I went to chat to Jim the Stillman whilst he was testing the alcohol levels of the feints receiver. This is where the Low Wines from the first distillation and the Feints from the second distillation are collected. The Low Wines are around 20-25% in alcohol whereas the feints (the head and the tail) are the parts either side of the Heart of the Run and are under 65% and over 73%. These are both mixed here and will go through distillation within the spirit stills again.
I was struggling to stand there for too long as the smell from the receiver was so strong when the lid was open. Jim laughed and said that he cannae smell it anymore. You could genuinely get drunk standing a few feet away! What was surprising to me was how oily it was. The black, gloopy oil clinged to the liquid and the sample tube that you can see in the photograph above to the left of the lid. Jim said these were the natural oils that existed through distillation.
Beneath the Bung 