Collection jars: A set of graduated glass jars makes separating and labelling feints straightforward across a run.
What Feints Are
Feints are the impure fractions of a spirit run that a distiller separates from the clean middle fraction known as the hearts. The term is used most commonly in pot still distilling, where a single run is divided by collecting the distillate in sequence and judging each fraction by smell, taste, and strength.
The exact boundary of what counts as feints varies between distillers. The most common usage groups the early heads and the late tails together as the material set aside for redistillation, leaving the hearts as the spirit kept for drinking or aging.
What Feints Contain
Feints are not a single substance. They are a mixture whose composition depends on whether the material came from the start or the end of the run.
The early portion carries lighter compounds that boil below ethanol, including acetaldehyde and ethyl acetate. These give a sharp, solvent-like aroma. The late portion carries heavier fusel alcohols and fatty acids that boil above ethanol, giving an oily, sometimes wet-cardboard character. Both portions still contain useful ethanol, which is the main reason distillers keep them rather than discard them.
Feints vs Heads and Tails
Heads and tails describe position in the run. Feints describes purpose. A fraction is called heads or tails because of when it came off the still, and it becomes part of the feints once a distiller decides to set it aside for recycling rather than keep or discard it.
This distinction matters because two distillers can make identical cuts and still describe them differently. One may keep a wide hearts cut and a small feints set. Another may take a tighter hearts cut and a larger feints set, prioritising purity in the bottle and recovering the rest later.
Recycling Feints
The standard way to use feints is to add them to the boiler at the start of a future run, mixed into the new charge before heating begins. On the second pass through the still the ethanol in the feints is recovered into the new hearts, while the impurities are separated again into the new heads and tails.
Because the impurities are re-separated on each pass, recycling feints does not steadily accumulate off-flavours in the way that simply blending them into the hearts would. The practice increases overall yield across batches without sacrificing the quality of the final spirit, provided the cuts on each run are made carefully.
Common Mistakes
The most common error is adding feints directly to finished spirit to boost volume. This carries the concentrated impurities straight into the bottle and produces a harsher result. Feints belong in the next charge, not in the hearts.
A second error is letting feints build up indefinitely. Stored feints should be labelled with their source run and used within a reasonable period. Mixing many old feints of unknown origin into a charge makes it harder to predict the cuts on the recovery run.
Frequently Asked Questions
Heads are specifically the early fraction high in acetaldehyde and ethyl acetate. Feints is a broader term for the impure fractions kept aside, which can include both heads and tails. In practice many distillers use feints to mean the combined heads and tails set aside for recycling.
Feints are not intended for drinking. They contain a higher concentration of undesirable compounds such as fusel alcohols from the tails and sharp compounds from the heads. They are collected for redistillation, not consumption.
Feints are added to the next charge before distillation so they pass through the still again. The ethanol is recovered into the hearts while the impurities separate into the new heads and tails. Adding feints to the boiler at the start of a run is the standard approach.
Recycling feints can increase total yield and, for some styles, carry forward small amounts of congeners that add character. For neutral spirits the goal is purity, so feints are recycled mainly for yield.