The legendary stills of Jamaica and the Caribbean - a German-Dutch-Scottish wedding couple
Jamaican rums have a lot in common with Scotch whisky: they are fruity, often distilled on pot stills and in earlier centuries distillery owners were often from Scotland. But it's not exactly like in Scotland. The roots of the Jamaica pot-and-barrel-shaped stills lie in a very different country.
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| painting by Catherine Street, 1821 |
At the end of my little round trip through the distilleries of Jamaica, I would like to introduce you to a topic which I think is increadibly fascinating: the famous Jamaican pot stills.
Jamaica's pot stills are legendary, and with their long lyne arms, they look a bit like proboscidea on a water barrel. To this day, the scribes do not agree on how and where these primeval-looking pot stills actually came into being.
The Mystery of the Stills of Jamaica
However, if you are familiar with the history of distilling apparatus development, then it is no longer as puzzling as you might think at first glance. And it is this barrel-shaped part of the still, which sets us on the right track.
Often the root of the Jamaica stills is seen in France and associated with a rather complicated apparatus invented by Monsieur Adam. But Adam's still never used a barrel-shaped vessel: his still had first the shape of a cube, and later the shape of a ball or an egg. Adam never used barrels. And he never used wood.
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| Hampden Estate, Jamaica. pic: Kirsch Import |
In order to find the barrel-shape, we need to look somewhere else. Old documents in numerous online archives lead us to a trail that points to completely different regions: to Wittenberg, Frankfurt, Greve, Amsterdam and to the Swiss Confederates.
I would like to invite you to dive into the past with me and finally solve the mystery of the Jamaica stills.
1551 - Lonicer, Frankfurt
The earliest evidence of alcohol distillation in Europe is found in Sicily and northern Spain, from where the knowledge was soon passed on to Germany and other European countries. Originally used only in the medical field, alcohol distillation also spread to agriculture from 1600 onwards. As we can see from an illustration from the book by the German botanist Adam Lonicer from 1551, the principle of water cooling with the help of a large cooling spiral during distillation was already well known in the Rhine Valley at that time. (see picture 1).
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| picture 1: Worm tub condenser, Lonicer 1551, Frankfurt |
1. Steam distillation in German speaking areas
1586 - Matthioli, Frankfurt
In 1586 a book was published in Frankfurt/Main which was to be of great importance for the further development of stills. It was an absolutely magnificent translated version of Pietro Andrea Matthioli's book of plants entitled "Kreutterbuch deß hochgelehrten und weltberühmten Petri Andreae Matthioli" - a title which translates as "Book of herbs by the highly learned and world-famous Petri Andreae Matthioli".
The author of the book, Pietro Matthioli, came from northern Italy and had been the personal physician of the German Emperor Maximilian II and Archduke Ferdinand II. He was held in high esteem at court, was raised to the nobility in 1562 and appointed privy councillor. His great passion was botany and the effects of plants as medicines.
Due to this high position, his books were in high demand and received a lot of attention. An older edition of this work had already appeared in Vienna in 1563 (New Kreüterbuch, digitized by the Bavarian State Library in Munich) and in Prag.
Interestingly, the Frankfurt edition contains an illustration that was missing in the older Prague edition: it shows an apparatus for distilling with an intermediate steam still (see Figure 2). The editor frankly admits that he himself has chosen and added this illustration because he considers it to be extremely noteworthy.
He even announces the source: the illustration comes from the pharmacopoeia of the German-Dutch doctor Johannes Weyer, which was also published in Frankfurt in 1580. The depiction shows a still that was new and unusual at the time. The first part of it consists of a conventional pot still. But instead of directing the connecting pipe directly to the cooling barrel, Weyer put another pot still in between. The revolutionary aspect of this idea: while the first still is heated by direct-firing in an oven, the second still is heated with the steam from the first still. And as amazing as it sounds, the system works.
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| picture 2: Distilling apparatus for a "subtile Destillation", published in Frankfurt 1586 |
We do not know whether Weyer was actually the first to use such a facility, but he is the first to be demonstrably attributed with this facility. The distillery must have attracted a lot of attention at the time, because its extraordinary history has even been handed down.
1559 - Weyer, Tecklenburg
Weyer, sometimes also called Wîer, was of noble descent and came from Greve in North Brabant. The origin of his family has not been fully clarified, but the Weyers probably originally lived in Wieringerland, which was flooded by a heavy storm tide in 1530 and disappeared in the waves.
After schooling in Bonn, Weyer first went to Paris and Orleans, where he studied medicine. When he returned home in 1540, he first worked as a doctor in Greve before being appointed a personal physician at the court of Duke Wilhelm III. of Jülich-Cleve-Berg.
Weyer was considered to be very intelligent and well-read, and today he is best known as a fighter against the witch madness and the burning of witches. But he must also have been successful as a doctor. Soon other nobles in the duke's circle also trusted his healing arts.
One of them was the Landgravine Anna von Tecklenburg-Schwerin. Anna was a decidedly modern and prudent regent, who was very concerned with the development of medicines and the care of the sick. Like the Saxon Electress Anna of Denmark and Countess Dorothea von Mansfeld, Anna von Tecklenburg-Schwerin maintained a pharmacy at her court and a large distillery for the production of Aqua Vitae. The fact that all three women were of Protestant faith will be of importance for the further course of our story, which is why I mention it explicitly at this point.
When Anna became seriously ill in 1559, she asked Johann Weyer to come to the Tecklenburg. Weyer developed a special aqua vitae for the Countess to treat stomach aches and pains, which Anna had made in large quantities in her court pharmacy after her recovery. Weyer not only gave Anna the recipe for the Aqua Vitae, but also a drawing of the distilling apparatus on which he had produced the Aqua Vitae for the Countess. Weyer called the distillation on this apparatus "subtle distillation" and his still became well known and was often copied in the Protestant areas of Germany in the years that followed. (see picture 3).
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| Picture 3: from Arzneybuch Johann Weyer, Frankfurt 1580 |
1602 - Crescenzi, Strasbourg
Word of this apparatus soon spread from Frankfurt to the Upper Rhine. A corresponding illustration can be found in a work printed in Strasbourg in 1602 and attributed to the Italian naturalist Pietro de' Crescenzi.
Crescenzi was born in Bologna around 1235 and in later years devoted himself primarily to the study of agriculture and botany. His book on agriculture was first published in German in 1471 and was repeatedly published in new variations over the next 200 years. In 1583, a version of his book was published in Frankfurt.
However, Weyer's still for “subtle distillation” is not included in older editions of Pietro de' Crescenzi's book, it was first added to his work in the Frankfurt Edition of 1583 and some years later in Strasbourg in 1602. The apparatus was recommended for the distillation of spices and seeds. (see picture 4)
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| picture 4: distilling apparatus, from "New Feldt und Ackerbaw", attributed to Pietro de' Crescenzi, Frankfurt 1583 and Straßburg 1602 |
1603 - Coleri, Wittenberg
One year later, Weyer's still began to move eastwards. A very influential book for agriculture was the "Perpetuum Calendarium" by the Brandenburg Protestant pastor and naturalist Johannis Coleri, which was first published in Wittemberg in 1589 and is written in German. Here, in addition to lots of good advice for the successful farmer, we also find a large chapter dealing with the distillation of alcohol.
The book was particularly popular in Protestant circles and appeared again and again in numerous editions between 1589 and 1697. In the edition of 1603, Johann Weyer's appartus appears for the first time in Coleri's work. (See image 5).
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| picture 5: Coleri, Calendarium Perpetuum, Teil 6, 1603, Wittemberg |
1603 - Libavius, Frankfurt, Jena und Rothenburg
The same year, alchemist, medicus and Poeta laureatus Andreas Libavius (Libau) had a book published in Frankfurt, which also included the Weyer fire-and-steam still. Libavius, who went to school in Halle and Wittenberg, later went to Basel, Jena, Coburg, and Rothenburg, where he took a high position as physicus. Libavius is mostly remembered for writing a book called Alchemia, one of the first written chemistry textbooks.
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| Libavius, Alchymistische Practic, 1603, Frankfurt |
Within 20 years, knowledge of Weyer's combined fire-and-steam distilling apparatus had spread all across the German Empire.
2. Glauber's steam distillation apparatus and wooden still
1645 - Glauber, Frankfurt and Amsterdam
Four decades later, the by then well-known Weyer fire-and-steam distillation system was refined and further developed by the German pharmacist Glauber.
Glauber originally came from the Spessart. After having lived and worked in the Frankfurt area for a long time, where the Weyer distilling apparatus had been well known for many decades, he settled in Amsterdam as a pharmacist in 1656. In addition to hydrochloric and sulfuric acid, the products that Glauber sold in his pharmacy included vinegar, wine and beer. To this day, the Glauber's salt which he developed is an elementary component of medicinal medicine.
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| Annotationes Uber den Appendicem Welcher zu Ende des Fünfften Theils, Philosophischer Oefen gesetzet, vund von underschiedlichen guten, nutzbahren, und ungemeinen Secreten tractiret, Glauber, 1661 |
Glauber was well aware of distilling from oats, barley, rye, wheat and fruits like apples, pears, cherries, or plums. One of his major concerns was, to make a spirit from grain or beer, which was as good as French or Spanish brandy and which didn't cost much to produce (see Glauber, Annotations, 1661).
In 1645 we find in one of his books a description of a double distillation system based on Weyer's system. Unlike Weyer, however, Glauber had completely dispensed with direct firing and copper stills. In Glauber's new distilling apparatus, both stills were operated by steam.
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| Glauber, furni novi, Vol. 3, Amsterdam 1648 |
This change had consequences: Glauber found out that the shape of a pot still can be neglected in steam distillation. Elaborate pot stills were no longer necessary, a simple drum-shaped container was sufficient. However, the system had another advantage: since Glauber did not use direct firing, its containers did not have to be fireproof. For the first time it was possible to manufacture a still from wood. (see Fig. 6a-d).
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| picture 6c: Glauber, 1646, Amsterdam |
As can be seen from the text, Glauber used this distilling apparatus both for the distillation of alcohol and for the distillation of herbal oils. The complete abandonment of copper pot stills had a huge advantage: people no longer needed large amounts of copper to build a distilling apparatus. A pipe made of metall and a copper insert for the stove were enough, the rest could be made with drum-shaped vessels made of wood. Basically, a special oven and a few barrels were all that was needed. The wooden still was invented. (see picture 6d)
His books, which were published in Amsterdam between 1646 and 1651, met with enormous interest in specialist circles. Cheney Culpeper, an English alchemist and member of the international, Protestant scientific group "Hartlib Circle" wrote a letter to Samuel Hartlib as early as 1646 with the request to send him a copy of the recently printed work including a translation. The Title of Glauber's work was: "Furni Novi Philosophici Or Description of a New-invented Distillir-Art". Glauber knew exactly how revolutionary his new invention was.
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| picture 6d: Glauber, 1646, Amsterdam |
Glauber didn't just use his steam oven for distilling. There were plenty of other uses as well. It could also be used to heat bath water and a headlock. His new invention became very popular, and many editions of his book followed.
A few years later, in 1667, Glauber's apparatus for "distilling in wooden vessels" was included in John French's book "Art of Distillation", which was printed in London. (picture 6e) A further edition was published in Praha in 1700 [copy see here]
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| picture 6e: distilling in wooden vessels, John French, 1667, London |
1689 - Glauber, London
In 1689, Glauber's books were printed in London. Glauber's reputation as a first class chemist was wide-spread by then and the title was "The works of the Highly Experienced and Famous Chymist John Rudoph Glauber". The book also depicted and described Glauber's wooden steam still.
1930- Appalachian Mountains
The next stop on our journey through time takes us across the great pond to North America. Three hundred years later, in the Appalachian Mountains, we find a still that looks as if it had been designed by Glauber himself.
This illegal moonshine still from northern Georgia was operated with a steam oven. The first and second stills were replaced by two wooden barrels that were filled with mash and behind them there was a smaller barrel for rectification, the so-called doubler, which was usually filled with water.
By means of copper pipes, the vapor was conducted through the first barrel into the second barrel and finally into the doubler, from where it then flowed into the cooling barrel. The system enables triple distillation in just one run. In addition, it had the advantage that it could be set up with the simplest means (see Figure 7).
Steam-powered wooden stills were very popular in the wooded areas of North America, and were probably used by the early settlers. Copper was expensive and scarce in the colonies, but wood was plentiful in Pennsylvania and in the vast forests of the Appalachian Mountains.
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| picture 7: Moonshine still from Appalachia. Source unknown. |
A particularly unusual model was the log still, which was completely worked into a large tree trunk (see image 8). It was operated with steam generated in the boiler (1). To the left of the boiler was a compartment (W) in which water was heated, which was used to prepare the mash. A safety valve against overpressure was also installed there. To the right of the boiler were (2 + 3) the beer tubs containing the wort. This was followed by (4) the doubler. During the distillation, the alcohol content in the vapor continued to increase as it traveled through each compartment. The vapor containing alcohol was then directed from the doubler via a copper spiral into a cooling barrel.
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| picture 8: Log Still ( Hall, 1818) |
1980 - Switzerland
The wooden Glauber steam still has also survived the test of time in Europe. As the following photo shows, spirit is still distilled in Switzerland according to exactly the same principle. I pinched the picture from the website of the Federal Customs Administration. Unfortunately, I don't know who took the photo or who owns the facility. But the resemblance of this mobile contract distillery to the northern Georgia moonshine still and the Glauber's steam still is striking. (pic 9) In this video [here], you can see a Swiss wooden steam still in action.
1670—Pennsylvania
Now it is time to take a closer look at those German-speaking immigrants who moved to America back at Glaubers times. It was primarily Protestants, especially Mennonites, Amish and members of the Moravian Church, who emigrated to Pennsylvania from 1670 onward and settled in the region around the cities of Allentown, Hershey, Lancaster, Reading and York.
Their area of origin was widespread and stretched from Switzerland across the entire Rhine Valley up to Holland. Many of them also come from Bohemia and Moravia. They all had in common that they belonged to the German-speaking area and the Protestant religion.
At that time the writings of Pastor Coleri were very popular in Protestant circles, and books by Crescenzi and Matthioli and the works of Johann Rudolf Glauber, printed in Amsterdam, were also widely circulated. Many of these Protestant, German-speaking immigrants brought their distilling skills with them to the new world, where they soon began distilling fruit spirits, rum, and rye whiskey.
Today we know nothing about the stills they used. But copper was scarce in the colonies, and lumber was plentiful in Pennsylvania and the adjacent Appalachian Mountains. Was the famous Monongahela-Rye Whiskey of the German immigrants originally distilled on wooden stills? To date, there have been no studies on this.
All you needed for the Glauber's steam system was a steam cooker, a few barrels and a few meters of copper pipe. There were various methods of removing unwanted fusel oils from the finished distillate. In 1785 Tobias Lowitz perfected a process in which the new spirit was filtered through charcoal.
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| charcoal filtration: Lowitz, 1785 |
Charcoal filtration is not a Jack Daniels invention. It has been practiced for centuries in Germany, the Appalachian Mountains and Canada. Wherever wood was available in abundance, steam distillation using wood stills followed by filtration through charcoal was an extremely inexpensive and effective method of distillation. If you didn't have charcoal, you could use powdered coal.
To date, there is no research into how the steam apparatus of Glauber with its barrel-shaped stills spread through the settlements of the German, Swiss and Dutch colonists in the New World. But that it spread I'm certain of.
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| Moonshiner Steam Distillation Apparatus with barrel-shaped stills. Source not known. |
1827 - Fettercairn
When the tax laws in Scotland changed in 1823, the Scots also began to take an interest in new distillation technologies. William Shand received a patent in August 1829 for an apparatus with a pot still, two retorts and a smaller rectification doubler for a quadruple distillation. The vessels were made of wood, but they had a copper head with a pipe extension as an attachment.
Shand, who owned a property near Fettercairn Distillery, had brought the idea for this strange facility from Jamaica. Like many other Scots, the Shands had sought and found their fortune in the slave fields of the Caribbean.
From 1817 to 1822 William was the manager of several plantations in Jamaica. William's brother John Shand had already acquired some sugar cane plantations in Jamaica in 1809. In 1814 the Shands bought the Burn and Arnhall estates near Fettercairn from the profits of the plantation.
Shand basically used the same equipment that we already know from Georgia and combined a wooden steam system with a Scottish pot still. After patenting his system, he had a prototype built in London, which he then had assembled at Kellitt's Plantation in Clarendon. To his surprise, however, the rum distilled with this system was almost without aroma.
The system distilled so thoroughly that all flavor components were literally "distilled away". Instead of a triple distillation, as carried out by the apparatus in Georgia, Shand operated a quadruple distillation by combining it with a pot still. The alcohol yield of his apparatus was enormous, but the taste had suffered. Shand therefore decided to reduce the number of retorts from three to two.
His patented system was also used in Scotland. It gave a whiskey "free of the foul odor which one usually notices in freshly distilled whiskey", as one contemporary noted, and was distilled at Gilcomston Distillery near Aberdeen, Glenmurray Distillery near Stirling and the still existing Fettercairn Distillery. (see picture 11)
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| picture eleven: wooden stills by William Shand |
1827 - Jamaica
Five years earlier, in 1823, Thomas Roughley described in his book "The Jamaica Planter's Guide" a classic still with a low wine still and a spirit still, which were operated by direct firing and two separate distillation processes, as the standard procedure.
He never mentions a retort or a doubler, but rather recommends the flat stills of Rapid Distillation, which were widespread in Scotland at the time and produced an inexpensive distillate that had a poor reputation for quality.
Was William Shand actually the first to combine a Scottish pot still with the wooden steam still of the German-speaking emigrants?
We may never know who first came up with the idea, but this German-Scottish honeymoon couple has since taken the Jamaican plantations by storm.
The combined still with a copper pot still and two wooden retorts was soon to become the standard system in Jamaica.
[update: as a side effect, I discovered that William Shand's brother-in-law, Hinton Spalding, maintained strong business relationship with the city of Bremen in Germany, where he died in 1852. Germany was an importend Rum Market for Jamaican Distillers.]
2002- Moonshiners
Such combined systems can also be found in other regions of Central and North America. For example, the still of the American moonshiner Popcorn Sutton is legendary, in which a self-made copper pot still with direct side firing is combined with a wooden, steam-fired wooden barrel. (see picture 12).
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| Bild 12: Moonshiner-Legend Popcorn Sutton , 2002. Film-Screenshot |
Conclusion
Jamaica's unique stills were created through a very special German-Scottish liaison of two different stills: on the one hand the Scottish Highland groom in the form of a directly fired copper pot still, on the other hand the German bride in the form of steam-heated wooden distilling barrels, whose origins were in the court pharmacy of a German countess and who later found a new home moving from Frankfurt via Amsterdam to North America together with Protestant religious refugees and finally achieving immortal fame through the Moonshiners in the hidden hills of Appalachia.
The wood has now been replaced by copper, but the origin of this unusual wedding couple in the art of distilling can be clearly seen.
To this day, this type of "honeymoon-still" is still used in Jamaica at Hampden, Long Pond, Mony Musk, and Worthy Park distilleries, and has been preserved in Barbados at Mount Gay Distillery. And at the Diamnods Distillery, we can see a real rarity: they still have a steam-driven wooden still.. Here is a short video [here].
The independent Italian rum bottler Velier has set a small monument to the most beautiful traditional stills in the Caribbean with the labels for its "Habitation Velier" series.
Sadly, the share that German-speaking inventors and emigrants have in these stills is completely ignored in the professional world.
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