What this is
Heads, Hearts & Tails is part of Whyarium, a set of hobby encyclopedias made for the joy of it. It explains the physics and the craft of distilling: fermentation, vapour and liquid, the cuts, columns, casks, the world's styles and what the same idea does outside the drinks trade.
It is educational, not promotional. There are no brands and no distilleries here, only regions, styles and the rules that bind every producer in them. It describes principles and safety, and deliberately gives no instructions for distilling at home: in many countries that is illegal without a licence, and it is a real fire risk everywhere.
How the machines work
The still on the front page
A small physical model, run in your browser. The pot holds 100 litres of low wines at 25%. Its liquid and vapour follow the standard equilibrium table for ethanol and water at one atmosphere (mole fractions, converted to approximate % by volume), and the pot empties as Rayleigh's law for a simple batch distillation says it should. Running slowly adds a little reflux in the neck, so a slow run gives a cleaner, stronger spirit. Heads and tails are modelled as two groups of congeners: one far more volatile than ethanol, one that comes over as the pot runs out of alcohol. Their behaviour is tuned to look right, not measured from any real still.
The column
Each plate is one step on the equilibrium curve, achieved at 75% efficiency and scaled by how wet the reflux keeps it. It is a teaching sketch of the McCabe–Thiele method, not a design tool.
The cask
Evaporation rates are typical published figures for each climate; colour and strength changes are illustrative curves fitted to them.
The map
Land outlines from Natural Earth (public domain) via the world-atlas package, projected in the Natural Earth projection.
Sources
Facts were gathered in a research pass and then checked against the texts in a separate pass. The main sources:
- Regulation (EU) 2019/787 on spirit drinks, Annex I (definitions of whisky, rum, brandy, gin, London gin, vodka; methanol limits)
- The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009
- US Code of Federal Regulations, 27 CFR part 5 (whisky and bourbon standards of identity)
- Irish Whiskey Technical File (2014)
- Cognac appellation specification, as amended in 2023
- Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association, labelling standard for Japanese whisky (2021)
- Mexican standards NOM-006-SCFI-2012 (tequila) and NOM-070-SCFI-2016 (mezcal)
- UK Health Security Agency, methanol toxicological overview
- Standard ethanol–water vapour–liquid equilibrium data (as tabulated in Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook)
Where sources disagree, the text gives a range. If you spot a mistake, the facts and the code can be corrected.
Credits
Every drawing on the site, from the stills to the barley, is drawn in code: no stock images, no photographs. Typefaces: Alfa Slab One by JM Solé, Petrona by Ringo R. Seeber, Inconsolata by Raph Levien (all SIL Open Font License).
Drink responsiblyIf you drink, do it legally and in moderation. Nothing here is a recommendation to drink anything.