first one I got, and still find it an excellent resource. Order it from their web page http://www.spiritsunlimited.co.nz , or write to PO Box 111, Waimauku, Auckland 1250, New Zealand.

The Lore of Still Building by Kathleen Howard & Norman Gibat. Gives a good range of cheap and easy stills that can be made from pressure cookers and other kitchen items. Also has a fair amount on using ethanol as a fuel.No ISBN number, try 741 North Countryline St, Fostoria, Ohio 44830-1004, ph (419) 435-0404 fax (419) 435-1844

Bob Lennon's Stillmaker site can be downloaded as a PDF file, like a book (and its FREE !). Informative & very good, with explicit instructions on how to build a reflux still (see my photos page). Heaps of details, illustrations, & explanations. Its recently been updated & expanded to include a valved condenser design, using a beer keg as the boiler.

Good Booze Recipe And Cookbook by James C. Krohn (Author) List Price: $12 Haven't seen it myself, so can't comment.

Jacks review .." The "good booze recipe and cookbook" by James Krohn is one of the first books I ever purchased on home distilling. The book is not much more than a pamphlet on making sugar mashes (using a 3 gallon bucket of sugar to each 26 gallon garbage can, which is then filled with water), Calgon bath salts are then added (these are no longer made as they contaminated water supplies) for some nutrients and bakers' yeast is added. The mash is then distilled in a potstill made out of a 5 gallon aluminum pressure cooker 4 times (the last run is when you collect the heads) in order to make pure ethanol, to which you can add oak chips (for Bourbon) or coffee beans and then cut with water. The authors' personal set up is 4, 5 gallon pressure cookers welded to make 2, ten gallon stills. The illustrations are hand done- badly. and no usefull design info (not even the diameter of the copper tubing is mentioned) is to be found anywhere in the book. The homedistiller website, a 5 gallon Eurostill, and some turbo yeast will provide a HELL of a lot more info than this book- save your money."

More Mountain Spirits: The Continuing Chronicle of Moonshine Life and Corn Whiskey, Wines, Ciders & Beers in America's Appalachians by Joseph Earl Dabney (Paperback - March 1985) List Price: $8.95. Haven't seen it myself, so can't comment.

Jacks review .." The book "more mountain spirits" by Joseph Dabney consists of the author writing down what an old moonshiner tells him- consisting primarily of sugar and grain ,or sugar and fruit mashes. The still information is mostly pictures of stills taken by the government- showing the shoddy construction of the stills. The one redeeming chapter is a how-to section on making an all copper still. It's a 2-gallon model with a jacketed-column condensor. A nice looking still, but hardly usefull to someone with an electric stovetop. the still looks like a metal barrel with a wide middle, and slightly resembles Frankenstein due to the rivets holding it together. The only use to the book is a couple of 1800's era recipes for whiskey that are already floating about on the internet."

A Practical Handbook on the Distillation of Alcohol from Farm Products (1922) by David J. Goldsmith. List Price: $22.95 Haven't seen it myself, so can't comment.

John Stone has put out a new book "The Carriage Still" Hard copy US$18 or soft copy US$8. The book is very easily read, with heaps of clear explanations and diagrams. The still design is that of his "top of the line" model - a further development of the inline one in the Gin-Vodka book. Details at the web site http://www.gin-vodka.com

• Moonshine Bible
• Secrets of Building an Alcohol Producing Still.
• Alcohol as an auto fuel

Technical Books

• Chemical Engineering - vol 6 (Design) by JM Coulson, JF Richardson & RK Sinnot. Pergamon Press. ISBN 008-022969-7 (hardcover) or 008-022970-0 (flexicover)
• Perrys Handbook for Chemical Engineers