Ceramic Still @museum.de

F: We're starting our tour with this ceramic still. It dates back to the 18th or 19th century and initially looks quite unremarkable. But it demonstrates one thing very impressively: what an enormous effort the distillation process was in the old days.

M: The pot was heated over an open fire. At the top, on the cap, there's a short air-cooled tube. The distillate condenses inside this tube – and slowly drips down.

F: Slowly in this case means: one drop emerges roughly every three seconds.

M: As cooling technology, it's not especially sophisticated, and the quantity distilled is tiny as a result. Every drop, a precious commodity!

F: The ancient Egyptians were using similar stills thousands of years ago, as were the Greeks and Romans somewhat later. But likely distillation candidates in ancient times were exclusively subtle essential oils that were used as perfumes.

M: Although the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans were very familiar with alcoholic beverages, it was only in the form of wine or beer! Spirits were completely unknown. That has to do with the natural fermentation of wine. Alcoholic fermentation ends as soon as the alcohol concentration reaches 16 per cent. At that point, the yeasts required for fermentation are killed by the alcohol.

F: It wasn't until the 12th century that an alchemist at the University of Salerno achieved a breakthrough. The name of this alchemist was Magister Salernus, though we don't know much more about him. However, we do know that…

M: Magister Salernus performed the first recorded fractional distillation of wine. He managed to separate pure alcohol, as flammable wine spirit, from the non-flammable component parts of the wine.

F: Roughly a century later, the bishop of Regensburg – Albertus Magnus – succeeded in taking another important step. He invented the pot still. Again, only small quantities of distillates were obtained, so they were extremely precious and intended only for medicinal purposes.

M: That's because people have known for centuries that brandy has antibacterial properties. So it was used to treat wounds – or worm infestations. The distillates were optimistically dubbed "aqua vitae" – "water of life". However, they were usually quite bitter, so they had to be sweetened with honey. Cheers!