Distillation is often talked about as a numbers game. One time. Three times. Five times. Labels lean heavily on distillation counts because they sound authoritative, yet the real story is more nuanced. Smoothness is not simply the result of how many times vodka passes through a still. It is shaped by how distillation is used, what ingredients are being distilled, and what the producer is trying to preserve or remove at each stage. At Armen’s Barrels, this balance has been tes