The Road from Brewing to Distilling. Along the way, the friends got some serious education. Darek Bell first dove deep into distilling at the Siebel Institute of Technology out of Chicago. Then, he headed to that bastion of great whisky, Islay, Scotland. There, he studied at the Bruichladdich Distilling Academy. Beyond the study of distillation, Bell has even penned books on whiskey. His first book, Alt Whiskeys was published in 2012.