I'd want an entire room of my house dedicated to something like this...

...but then again, it's just faster and easier to periodically hit Total Wine and More to get my beer-fix.

Still, there's definitely a "twiddle-with-it" appeal. Plus the additional ability to hand-craft your own brews, creating ones that are hard to find in the area. For instance, I would definitely not mind having more bitters available too me. They're quite good (IMO), but nearly impossible to find.

Beer. Is there anything it can't do?

Taste good. That's what it can't do. Nor can it smell good, though the two are closely related.

BTW, here's your "grain of salt". My current poison is 4oz of SoCo, 2oz of Amaretto, 2oz of Sloe Gin, 8oz of OJ. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

But the contraption does look pretty cool. I'll give it that. Bet we could redneck the same set up without too much hassle...

If only it was still legal to build your own distillery! I've built one, but the only thing I dare distill is water.

I thought you could, at least to the limit of "personal use". I believe the measurements vary by state, but I'm pretty sure you can produce up to 400 gallons of wine yourself without getting into any trouble, so you should be able to do some level of distillation yourself - just don't get caught selling it...

Wine is not distilled; like beer, it's only fermented under carefully controlled conditions. It's perfectly legal to produce fermented beverages, but the moment you run the alcohol through any kind of still, unless you have a buttload of expensive permits and inspections, you're committing a crime in the US.