Among the industries and establishments for the production of food and beverages, the distillery occupies an important place since it is the space where different types of alcoholic beverages can be produced from the basic principle of distillation. Generally, distilleries are large factories that require not only a large, safe and controlled space, but also very specific machinery and implements that are not seen in other factories or types of industries.
Distilleries work on the basis of the principle of separating liquids that boil at different temperatures. In this way, in a distillery liquids such as water and alcohol are separated since as both have different boiling points (being that of water at 100 ° and that of alcohol at 78 °), when one of them vaporizes first (the alcohol) and then recondensing, the concentration of alcohol in the total liquid will be much more important. This process (known precisely as distillation) is used especially for high alcohol content beverages such as whiskeys, spirits or tequila, among others. To carry out this process, a type of distillation known as simple distillation is normally used, although in some cases fractional distillation can also be used, a more complex but equally effective system.
Although distilleries are factories and companies like any other, it is also true that nowadays they are especially interesting for tourists from different parts who come to a region famous for a certain alcoholic beverage. Thus, many distilleries in typical areas in some type of beverage include guided tours in which the giant stills, thermometers and distillation tubes are visited while the workers are seen in the process of elaboration. Many of these distilleries also offer a retrospective in which they show what tools and elements were used in other times to indicate technological changes. Finally, some of them also offer free samples of the products that are made in the plant.
