Question: did you get drunk, after you used distillation on guiness.??? :)

Jean Bourke answered on 15 Nov 2012:

You would get drunk if you consumed ethanol. All alcoholic drinks contain ethanol. Distillation is a way of concentration the drink and increasing it’s alcohol by volume content. You can only get a certain amount of alcohol in a drink without distilling it, about 12-14% max. The reason for this is that fermentation is carried out by yeast (there are various strains, the most common is Carlsbergensis) acting on sugars in the starting mixture, the ethanol is produced as a by product of their life cycles. It is toxic and kills them above a certain concentration (or they die when they run out of food). Ethanol is uses as a very effective disinfectant in labs. It is toxic to us too but our livers render it harmless and can handle small quantities (tipsy), it can get overwhelmed (blackout) and long term abuse of alcohol is actually long term abuse of your liver.

This toxicity and the limited food supply is the reason wines, beers and cider have relatively low alcohol content (3-14%). This can be increased to about 50% and still be drinkable (100 proof vodka). Something with over 20% but no added sugar is called a spirit. Once you start adding sugars and flavourings it become a liqueur.

If you distilled guinness you would get a spirit of sorts but I doubt very much that it would taste good! It might taste a bit like an alcoholic marmite…