I was called a hipster in 2005 - great offense was taken

In the 24 hour day, I devalued everything else and thought it was important to learn about food.
No, I was a musical hipster. Actually yes, there was nothing musical about me, just a sense that name dropping and political hair statements were enough to get by with in this world.

Mixing old and new technologies - producing alcohol

Over the past year, I made far more alcohol that I ever want to drink. Sure I can store it and let improve with age, but the tinkering side of me started to think about a) distillation and b) the alternate use of alcohol.

Where does learning about technology come in when it comes to the production of alcohol? Here is a brief list :

• Biochemistry - yeasts, moulds (Aspergillus orzyae), sugars, amylase, starches, acerobacters etc.
• Heat transfer and fluid dynamics
• Physics and chemistry - miscibility, properties such  freeze protection and specific gravity, tears of wine
• Materials science - metals ( electroplating, welding, soldering ), plastics, glass
• Control systems ( temperature, pressure, flow measurements, level sensors)
• Cultural history ( Ancient Egypt to Modern China to the Segram's Empire )
• Public Health ( Bootlegging and violence in remote communities, consumption, social interactions in Asia, domestic violence, FASD, controversy, vice, documentary making )
• Manufacturing  and graphic design - bottles, caps, printing and labelling
• Marketing - Social status, symbols, taboos, values, DNA survival
• Engineering - cost, planning, layout, ergonomics, regulations and business plans

The above list could be further developed, but those are just a few things that come to mind when I started to become more interested in the production of distilled alcohol. Human consumption is obvious but there are quite a few other uses in our daily lives :

• Antiseptic for cuts and wounds ( aftershave, perfume etc. )
• Mouthwash
• Fuel ( bio-ethanol )
• Degreaser ( cleaning surfaces and windows )
• Food preservative
• Solvent
• Anti-freeze
• Cooking
• Infusion and creams

To avoid irony in this post, there are only a few links ( which is not good for SEO ) which should encourage the readers to do their own research and thinking.