On October 4th and 5th I attended White Labs' Yeast and Fermentation class for distillers down in San Diego. The class was packed full of good information and it was attended by about a dozen new distillers. The attendees ranged in experience from professionals brewers to home beer and wine makers interested in starting a distillery. Overall the class was very well organized and the talks were professionally presented.

The main take away from the class was, treat your yeast well because it creates hundreds of flavor and aroma compounds that will concentrate in the distillate...