Ventura Spirits tasting room and marketing manager Brad Miller (left) joined co-owner Anthony Caspry at the distillery’s four-plate pot still, where Caspry explains how they pump fermented low-alcohol liquid, such as beer or fruit wine, into the stainless-steel kettle, where it is heated to vaporize the alcohol away from the water and other non-volatile components. The vapor rises up through chambers in the still’s short rectifying column, which work like micro-distillers. After cooling in the condenser, the spirit comes out as the reduced and refined final product.