Brass light fixtures hang from the ceiling, casting an orange hue over the gleaming silver stills. High, inset windows reveal the glow of the setting sun.

“I need some help getting the seeds out of the pomegranates for the mash. Annabel and Jude, y’all can help me with that. Beast, will you use those big arms of yours to grab a couple bags of sugar from the storage stall?”

“What do you need from me?” Reese asks her.

“Why don’t you get the still fired up.” She nods at me. “Show him where to stick the hose. The mash on the south end should be ready to go.”

“You’re gonna show me where to stick the hose, huh?” I follow Reese over to the big still in the rear of the barn.

“I’m sure her phrasing wasn’t an accident.” She pries the lid off the bucket of mash, then gestures to what looks like a small metal fridge nearby. “Will you grab a hydrometer, sample tube, and baster from the sanitizer over there?”

I open it up and glance over the contents. The baster is easy, the sample tube is larger, and I think I find what must be the hydrometer, a glass test tube with measurements stenciled on one side. There’s not much else to choose from. I hand them to her. “This it?”

“Yes.”

She uses the baster to fill the larger sample cylinder and then puts the hydrometer in the liquid. I crouch down next to her while she spins the tube. “What does this thing do?”

“It measures gravity. The specific gravity of water is one. When we initially set up the mash, it has a higher density because of the sugars. When it ferments, the yeast consumes the sugars, lowering the density and therefore the specific gravity. You’ll know it’s ready and the fermenting is done when the specific gravity measures less than one.”

She points out the reading on the hydrometer and I nod even though I have absolutely no idea what the heck she’s talking about.

“It’s under, so we should be good to go. Now we transfer it to the still for heating.”

Reese directs me to the hoses, and we set one up together, one end in the still and the other in the mash. She shows me how to transfer the liquid over. “What’s next?” I ask.

“We heat the still once the mash is in. The heat causes evaporation and condensation—because alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, so boiling filters out the alcohol. When you’re done with the hose, put it in the stall over there to be disinfected.”

I put the hose away and then watch her light the propane burner underneath the still. “So, this is the whole process?”

“Basically. Inside the still there’s a filter. The heat forces the alcohol to separate and the liquid comes out here.” She points at a spigot. Underneath is a large barrel. Sure enough, after a few minutes some clear liquid begins trickling out.