dude.
booze IS chemistry - get it right and it tastes good.
get it wrong and you're blind or dead.
(important safety note - if distilling in an aluminum pot instead of stainless, add baking soda top the boil to neutralize the liquid to help smooth out the finished product)
and for the record, i learned a LOT of my booze tricks from soldiers - and history.
WWII - the russian enlisted men had a drink called a nicolashka (or something like that)
they would take a slice of citrus fruit (like an orange) fill it with coffee and fold it in half and use it like a filter for the local german brandy they could find.
the sugars in the fruit would pull the alcohol & caffeine into the blood before the liquid hit their stomachs. it also helped cut some of the bitterness of the brandy & the coffee they could find.