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ince ancient times the humankind has been aware of the exiting qualities of the fermented beverages, wine and beer for example that have been always very relevant in different cultures. However, in this ancient civilization it was not clear what alcohol was, and they did not know the art of distillation. It was the Greek people who first distillated but water, but not alcohol.
Centuries after that it was in Arabia that the first alchemists who first used the distillation process to extract flavors and aromas form different sources. They were also the first one introducing the concept of the Alembic.
In the XII Century in the Mappa writings, it came out for the first time the concept of “Aqua Ardens” (Water in fire). 1oo years later Arnaldo de Vilanova professor at the Montpellier University and Ramon Llull his protégé were the first ones formally describing the complete process of the alcohol production. In 1700 J.B. Porta who was a Napolitan chemistry professor and, in his work, named “De Destillatione” describes all the details of the wine distillation and how to build up a distillation apparatus.
