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I'm trying to understand the philosophy behind redistilling after steeping/infusing. If I produce a strong neutral spirit and then cold steep a combination of herbs, strain out the solids, adjust ABV by diluting, then age... what are the reasons why I would need to redistill again at this point? Or, similarly, what are the reasons I would not need to redistill? Is it just matter of taste / preference? Is it refining the end product somehow? With my lack of experience, I haven't developed strong preferences yet so I'm trying to understand the rationale and possible outcomes before diving in to a bunch of A/B test cases.

Thanks for any input!

Cheers,
Chris

If you are talking about absinthe you absolutely need to distill with the herbs in the pot. Macerating just can't get the essences from the herbs.

Distilling separates the volatile components from the non-volatile components. Filtering only separates out the solids.

If you think you can make something like absinthe using only one method, go ahead and try. I hope you make something you like.

Ahh cool, it's starting to make more sense. Redistilling would be purifying the mixture, for color and/or leaving behind the non-volatile compounds.. presumably the undesirable ones. Absinthe is just one style I wanted to try, but my focus is going to be on herbal/flavor extraction for health and digestion. And maybe a high quality coffee liqueur.

Now I need to figure out which herbs leave behind undesirable components and which do not...