Distilling

During distillation, the fermented mash is heated in a copper pot still. The vapor carries the scent of the apples into the condenser, where it turns back to liquid. The distillate stays below 86% ABV so the apple character isn't lost.

Many fruit distilleries pair the pot still with a column, which concentrates the vapor in multiple stages. This allows a single pass where distillers once needed two runs, one for the raw spirit and one for the refined spirit. Both methods are permitted, and both have their devotees.

The distillate doesn't flow out as one continuous stream but in stages. First comes the heads, sharp and solvent-like, which are cut away. Then follows the heart, the middle cut, which goes into the bottle. Last comes the tails, carrying heavy, fusel notes. Cutting the heads only partially reduces methanol; most of it is already determined by the mash itself.

How apple brandy and Calvados differ in distillation comes down to the law. Calvados may be distilled in a pot still or a column, but Calvados Pays d'Auge must be double-distilled in a pot still only. Calvados Domfrontais, by contrast, requires column distillation. No such rules exist for apple brandy.

Distilling is no kitchen hobby. Producing alcohol without a license is a criminal offense in Germany, and the still itself must be registered with the customs authority. That's why fruit farms either distill themselves under license or hand their fruit over to a distillery that does it for them. Whether in Jork, Steinkirchen or Buxtehude, the same rules apply everywhere.