Meaning & use
a distillery
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
a factory or place where strong alcoholic drinks are made by heating and cooling liquids.
Grammar: Countable: 'a distillery,' 'two distilleries.' Often used with 'at' or 'in' for location: 'works at a distillery.'
Patterns
- work at a distillery
- visit a distillery
- a whiskey distillery
The tour took us to a small distillery in the countryside.
He got a job at a distillery that makes single-malt whiskey.
A distillery uses large copper stills to produce strong spirits.
Word forms
| plural | distilleries |
|---|
Common combinations
- a whiskey distillery
- They visited a whiskey distillery in Scotland.
- a gin distillery
- The city has a famous gin distillery near the river.
- a craft distillery
- A craft distillery often makes small batches of spirits.
- work at a distillery
- She works at a distillery as a quality inspector.
- tour a distillery
- Tourists can tour a distillery and taste the products.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- distill verb
- To make a liquid pure or strong by heating and cooling it; the process used in a distillery.
- distiller noun
- A person or company that makes spirits at a distillery.
- distillation noun
- The process of making a liquid pure by heating and cooling, used in a distillery.
Commonly confused: a distillery or brewery?
a distillery vs brewery
A brewery makes beer by fermentation, while a distillery makes spirits by distillation. The two are different processes and different products.
Practice
They make their own whiskey at a small ______ in the mountains.
Choose one answer.
Whiskey is made by distillation, so 'distillery' is the correct word. A 'brewery' makes beer, a 'winery' makes wine, and 'factory' is too general and does not specify the production of spirits.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a distillery”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.