Distilling spirits

Two words in this subject differ only in their article, and a distiller uses both in the same breath. Das Korn is the grain in the field, with the plural die Körner; der Korn is the clear spirit made from it. The gender is not a whim. Der Korn is what remains of der Kornbranntwein, and a German compound takes its gender from its last part, which the short form usually keeps. Here the last part is precisely the one that was cut away: der Branntwein is masculine, so the drink stays masculine, although the only piece of it still standing is neuter. The plural follows the drink rather than the grain. At a bar you order zwei Korn, with no ending at all, just as you order zwei Bier. The rest of the list follows the fruit from the mash through both runs of the still, past the hydrometer and the tax office, into the bottle.